The Dragon's Promise picks up right after Six Crimson Cranes, so this review may have a few spoilers for that one.

Where the first book is solidly a retelling, this one ventures into its own path. Shiori has promised to return the dragon's pearl, so she sets off with Kiki and Seryu into the dragon's realm to do just that. But the dragon's pearl is a finicky thing, and its owner is not where, or even who, Shiori expects it to be. At the same time, Bandur is gaining power - and is angling to become the Demon King who will release the demons from the holy mountain and destroy Kiata (obviously by killing Shiori). So cue another adventure to return the pearl, save Kiata, and destroy the demons. And get married to Takkan.

I ended up liking The Dragon's Promise more than Six Crimson Cranes and it's not because I dislike retellings. I do love a good retelling, and I have done some myself. But where SCC just felt flat to me (I still don't get why everyone was raving about it), what I really loved about TDP was this parallel journey of discovery and redemption. As Shiori journeys to return the pearl, she uncovers the truth behind who her stepmother was and her motivations in setting up all that she did in SCC.

What I really hated about TDP was Shiori, because MY GOD DID SHE REGRESS. As I said immediately after reading the book: Super absorbing read but omg Shiori is SO annoying in this one. I liked her better with the bowl over her head.

So if you do read Six Crimson Cranes, it's really gotta be for this one. Which is mostly villain stepmother redemption, if you ask me.

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Will be crossposted to blog on 13 July.

A incredibly well put sequel. I loved everything about this duology but especially the universe, the atmosphere and the characters which are absolutely exquisite. If you're looking for a great dose of escapism with a well crafted plot line and a beautiful writing, this book is for you. No this duology is for you, as well as every other book series written by Elizabeth Lim.

ARC provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Elizabeth Lim is with no doubt one of my favourite authors, loved every single book I have read of her so far, and hope to keep up with her work, and to read so much more from her.
“Six crimson cranes” was a fantastical and atmospheric read, I love the way Lim plays with mythology and fantasy, the characters she writes, and the relationships she wovens. I do feel that the second, “the dragon’s promise”, was a bit of a stretch of the first one, the first one could have been a stand-alone. I did like to read it, but it felt that there was no need for a whole second book for the things left.
BUT I still loved to know more of the intricate fantasy world Lim built in the blood of the stars duology and the references to that first duology.
I will keep recommending Elizabeth Lim books to everyone that likes fantasy and romance, but bare in mind that this one was not my favourite so far.

Epic quest after epic quest and a great way to end! Kiki will forever have a place in my heart and feel I need to learn how to fold a paper crane now! :)

Copy provided by NetGalley.

A beautiful sequel.

I read ‘Six Crimson Cranes’ and ‘The Dragon’s Promise’ back-to-back as the narrative follows seamlessly on and it didn’t disappoint. Shiori continues to be a character with strong morals, unshakeable loyalty to her family and a delight to observe develop. Her brothers and Takkan provide many opportunities to highlight her qualities, their ties growing ever more unbreakable through the trials they face.

There are many things that I love about this book from the magically far off island, so beautifully created it would make anyone wish it were real, the interwoven East-Asian influences, and the tender relationship between Shiori and Takkan. While I do enjoy reading about the broody male characters in other books, I found Takkan’s kindness and positivity a breath of fresh air.

The narrative has a very fast pace which suits the desperation within the storyline; however, I would have enjoyed longer pauses to provide a welcome release in tension. This is the reason why I would give it 4 stars instead of 5.

‘The Dragon’s Promise’ is certainly a book I would recommend if you enjoyed ‘Six Crimson Cranes’.

This book is a solid 3.75 stars, it was great (but not as good as the first) - whilst the start felt kind of disconnected from the first book at times, it was absolutely amazing. As the book continued to progress, the story however started to weaken.

Lim's writing is absolutely magical, dragging you right into the center of the realm, created by her absolutely stunning world building. Shiori improved a lot from the first book, now being an amazing main character who was MUCH more likable (but she still acted so so recklessly which was such a big fat NO NO as she hadn't learned from her past experiences or mistakes, which as a reader is an amazing parallel to find. )

However, I stand by the fact this could have been a fantastic stand-alone, and whilst the ending of the first was such a WTF it could have been resolved in a longer first....anyway this was still pretty good.

