The beginning was full of action and commotion, which I enjoyed, particularly when Shiori ventured into the sea, which the author beautifully depicted. Despite the quick start, the pace started to slow around halfway through. The plot becomes multi-layered; apparently, Shiori must complete many tasks, so it feels jumbled, disconnected from the rest of the plot, and rather boring.

I kept pushing it despite my exhaustion because I adore the characters, particularly Takkan 😭

Shiori was much more reckless and tough here; her bravery in returning dragon pearls many times made me worry about the safety of the people she cares about, but what I like best is her loyalty to someone she loves remains strong despite the fact that this book implies a love triangle.

Although Shiori's underwater adventure with Seyru was a lot of fun, Seyru appears ineffective here. However, one character's appearance caught me off guard. This character was in the author's previous duology, and their brief meeting helped to heal my longing for him ♡

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC ♡

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a beautiful and immersive experience full of twists and turns and provided a great conclusion to Shiori's adventure. I am very grateful to have been given the chance to read it as an eARC since I was so curious to find out what happened next!

The pace of The Dragon's Promise felt much faster than that of Six Crimson Cranes and much more adventurous. We are thrown right into the action and it rarely ever slows down (which felt really great). I love how Shiori grows and evolves throughout both books but especially in this one. Also, and without giving a lot away, really enjoyed finding out more about some of the characters that were introduced to us in the first book - it's a great way to allow for proper character exploration (testing the waters in book one and delving deeper in book two). I think having it as a duology was a good decision for pace but I do wish we had gotten longer to explore certain relationships and regions of this gorgeous world!

The ending was very satisfying too (I feel like not everyone does their characters justice in this genre so I am very appreciative when this happens) and I am very much an Elizabeth Lim convert - certainly an automatic buy author from now on!

PS: Im the future, I will be found campaigning for more Seryu stories.

I'm sad to rate this so low but it falls flat in comparison to Six of Crimson Cranes. I was so excited to read this book and am left somewhat disappointed.

Lim's writing style was as beautiful as always and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about shiori again I just felt the story took a turn from what I expected. Six of Crimson Cranes would have been better as a stand alone . This felt like a different story with the same characters.

Six Crimson Cranes was my favourite book of last year. The prose was wonderful, the setting was fantastic and the characters were so fun to follow.
The Dragon's Promise didn't live up to the first book for me. The pacing was all over the place - I frequently thought I was coming to the end of the book only to find I was barely halfway through. There were so many plot points packed into it but it felt like very little development happened.
Lim's world-building is exquisite but we just didn't get to see enough of it. She flashed through so many plots and areas there just wasn't time to flesh it out properly and it lost the meandering fairytale feel of Cranes. I was hoping desperately it would slow down so we could explore the new places, characters and developments but the pacing was almost manic in its brevity.
I honestly believe it would have benefited from being a longer series, with extra space for the world and characters to breathe.
The Dragon's Promise was fine and enjoyable, but slightly missed the mark for me and lacked that captivating spark that Six Crimson Cranes had. I still want more from this world and it's characters and it feels like there's plenty more behind the scenes we never got to see.
It is still a duology I recommend, though perhaps with slightly less gusto than before.

I was so excited to see more of Seryu in this book, and that was truly the highlight for me! He is a stand out character with loads of personality.

The romance in the book was also really sweet, and were my favourite parts of this story.

Unfortunately, I do wish we’d seen more of the brothers and the other characters had more development. They still felt a little flat to me, and left me just wanting a little more all round.

If you loved Six Crimson Cranes I don’t think you’d be disappointed!

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to start by saying that Six Crimson Cranes was one of my favourite fantasy releases of last year. Action, Romance, Dragons… What more could you ask for?

This sequel is not quite as spellbinding as the first novel. For me I found that a lot of the pacing was off. In the first book I was far more interested in the plot than the romance, so I was expecting that to be the case in this book too.

Boy was I wrong. I really enjoyed exploring Ai’long - the worldbuilding was excellent and exciting - The romance was the main driver of the book for me. They were very much in puppy love (and no love triangle!)

Outside of that, It felt like a lot of the characters from the first novel were left behind in the plot (not unexpected but a little dissapoinintg) and there was much less of the sibling relationship that shone in the first novel.

Bandur, the villan was much more stereotypical and therefore less interesting than Raikama who’s twisted motivations made the plot more compelling.

