Rant and Review: Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

 Hey people, I randomly picked this book off a library shelf, thinking I was going to DNF it, but I definitely needed to be corrected. I had seen this book on TikTok and wanted to try it. I had read some of it before and decided to give it a chance. And I am so happy that I did because this book is 4.5/5. 

This book is about a princess named Shiori. She is the princess of a kingdom called Kiata and has 6 other older brothers. Her other died while giving birth to her, so she has never met her real mother before. Her father, the king, remarried this random girl from a village to be her stepmother. No one knows her real name and who she really is. But anyway, this stepmother is like a snake lady or something because she likes snakes. I have no idea, but I liked it. Shiori is like a traditional princess. She has to marry this guy she knows nothing about and doesn't want to marry him, so she does forbidden magic, makes a paper crane talk, and meets a dragon. But the stuff happens, and she caught her stepmother doing some voodoo magic or something. The stepmother curses Shiori and her siblings. Shiori has to wear a bowl on her head and gets banished. No one can recognize her, and she cannot speak at all. If she does, her brothers will die. It's more complicated than that, but you get the idea. Her brothers are turned into SIX CRIMSON CRANES and cannot be recognized. So then she has to find her brothers and break the curse and whatnot. 

Now that the summary is over, I wanted to mention that this book has an Asian twist to the story called Six Swans. I found out about this when someone said it in a Goodreads review. Even though I have never read that story, I get the gist and how it is incorporated into the novel. It is a beautiful blend of the original story and something more interesting, which is brilliant. Not all fairytale-inspired books turn out great, but this one really hit the mark. 

But here comes the spoiler, so don't scroll down.

If you're done here, goodbye and happy reading. 

Alright. SO Takken, the betrothed guy, is significantly better than Shiori. OK. He works. But this dragon dude is impressive. He is funny and a dragon, and just WOW. Like why can't Shiori get this guy? Honestly, if there is a love triangle in the next book, I will cry. But we have Takken now. YAY?

Now I'm done. Loved this book and Happy Reading!