ALSO THAT COVER IS STUNNING AND SO SO PRETTY !!

The ending was ~interesting~ to say the least, and for me, at least, it was slightly disappointing - not the ending I expected to receive, anyway still read this!

The first thing I always say when reviewing a sequel is whether or not you need to do a reread before starting book two. In this instance I don't think it is essential to do so if you have a good enough memory of the events of Six Crimson Cranes, the book fills you in enough that you can power through, but I think it is worth doing a reread if only to continue the emotional arc of book one - a lot of the romance is less dwelled on in the early part of this book and I think you need to care about that relationship to feel that the ending is satisfying. I would say do a quick reread to refresh and then jump straight in to The Dragon's Promise.
In a lot of ways this book is a fairly typical YA duology book two - we expand the world greatly from the events of the first book and send our characters on a new adventure. So if you loved the characters of Six Crimson Cranes you'll likely have a decent enough time. My issue was that this felt like a lot of very disparate ideas all tied together- we visit the dragons, we go to various kingdoms, there is a LOT happening in quite a short book and the overwhelming feeling I had was that I was never quite sure where the book was going or what was happening. Some people may enjoy that feeling I find it makes the book quite hard to read because it can throw off the pacing. I almost feel that there was a book and a half crammed into one book rather than it feeling like the structure of a duology. This is a complaint I have had with a number of recent YA sequels so it is definitely not unique to Six Crimson Cranes but it is disappointing nonetheless.
I still thought that the worldbuilding and the writing were really well done, noone can deny that Elizabeth Lim can craft a scene, but the plot of this book and the structure of the story let it down for me. I thought that the overall ending was very satisfying and I'm glad I have read both books but the first book definitely carries the duology.
My rating: 3/5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley - all opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC for The Dragon’s Promise. This was a release I was very much looking forward to because I absolutely adored the first book.

However, I was thoroughly disappointed.
My actual rating would be 1,5 stars, I rounded it up because of my love for Six Crimson Cranes and because the world is really beautiful, so 1 star would not be warranted.
I enjoyed the first 10% of the book and loved that it started with a bang, but then it got very old very quickly.
The plot was repetitive and many scenes were dragged out more than necessary.
The worldbuilding was messy and confusing. There is so much going on, we have underwater dragons, demons, humans, the pearl, witches, magic, different kingdoms,… – it was all just A LOT and I lost track of how everything is connected.

I also found Shiori to be annoying, she was constantly acting on her own and going against what she was told, causing trouble and not communicating properly with the people who care about her.
The other characters like Seryu, Takkan, Kiki and her brothers, that I really liked in Six Crimson Cranes, felt more bland in this book, and not as charming anymore.

I effectively DNFed this book at 65% and then just skimmed/clicked through to the end, because I just did not care anymore about what happens.

I believe that Six Crimson Cranes would have been a fantastic standalone, instead of adding another 400 pages novel that was lacking substance and direction.

Overall, I was really disappointed by this and my heart hurts because of how excited I was for this release. I think the author has great talent and the world she created was magical and wonderful, so I will certainly continue reading her work, but this book really wasn’t for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review. The Dragon's Promise is a well-paced book and a delightful read.
This story is the perfect follow-up to the events in Six Crimson Cranes. Shiori is in the Dragon Realm. But she has to find a way back out. Kiata is in danger and she has to return the Dragon pearl to its rightful owner. We see more of the magical world. While we hope that Shiori, her brothers and Takkan can save their homeland.

I was extremely excited to read this book, as its predecessor, 'Six Crimson Cranes', had set up a fantastic world and premise for us to explore further. I had rated SCC a full 5/5 stars on Storygraph and had extensive Discord chats with friends about how much I was anticipating the release of 'The Dragon’s Promise'. But like with any duology, I was a little wary about how plot threads would be resolved and whether the conclusion would do the series justice, let alone make sense. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised that it was much more than I bargained for (but who expected returning a cursed dragon pearl to its rightful owner to be a linear storyline, right?).