Overall a little underwhelming, but still a solid fantasy book. I can’t help the feeling that SCC could have become a much more satisfying standalone.

**Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for this eARC. All thoughts are my own.**

I started this just after I had finished Six Crimson Cranes, wanting to still be in the world and to continue it properly.
I do like the story of Shiori and Takkan, and her journey to fulfill her stepmother's wishes.
I felt this story lacking compared to the first installment though. I felt that this part of her journey was filled with so many obstacles and a lot of information was thrown at you in quick succession that it made it hard to follow at times.
I adore Takkan and their bond together, and also her brothers, Hasho mostly.
Kiki is a breath of fresh air throughout this story, and I think her sassy remarks make everything better.
I sympathized with Seryu, and his feelings for Shiori, but in my eyes as well as hers, there is no one else for her but Takkan.
I had such high hopes for the conclusion to this story, and I felt that everything was wrapped up too neatly in the end. after all the hardships she went through, suddenly everything was okay and she got her happy ending. I mean I am glad she got her happy ending, I just thought it could have been done differently (not sure how though)
However, I am glad to have delved into this world of magic, dragons, and demons and been given the chance to fall in love with many of the characters.

The Dragon’s Promise picks up right after the end of Six Crimson Cranes. This book was action-packed and super fast-paced. There’s something happening in every chapter! I would say there is more action than in Six Crimson Cranes. This book contains beautiful descriptions of life under water. The descriptions were very picturesque and better than I have ever read before!

This book contains a lot more political aspects than the last book did. At times I found it hard to keep up with all the names and the politics both in the Dragon’s Realm and in Kiata. But for fans of this trope, I think their needs will be fulfilled.

I really enjoyed that the communication between Shiori and Takkan was so good! I really dislike the miscommunications trope, and there was absolutely none of it in this book!

My only two small issues with this book are that I don’t really understand why the dragon was so interested in Shiori in the first place, and I also felt that the book was a little too long. I felt like there were three endings that could have been the ending, but the book just kept going.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and the whole duology!

The Dragon's Promise could be written by any average white man obsessed with the 💫Asians💫 without actually having any knowledge about Asia outside stereotypes. I liked the plot in Six Crimson Cranes enough to not throw a book with a full cast with Obiwan Kenobi-like names out of the window and to give TDP a try. But it gets worse and I dare to say that Lim doesn't have any knowledge about the Japanese language and culture (have you watched her pronounciation guide of the names?) or have sensitivity readers who actually speak Japanese.

A) The main character, Shiori, said literally in the book that her her name 'literally means a knot'. But IT DOESN'T and I felt embarassed for the author. (imagine getting the important symbolist *big reveal time* of your book wrong.. )
Shiori is one of the few actual Japanese name and still Lim managed to get the meaning wrong. Shiori is a Japanese word that means bookmarks, but in girl names it can mean MANY different things depending on the kanji chosen to make up the name. One of the possible kanji that can be chosen for the name Shiori means 'thread'. But that's a long stretch to mean a knot.
The word thread is used 69x the the book and the word knot 28x... (no not in an omegaverse way💀). The name explanation part, while symbolically meant, was unnecessary and inaccurate.
B) I complained about the abundance of Obiwan like names in SCC but at least they don't immediately give me bad associations (*just* orientalist vibes). In TDP there's a respectable, mysterious shaman named oshri.
Oshiri means ass in Japanese.
If it's not Lim's intention to make him juicy (which I seriously doubt), then it's another moment as embarrassing as finding typos on the title of a published book.

C) Minor characters with Korean names and vaguely Chinese names..what are they doing here?? Is this what the Japanese dreamed about when they invaded China and Korea? Is it the well-known Great East Asia Co Prosperity Sphere?

I find it hugely problematic that a book blurred the lines between various Asian folklores.
The book used MANY uniquely Chinese elements: smaller elements like the peach of immortality, the elixir of immortality, but also bigger, more problematic ones. The worldbuilding is a mess.

The Four Seas - It's a Chinese concept (like Seven Seas to other cultures). Metaphorically there are four oceans that make up the boundary of ancient China. There's one dragon king residing in one sea. Just like in TDP.

The dragons- while the dragons can be found in Korean and Japanese folklore, they are not as fundamental to Chinese people, who literally call themselves 'descendent of the Dragons' (Jackie Chan's Chinese name literally means Become a Dragon..). Most Japanese dragons have Chinese loanwords as names. But in TDP, they have names like Nahma, Solzaya. Another choice I don't understand.

