Such a beautifully woven fantasy that kept me hooked to the chapters. I love the fantasy elements of dragon, power, magic etc. The characters are well bult and compelling!

OMG, I loved this book. Everything was perfect from beginning to ending. Elizabeth Lim does not disappoint and deliverers a magnificent book. Dragons, demons, magic, gods, angry cultists.. Just all I want in a fantasy book. There's no love triangule (thanks for that \o/). Takkan and Shiori are just the loveliest couple, her brothers have her back and Kiki is the perfect sidekick! Oh, I loved this book so so much!

I just finished this Book and I can absolutely say that I completely fell in love with it. This was amazing.
All the twists and turns this story took kept me wondering how this would end. And I loved alle along the way. Shiori is such a compelling character that I just wanted her to be okay.

As a fan of the first novel in this series I had high hopes for this book. Sadly, while the style of writing is still just as wonderful I found the storyline just wasn't on par with Six Crimson Cranes. At points the plot got quite repetitive and characters I'd really enjoyed previously just didn't evoke the same emotions. Genuinely disappointed as Six Crimson Cranes was such a highlight - think it would have been better to make it a standalone novel

Following on from the last page of 'Six Crimson Cranes' this sequel feels like a continuation rather than a sequel - in the best possible way. There's no time-skip or overly detailed and unnecessary re-cap (which I hate in sequels) but Elizabeth Lim reminds the readers of what came before with more subtle dialogue and internal monologue.

There's a lot to pack into this book - lots of mysteries left to discover and worlds left to explore. I think everything gets covered in the end but I would have enjoyed a book more centred in one place. Rather than sticking to the capital and the snow-covered north Shiori hops between continents, realms and landmarks with a fluidity that made it difficult for me to truly get a grip on where I was.

I have to say that altogether I found 'The Dragons Promise' a much 'looser' novel than its predecessor. Maybe because it's doesn't have a fairy tale 'backbone' to add structure? Shiori seems more reliant on chance and there are many more characters without time to really see who they are. There are a few characters who we could probably see more of in spin-off novels or sequel novellas that I would definitely be interested in; the world that Lim has crafted is of infinite interest to me.

One thing that I did find satisfying is that in the original 'The Six Swans' tale one of the princes is left with a reminder of the curse which never made it into 'Six Crimson Cranes'. Well, that reminder does make it into 'The Dragon's Promise' which made me feel like the tale really did come full circle.

I truly enjoyed the first book and this one was no different! I loved the story and it flowed lyrically. These books follow such a beautiful story! Thank you to netgally and the publisher for allowing me an early copy of this book.

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this and was extremely disappointed in it at the same time. Revisiting Shiori and Takkan made me extremely happy. But everything that was right with book 1 was missing in this sequel. The first section where we are plunged into the dragon realm promised an exciting and engaging story but it was completely disconnected from the rest of the story and there was not enough of Seryu. And the ending just left me so underwhelmed I feel the need to reread it and hope there was a mistake. Still, I’m glad I read it and was able to finish the story and have more time with Shiori, seeing her growth and relationships.

This is a very YA story with no depths. The bad ones are the bad ones and the good ones are the good ones. It's too predictable.

I'm sorry for not liking this book but I must be honest I didn't like the first one in the first place. I decided to give the second book a try but that was not it for me. I find the characters dull and not developed, the plot was too obvious for my liking. I give it 3 stars because it's advertised as a YA book and it is a very extremely YA book. I feel like it's more a 14yo reading than a 22yo (my age) one. I love morally gray characters, plot twists and this book is nothing like that.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the early access!

I was so glad to get an early copy, as I loved the previous book. I couldn’t wait to get back to Kiki, Seryu and everyone else,

And while I liked this book, I didn’t love it.
At times it felt a bit disjointed, like several little stories have been sewn together - but that’s not to stay they weren’t enjoyable. However a few things didn’t add up, something happened, but then it had no relevance to the story later on, which is probably why it didn’t feel like one storyline to me. I didn’t love the ending either, but it was okay.

Overall I enjoyed being back in this world, and I cannot wait to get my beautiful finished copies!

Six Crimson Cranes was one of my favourite books of last year, so I had high hopes for the sequel, and I'm pleased to report that it's just as magical and beautiful to read - and what a gorgeous cover, too! This type of mythology inspired fantasy really is my favourite genre at the moment - "safe" enough to recommend to my younger students, but just as magical and enjoyable for me as an adult, too.