The first few chapters of the book retain the tension and conflict and uncertainty that we were left with at the end of SCC, which does an excellent job of literally throwing you into the deep end along with Shiori. They don’t shy away from continuously proving that Shiori is still a little firecracker who has a tendency to get tunnel vision. And I love this book for that; she messes up as much as a human looking through a human-centric lens would when dealing with other creatures – trying to gauge where we have control and where having the upper hand is possible. She has to learn to recognise other creatures as beings with emotions, wisdom and thoughts without assuming that they can be controlled/subdued by a human (as a lot of high fantasy often tends to). Her wit from SCC did not leave her, adding some humorous moments in the midst of her quest to save her kingdom, and she’s a very entertaining character to follow.

This was enhanced by Lim’s writing. I. LOVE. HER WRITING. I fell in love with how she used imagery in SCC, and I’m happy to report that this has not left in TDP. Each new character introduced in TDP has so much flavour, and there ended up being so many different perspectives that the world itself feels fleshed out. The banter in this series is great. Fraying and blossoming relationships alike are written so compellingly through description and dialogue – even lines that sound like they could be cliches felt thoughtful. The symbolism and stories drawn from Asian mythology also carry on throughout both the language and plot in TDP, which made me extremely happy.

Contrary to what the title may lead you to assume, TDP does not have a lot of Seryu in it. Going into this book, I was somewhat afraid that Lim would try to drag out a love triangle and make Seryu’s whole shtick ‘the immortal being that fell in love with a mortal’. I was scared because most duologies that focus on only one love interest in the first book tend to try and overcompensate and sacrifice plot to develop the second love interest. We avoid that here! When Seryu’s involvement came to an end, I was left anticipating where the rest of this book would go. I can’t say much without giving away important plot points, but the places Shiori goes and people she meets do give her opportunities to continue growing and tie up loose ends.

On the topic of Seryu, he is genuinely one of the highlights. Diving into his world distinguishes the culture and hierarchy of his kind to that of the mortal realm, giving him more depth than the cliche immortal being’s main traits: 1) ethereally gorgeous and 2) being inexplicably, unconditionally and irrevocably in love with the human main character. His feelings for Shiori are communicated extremely well through his actions, but he retains his pride as a dragon through and through. The first chapters where Shiori is rather helpless and clueless in Seryu’s world feel less like an opportunity to present her as a human that can conquer or outwit beasts and more like a way to showcase Seryu’s character and world. I loved him until the end because a love triangle is never forced upon the reader. Lim gives us space to appreciate both Takkan and Seryu in the duology AND respect Shiori’s decision on how to carry both of those relationships forward.

This book does have its shortcomings though. Duologies are always tricky because pacing is a difficult thing to plot out between two books. The plot is packed, so you’re not left wanting for more – if anything, you wish you could have moments for Shiori to breathe between journey phases. And I get that that’s the point – she doesn’t have the luxury of taking a break as the looming threat of a crafty demon threatens to break free . . . Yet I wish Lim didn’t sometimes gloss over her fatigue or her fear or her distress with a convenient coma or sleep. A lot of the plot threads end up resolving out of the sheer convenience of coincidental timing.

Unfortunately, the pacing takes its toll on some character development as well. Bandur as the ‘main villain’ pales in comparison to the compelling Raikama in SCC and instead presents as a more traditional one-dimensional bad guy. While this makes sense in context, I did find myself more intrigued by the unpredictability of antagonists with less page time. Another slightly frustrating point was the level of cooperation exhibited by the people in Shiori’s camp. I get it, in the band of heroes against the nay-sayers, it makes sense for most of their perspectives to align. But the amiability of Takkan and her brothers felt too unnatural at times, as they tended to defer to her judgement without protest, no questions asked. The lack of impactful/high-stakes conflict within her closest circle did unfortunately feel like a convenient way of progressing the plot quickly, so in some ways, I wish this series was a trilogy so we could have maintained the standard of character development shown in SCC. Regardless, I think that the amount of healthy communication in Shiori’s romantic relationships in TDP gets a huge plus for being refreshing to see in a YA novel.