So to summarize, everything in this book points to the direction that the worldbuilding of this book is mainly inspired by the Dragon King of the Four Seas, and not the Japanese dragon counterpart.


But there are zero Chinese names in the book.

I've seen people praising it as an ownvoice story.
No. It's not. It's a Chinese American author viewing East Asia through an Orientalist gaze, generalizing East Asian countries, giving all characters Japanese names while the story is mainly Chinese. It's just a book that uses Asian aesthetics to stand out in the publishing industry. It's not the rep I want to see.

A beautifully written book. Really enjoyed reading this. An excellent sequel. Thanks to publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read

DNF at 40%

It is hard to pinpoint what did not work out for me. The prose is very beautiful. I have mixed feelings about the situational love triangle. On one hand, I don't like this trope unless handled very well and on the other hand I really liked Shiori and Seryu together. I also like Takkan but I don't think the depth of love between him and Shiori makes much sense. I also did not like how things kept happening without proper build ups. But, still, I would highly encourage people to pick this up. Six Crimson Cranes was truly delightful.

After finishing Six Crimson Cranes, I knew I had to read this right away! Shiori’s determination to do the right thing and follow her oaths made for such an interesting read.

I really enjoyed the whole quest to return the pearl and was very satisfied with how that turned out although I did find the plot was maybe a bit weaker than in the previous book

I love Takkan! I want a Takkan! Their strings of fate are just too cute

It was a strong sequel to a fab novel!

3.5 stars

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my e-ARC! Xxx

Io sinceramente mi aspettavo molto di più, e invece ho ottenuto un collage dei concetti del primo libro con solamente un tocco da sirenetta e un finale sciapo.

TW SPOILER
sì, è poetico, ma che valenza ha se non quello di un'ulteriore separazione, anche se ne abbiamo già viste centocinquanta nel corso dell'opera?
FINE SPOILER

Insomma, ho letto tutto il libro saltando dei pezzi perché si capiva perfettamente dove volesse andare a parare, ma volevo comunque vedere il finale per completismo (ma forse anche per la speranza nel mio cuore di avere un risollevamento).

4.5⭐️

I went into this book with beyond high expectations given that Six Crimson Cranes was one of my favourite reads of last year, and I’ve been recommending it to literally anyone who will listen to me. So I have to be honest and say that The Dragon’s Promise didn’t quite get me in the same way, however, this was still utterly wonderful.

The story picks up where Six Crimson Cranes left off with Shiori venturing to Ai’Long. Around the first 3rd of the book takes place there and it feels almost like reading two separate stories. I did find it a little sad that after leaving Ai’Long, we never hear from Seryu again. Oh Seryu, you got done dirty my friend.

All of the original elements from the first book remained with a strong sense of family, loyalty and duty. I love the relationships between Shiori and her brothers, and obviously I can’t not mention Takkan. That dude has the actual patience of a saint! Their love story was just adorable, but lord Shiori really puts him through the wringer.

I didn’t much care for the “big bad” Bandur. I found him to be a less than a appealing villain; he just wasn’t really that interesting. He didn’t fill me with the utter contempt and rage that Raikama did in the first book.

All in all, this book still filled me with joy and I would literally read anything Elizabeth Lim writes.

Huge thank you to Netgalley and to Hodder and Stoughton for the advanced copy in return for an unbiased and honest review.

Shioris last adventure with an unsatisfied ending

"The Dragon's Promise" by Elizabeth Lim is the second book of the Six Crimson Cranes duology and follows on seamlessly from its predecessor and is therefore a sequel and cannot be read independently.

After finishing Six Crimson Cranes, I was immensely happy to join Shiori directly on her next adventure!
The world building is just fantastic again! I would love to live there myself and explore Kiatan and the seas! I'm still totally impressed with the imaginative descriptions - including Ai'long the Dragon King's underwater kingdom.

The characters in this universe grow directly to your heart. They stand out because of their diversity and uniqueness.

In the first book, Shiori had to learn a lot about herself and the magic she carries within her. In this volume, she has to face dangers again to fulfill the promise she made to her stepmother Raikama on her deathbed. I think her character development is really well done. Shiori grows more and more beyond herself and continues to develop. One notices the difference between the young girl that was coddled by her father and her brothers.