Our tale picks up after THAT cliffhanger, with Shiori setting off to fulfill her promise of returning the pearl to its rightful owner. Her adventures take her far and wide to new areas of the world, which were just as fun to explore. All the favourite characters from Six Crimson Cranes are back, along with a special extra cameo that I wasn't expecting and did make me smile.

And I won't go into detail because spoilers, but this style of ending has always been my favourite - it feels earned rather than just given for the sake of a happy ending, but still leaves the reader on an uplifting note.

3.5

The Dragon's Promise is the sequel to Elizabeth Lim's Six Crimson Cranes and because of how much I liked that book as well as the author's first duology, I was thrilled to be a recipient of this arc. Despite my excitement though, I was a little wary — Unravel the Dusk wasn't the best follow up to Spin the Dawn. I couldn't help but worry that this sequel would be a repeat.

In the start, you are rushed headlong into action, picking up where we left off in Six Crimson Cranes. I have to admit, like what some other reviewers have said, the first thirty percent, although very good and had me on the edge of my seat, felt disjointed compared to the rest of the book. Some characters were introduced that I felt were underutilized and I thought they would play a bigger role, especially with the book's title, which I honestly didn't get. One character we didn't get to see much of, disappointingly. However, one character reintroduced was definitely a highlight for me and I liked his presence in the book. I think this book would have been better if the first thirty percent had a larger part. I thought the setting and characters were more interesting compared to the rest.

To be honest...Shiori was kind of annoying in this book. I know it's part of her personality but I wish she just used her head a few more times here. I still liked her and Takkan's relationship but I don't know, I wish sometimes Takkan didn't just smile and nod along to everything at his own expense.

Past thirty percent, things started getting a little muddled. Halfway, and not much has happened with the second plot, and honestly it felt a little chaotic. Some parts were interesting, some didn't make much sense for me. The climax dragged for me, and I don't know what to feel about the ending.

I agree with other reviewers too — Six Crimson Cranes was better off as a standalone. Based on my experience, it didn't make me love the characters more or make me feel anything new. It was still an entertaining and easy read though, hence the rating.

This was fun. The writing is very easy to get through and I really needed that amidst some of the more demanding books I was reading along with this one. It picks up right where the first one ended and I really like the new setting of the Dragon’s realm. Its beautifully written and as someone who struggles with picturing stuff in their head and is usually bored by descriptions of places, I actually enjoyed reading the descriptions in this one.

That being said, the plot and the characters weren’t that impressive to me. There was no growth in Shiori from book 1 to this one, and even from the beginning to the end of this book itself. The side characters were only there to drive the plot forward and I wasn’t particularly attached to anyone. I didn’t like the sort of but not really love triangle situation that was going on. I wish the author had either committed to it or left it alone entirely. The plot twists rely heavily on Shiori being naïve and making the same mistakes repeatedly and that got tiring to read about. I liked the first half but as the book went on I was just waiting to be done.

Overall, I’m not likely to remember this as anything more than a quick read to balance out my reading.

‘Six Crimson Cranes’ was one of my favourite books of 2021, so when I saw there was going to be a sequel, I couldn’t wait.
However, unfortunately the sequel disappointed me a bit. The story felt very slow-paced and almost like two separate stories that didn’t quite make sense together and made it feel very disjointed.
I do still love the authors beautiful writing and the characters it’s just it didn’t quite meet my expectations this time.

I love books about dragons and this one certainly did not disappoint. A headstrong princess’s promise to return a dragon’s pearl to it’s true owner leads her into many adventures. Will she succeed against all odds and at what cost? A wonderful imaginative tale I thoroughly recommend it.

This series accidentally ended up as one of my fave of all time. Lemme paint the picture: School gets a lil boring and I get A LOT trigger happy and I request this book. I hadn’t even read the first book…
But then I did read the first book and the only thing I could think about was reading this one. So I did!

This holds a special place in my heart. Not only did it feature waaay more of Seyru, the love interest who has my heart, but It was in the sea!! There is no better setting for a book. Jellyfish! Dragons! Court politics? I ain’t too sure about that last one, but hey it worked!

Like always, I’m so friggin proud of how our MC doesn’t die. OBVIOUSLY she isn’t as powerful as dragons. But she suddenly doesn’t gain ridiculous powers to achieve her goals! She is just awesome!! And smart! And yes she got help, but it never feels like plot armour or out of the blue randomness. Thigh at this point, this series is allowed to do whatever it wants and I would still go down swinging for it.