'The Dragon’s Promise' is a satisfying finale to Shiori’s journey, full of legend, myth and memory. It elaborates on Raikama’s impact on Shiori beyond death and her continual resourcefulness and desire to save the people she loves in spite of her (many) antagonists. Its exploration of ostracism in all communities begs the question as to whether belonging is something you’re born with, something you earn, or something you have to extend to others. In spite of a few bumps in the road with pacing, the plot content and characters make this VERY worth your while, and I yet again found it hard to predict how some parts would end. I highly encourage fans of SCC to return to this world to get more than just closure. I was hooked from beginning to end and rate it a solid 4/5 stars.

Yes, I will be adding the UK hardcover edition to my shelf when it comes out.

This book sadly isn’t working for me! I loved love Six Crimson Cranes so very much but the direction this book has taken isn’t one I enjoyed. This sadly seems to be a running theme with me and this author. I would still recommend this book for fans of the first one, it sadly just didn’t work for me.

Whereas Six Crimson Cranes is the retelling of a fairytale, The Dragon's Promise dives further into the world Elizabeth Lim created and spins its own tale.
Shiori has promised to return the broken pearl to its rightful owner - but she has also promised to present it to the dragon king who has no intention of letting her stay unpunished for weaving a starstroke net. The young sorceress has to use every last trick up her sleeve to survive in the dragon realm and return the pearl.

The setting is amazing. We start out in an underwater kingdom with mermaids and sharks and of course loads of dragons. The descriptions are once again simply beautiful and really pulled me into the story. Later we also travel to other parts of this world and while I always enjoy reading about different places, unfortunately the magical descriptions didn't continue.

There was quite a bit of Seryu content - and our favourite dragon has his own plans and secrets. I actually preferred him in this book at first, as we saw more of his scheming dragon side. However, he wasn't as much in this book as I would've expected after the beginning had offered such a glorious welcome. In fact, for a book called The Dragon's Promise, I'd have expected way more dragons. There were also a couple of things with Seryu that didn't get tied up in a satisfactory way in my opinion.
I did like how much Takkan was in this book. At the beginning I was quite worried that he'd only have a tiny role, but turns out he is just as awesome as in book one.
Shiori is also great - again she is smart and tries her best with the cards she's been dealt.

The plot started out amazingly. The ending of Six Crimson Cranes left me slightly confused, so I was worried about reading a complete mess of a book, but it was simple enough. In fact, it turned out to be a bit repetitive and boring for some time.

A very nice book. The first half was awesome, exciting, with lots of scheming and treachery. To my great disappointment, the second half couldn't hold up to those standards. It was still nice, I really enjoyed it, but it didn't blow me away.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder&Stoughton for offering me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The sequal to six crimson cranes and i liked it so much, even though i think this book was really not needed having another book with the beloved characters was nice.
This is a continuation of the previous book and picks up right from where it left. However this the dragon's promise felt a bit more stuffed , there were too many subplots and things to achieve while really little time . Shiori was also annoying at time but what tied the book together was kiki and the side characters.
Even though this book had its pros and cons, the characters really made me read the book till the end and even recommend it to people further.

I've read Six Crimson Cranes and I was disappointed. The thing about YA novels is that I have high expectations for the main character to explore herself more because I love the idea where teenagers find their true selves but to put a whole romance as a narrative makes it hard for me to like because I feel like Shiori could have done so much better. Also, I am not surprised by the writing style. It has not changed since the last few books (I actually read Spin the Dawn duology and yes again, disappointed). I was trying to give the writing style another chance but I ended up hating it again (why do I do this to myself). It was such a bummer! I really wanted to like the book because the premise is so interesting and her covers are always so pretty but I really hated the unnecessary love acute-angle and the fact that Shiori's story revolves around both Takkan and Seryu makes it devastatingly tiring to read. Perhaps I've outgrown YA.

The world is magical, the writing is eloquent, Shiori is still an amazing main character. Overall, a pretty good end to this duology.