Seryu plays a bigger role in this story and that's what I was looking forward to, because for me, Shiori's dragon friend has come up way too short! In Six Crimson Cranes we met Seryu as a funny, cheeky and always cheerful dragon man who, at least in my case, wormed his way into my heart. In Ai'long we get to know a completely different side of him and that is, the dragon prince, grandson of the ruling king. This side of him intrigued me and I hope Elizabeth Lim writes a full story about Seryu.

Besides Shiori and Seryu, Shiori's brothers again play a central role. Their appearance was a bit of a highlight in the story for me. I love the bond between the siblings, I missed their love, affection and pecking.

The plot of this sequel focuses a lot on Shiori and her family. The love story between her and Takkan is almost non-existent. And I find that more than a pity. I loved the first book so much because of these two and then he just plays the role of an unloved supporting charakter. Unfortunately, the ending also left me more than unsatisfied. It seems totally loveless and quickly written down - really aborted and some things remain open, which should not remain open in a final volume. Still, I found "The Dragon's Promise" to be an exciting and imaginative story full of adventure, friendship and family.

"The Dragon's Promise" by Elizabeth Lim gets a well-deserved 4 out of 5 stars.

"The Dragon's Promise" by Elizabeth Lim " will be published on August 30th 2022 by Hodder & Stoughton
[ARC kindly provided in exchange for a honest review]

Really enjoyed this duology. I wasn't sure how the story would be wrapped up but it was done nicely. An engrossing read.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and a huge thank you to Hodder & Stoughton allowing me to read this.

I would give this book a 3.75 stars.

This was a great sequel to Six Crimson Cranes which I absolutely LOVED. I really enjoyed the uniqueness of this series and the family relationships that are shown between Shiori and her brothers. The strength between the seven of them was so lovely to read and I enjoyed watching their bond strengthen throughout this book. I adored Takkan and their relationship, I would say it was some of my favourite parts of the book to read. Shiori did keep me on my toes with how their relationship was going to go and I wish I could read more.

I really enjoyed some of the plot points in this book however, I did find that the beginning was quite slow paced and yet there was so much going on, so I found it hard to get my head around it to begin with This does pick up after around 20% ish and I inhaled the rest of the book and read it in a day. I do wish that we saw more of Seryu as he had such a big presence in the first book, but nonetheless the bits we did see of him showed great character development and made my heart melt.

Six Crimson Cranes is still a definite favourite for me and I would read any of Elizabeth Lim’s books because they are so enjoyable to read!!

I was fortunate enough to get the e-arc on Netgalley and I was actually very excited to read this book. As much as the MC annoyed me a lot in the Six of Cranes, I really needed to know what was going to happen when she went to the Dragon Kingdom. And here it goes: I placed my expectations a little too high, thinking that Shiori would’ve changed (aka showed better character development) but it was somewhat disappointing. I am not saying she didn’t have any development but the part that annoyed me the most didn’t changed at all. Enough said about that.

Putting that aside, I really enjoyed most of it especially when Shiori went to the Dragon Kingdom. I love how vividly the author described and brought the world building in the dragon’s kingdom to live. It was amazing. As for the other characters, I really liked Seryu and Taikan. I am torn who I liked best but they both deserved better. Fight me if you disagree.

Another part that I really enjoyed was reading about the her stepmother’s back story. That was such an emotional and tragic story to read. I’m a sucker for all things tragic.

Basically, Shiori annoyed me, Seryu and Taikan my best bois. Thank you Netgalley for send me the e-arc in exchange for an honest review. 3.8 stars.

Loved this book. Great ending to the story. Loved the while legend premise and that it explained older legends and that this story was to be a new legend. Just an all round great story. One of my favourite of the year!

A very beautiful and meaningful closure to the amazing Six Crimson Cranes!

Thank you so much for the Publisher and Netgalley for the e-galley.

I have always loved the writing style of Elizabeth Lim and the worlds she creates effortlessly. I was super excited to dive into The Dragon’s Promise because I really wanted more of Seiru! Although he has appeared little, his presence and friendship to Shiori was meaningful. The hardships m the quests Shiori had to fulfill in order to keep her promise to Raikama , led her to the magical, whimsical kingdom of the dragons — under the sea and then back to the shore. I loved getting to know the brothers and Takkan better.

Everything was timed perfectly, it was full of with tension, kindness, love and hope. A beautiful conclusion to the duology! Please preorder this book because it won’t disappoint you!