And ohmigosh the ending! It was PERFECT and I will take no objections at this time. Or any other time…

What a beautiful sequel to Six Crimson Cranes. I quickly fell back in love with Lim’s magical world. I did feel the story was a wee bit slow in the middle but I still absolutely loved it.
I loved watching Shiori develop into a strong individual, the family dynamics and the continuation of the slow burning romance!

Absolutely loved this!

Okay, I have a lot of thoughts and I am trying to collect them all into a coherent whole.

I read Six Crimson Cranes (the first book in this duology) in February and then was unable to pick anything else up because I was in a book hangover. Lim's writing is so wonderful and really conjures up the ambience of myth and fairytale, I was practically on drunk on it. The story itself kept me hooked and I really cared about all the characters.

Usually, when the first book is so good, the second or subsequent books are rarely able to live up to expectations. So I was careful to keep my expectations for The Dragon's Promise moderate. But I was still disappointed.

There was scope for a great and exciting plot when Shiori travels to the Dragons' realm with Seryu and I don't know why that wasn't sufficiently explored. This chunk of the story became pointless in the greater scheme of things and I didn't like that at all. Seryu is such an exciting character and I feel he wasn't utilised to his max potential. And the fact that he disappears not even halfway through the plot really didn't help. I was really looking forward to seeing more of him in this book because we he get much on him in the first one. No actually, I thought he was going to be really important in this book ( the "dragon's promise" and all, you know) so I was really put off when that didn't happen.

Then again, this time around the stakes weren't as high somehow and I didn't really care what was happening for the most part. And I realised that the major plot points were all already dealt with in the first book so there wasn't much left to be done in this one. Like the romance, for example. Takkan and Shiori's relationship was already at a very good place, and nothing changes in this book. I really would have liked Takkan to have more personality. His stillness , maturity and patience steadily turned into blandness. Like how is a person never insecure, how is never saying anything but the right thing in every situation? At some point, he felt more like an ideal than a person and I stopped caring.

Shiori was at atleast the same. She was consistently growing and becoming a better version of herself so that was great. Again, the plot felt really dragged on and I would've really liked for it to end sooner. It also became a little repetitive with all the 'need to save someone, do something rash, almost get killed and then not die' thing going on. All in all, I didn't like it as much as I wanted to but I'll definitely look forward to the author's future work. :)

i think characters like shiori and takkan can only remain charming for one book - the more i got of them, the more they started to wear me out (although i admit their romance is cute). there were a couple of new characters introduced who had a lot of potential but sadly they turned out to be pointless and played no significant role in the plot.

honestly, the dragon's promise feels a bit of an unnecessary book to me - six crimson cranes would've worked perfectly well as a standalone.

despite it all, i'm being generous with my rating because this is still a fast-paced, compulsively readable book with a nice writing style and if you really really love the characters, i think you'll like it (most of the early reviews are positive so i might be in the minority).

Overall a good book.

Thanks, Netgalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.
O was so excited to see my profile approved for an Arc that I read this in one go.
Magnificent work. You get totally lost in the beautiful world that the author creates. This book takes the world building of Shiori's world, basically the land of Dragons, to a whole new level. It was magical experience. I really wanted for Shiori and Seryu to be an end game ever since book one, but O still appreciate the very special friendship that they formed through all trials that both of them had to endure. Both books really deserve some sort of media visualization - graphic novel, movie or anything. It is real magical experience for the mind and it should be for the eyes as well! Can't wait to read more amazing novels form the author!

Finished reading 2 - 17 March

Less than 5-word critique; exciting and magical.

"The Dragon's Promise" is like a movie sequel that is just as good as the original. I myself enjoyed this more than its predecessor for reasons I don't want to spoil. On an extra note, this duology would be perfect to see as a film or TV series,

After the events of "Six Crimson Cranes", Princess Shiori must undergo some challenges that will test her on everything she knows and loves, including going to the kingdom of dragons and facing off demons once again.

Lim does it again with her brilliant and beautiful writing.
Excellent characters and character development.
World-building is more expansive than ever and never lets you feel confused. It is a soaring experience.

Recommended to those who enjoy;
*"Mulan", "Dragonheart", and "Raya and the Last Dragon" vibes
*Strong-willed female protagonist who will protect what she cares about
*Complex humans and creatures
*Action-packed sequences that makes you feel you're watching a fantasy action movie
*Dragons
*Magic
*Family bonds
*Sweet romance with a lot of witty and adorable banter

Thank you so much NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this copy. I really loved and enjoyed the story.

P.S. The cover artwork is awesome and beautiful. A lot of praise to the artists as well.