“The dragon promise”- the sequel to “Six crimson cranes” has been a fascinating read. I must say the cover art is as beautiful as the first part. The write is fluid, vivid and quite imaginative. The story starts from where it has ended in the first part and Shiori goes on her other missions alone and later on with his brothers and fiancee. Her bond with them is so adorable.🤩

Similar to part one Shiori continued to be impetuous which brings a lot of trouble. The first part of the book is quite adventurous and magical. However, I found the 2nd part to be repetitive and lacking all the magical elements. There's a sense of urgency to finish the story. Overall, it’s a good read but not a great one as the first part.😊

P.S: Thank you Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.🙏🏻
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The Dragon’s' Promise starts right where Six Crimson Cranes left off, with Shiori on the highway to the kingdom of dragons with her dragon friend Seryu. This part of the story made up around a fourth of the book, and was the part I enjoyed the least. Why? Because everyone seemed to be all over the place in terms of wants and loyalty. It just became a bit too overwhelming to keep track of it all. The kingdom itself was an interesting place and sounded pretty amazing in itself, but there was just so much drama surrounding it.

It also didn’t help that I was a bit annoyed with Shiori. She was so impulsive and in the dragon’s realm it just led to her getting trapped again and again… It started getting a bit frustrating to read, like “get your senses girl!”. So I found myself enjoying the story a lot more when it moved back on land, and we got to see Takkan and Shiori’s brothers again. Because just like in Six Crimson Cranes the supporting characters are my favourites, especially Takkan. So it was nice to have him there to balance out Shiori.

One thing I did really enjoy that wasn’t in Six Crimson Cranes was the expanded world we get to see. The whole story is basically the world’s most high stake road trip, and I’m here for it! There were so many places that got explored and it was wonderful to learn more about the world the book takes place in. I also really enjoyed that we got to learn more about Shiori’s stepmother's backstory, a character that I came to empathize with in the previous book. Something that wasn’t as wonderful was the demons, but hey that’s basically their whole thing. They’re the bad guys and served their purpose to the story. Lastly, the ending was a bit bittersweet. But I kind of liked it as it has this connection to the stories that were told within the books. It rounded things off in a neat way.

Let me just start by saying this......I'm not up for triangles. The reason I'm not is because normally my fave guy loses!! So imagine my surprise in SCC when I loved both. Equally. What would this book do to my heart?

Well lets find out!

'Make sure he deserves you.'

In this book we went from the dragon city of Ai'long back to Kiata then to a forbidden land with Shori on her adventures to reunite the pearl with its owner and stop the evil Bandur. With him haunting her every step!

Although I found this book slower than the last there were so many things I loved.....

~ Seryu - my dragon prince!
~ Ai'long, the dragon world, it was described so beautifully!
~ A familiar character who bought me a lot of joy!
~ Takkan, what a heartthrob!
~ Kiki - she is up there with my fave sarcastic animal sidekicks with her keeping it real attitude!

And one last mention of a new someone who is a totally new fave! Elang......

'You’d do well to remember this: your heart is your home. Until you understand that, you belong nowhere.'

I'm hoping next for a book about Elang? Finding his pearl and his HEA?! Please!

In conclusion, my heart wasn't broke and this was a good read!

It felt so good to be back in Shiori's world!

Once again, Lim moves the story along with ease, following Shiori in her task; in this book we get more insight into Shiori’s relationship with her step mother and her desire to reconnect with her family. It blows my mind how much happens in this book, there is literally never a dull moment! While I didn’t love these books as much as the Blood of Stars duology, they were still so very beautifully written. The world building is perfect (can i visit the dragon realm please?) and I adored the characters, especially Kiki!

It hasn’t been long since I read another variation of the seven swans tale but Lim makes this one all of her own and takes it further into her own imagination. I love the easy flowing writing style and the vivid descriptions of the landscapes and characters - it’s very easy to fall in love with them!

Since I really enjoyed Elizabeth’s first book in this duology I was super excited to get reading. I found that it took a while for me to get into this book but the world building and the story is absolutely magical. Shiori is so fun to follow and Elizabeth writes with passion it’s very clear to see. The rating is 4/5 for me because unlike the first book I just struggled with getting into the first few chapters.