Book Review: The Dragons Promise
Book two of the Six Crimson Cranes book series. We were left on a slight cliff hanger where Shiori is tasked to give a pearl back to its owner and thus leaves her home, family and betrothed to travel to the realm of the dragon king. The problem is that the pearl is broken, bleeding unspeakable power that can mend or devastate the world.
So here is the thing: I enjoy a fantasy novel every now and then, and this was a fun one. It was full of adventure, trials, tribulations and a sweet, tender love. For those who love ACOTAR, this might not be for you, for when I say ‘sweet and tender love’ I’m afraid that this book has zero spice. It is a tale that is to charm, not to scandalise. The heroine is more concerned with her family and saving the lives of those she loves, bringing magic back to Kiata and fulfilling her promise. Zero spice! You have been warned.
I did enjoy this book, I did. I love a headstrong girl who has a hell of a lot of growing up to do to realise that not everything is about her. I liked Shiori as a character even though she is incredibly selfish. I would put it down to her being incredibly spoilt as a child, her lack of ambition, and general cheekiness. But the real problem for me lay in the plotlines of the book, and yes, I mean plotLINES. It’s not bad, it’s just a lot happens, and it is very condensed to the point where it feels like there are multiple novels crammed into one. It was as though the author was trying to cram in as many ideas as possible to complete the story. While the book is a duology, it may have worked better as a trilogy, spread the plot out a little and give the characters time to breathe and develop, heighten the pressure and raise the stakes further. But that is not what happened; it didn't truly feel as though I could appreciate the story with so much going on at once.
I will end on a high though. I may have said in my previous review that I love the fact that we have an asian female lead. And I did, we need more of them! Asian culture is diverse and beautiful, and the legends, myths and stories that have been passed down for thousands of years are relatively unknown in the West. Yet some of them are slowly making their way into western consciousness, one of my favourites was mentioned, the tale of 1000 cranes. Look it up its a beautiful tale. So the book is worth reading if you fancy a whirl into asian culture where it takes centre stage.