Reviews with content warning for Violence - Her Radiant Curse

This has been exactly the adventure book I was craving. Mysterious magic, curses, animal friends, epic battles and struggles against destiny/forces beyond one’s control.

The prose was excellent, I wouldn’t say spellbinding, but it suited the action of the book very well. I loved the pacing as well, I thought we were given enough glimpses of other characters and their thoughts/motivations.

The “curse” is the main driving force of the plot - and that does, at times, make some things feel like they’re taking a backseat. That said, I found no issue with it because it *made sense* that the curse should be the main focus as it was the thing that Channi struggled with her whole life. The action scenes were great as well, and I absolutely liked the action crescendo at the end of the book, including the final resolutions (as much as I cried and sobbed because of what happened).

Channi is definitely the star of the show, with Ukar - her snake friend - coming in close second. But the other characters are also fleshed out well-enough, including the antagonist.

The magic was also great and I think overall things were cohesive when it came to it. Would definitely read this again.

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pastelmeganes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

When i read Six Crimson Cranes i remember saying “i need a full story in just channari” and boy was i excited when she announced this prequel. I preordered IMMEDIATELY and it did not disappoint. This story was a tale of Channari and her struggles with her sister’s(Vanna) fate as well as her own. It was beautifully written and Lim’s world building is so seamless and extravagant. coming from a brother whom was envious of his younger brother for similar things as these two really tugged at my heartstrings and struck a major cord with me. Although she was envious she adored Vanna and tried to defy her sister’s destiny as well as her own. The perspective of both gave a sense of “the grass isnt greener on the other side” which was executed flawlessly. Hokzuh’s part in the story didnt feel forced which was nice and his chemistry with Channa felt natural which was one of my critiques with Six Crimson Cranes. Although a dragon, Hokzuh had a lot of depth for the role he played. Lim has won me over again after her fumble with “The Dragons Promise” imo. I need her next work already!

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a_novi's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I loved this prequel. It does give a lot of interesting background information for the main series but there was a part that really disappointed me at the end. Of course if you read this book last in the series you know

Oshli said in a dragons promise that he has “always wondered” if it was really Vanna that was buried in the jungle. But in the end of her radiant curse oshli SEES Channari and says he realized that it was her soon after the change. Then he asks her to permit him to speak Vanna’s name. So he KNEW that the nameless queen was Channari and she agreed not to take his memories. So that’s a pretty big continuity error that really killed it for me.

I’m going to pretend not to know about it to make me feel better about it. Other than the continuity error it was a great book.

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notapenguin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

it’s the second time i cried.

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morininung's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

a romance that broke my heart & a sisterly bond that helped put the pieces back together

going in knowing exactly how this story was supposed to turn out did not help. i cried through most of the book anyway and had to look back through SCC and DP hundreds of times just to connect all the tiny details, which only hurt me more.

channi and vanna possess a special kind of connection, and their shared empathy makes them a fun pairing to read about. no matter how far her quest takes her, no matter if she found a piece of her heart in someone else, channi proves, time and time again, that her sister comes first. it's a selfless act that lost her the one person, besides vanna, who understood and accepted her as she was, in all her flaws and all her wrongs, but it's a necessary sacrifice. it's expected yet refreshing, even if i am incredibly torn about the fate of her lover.

the chokehold EL has over me grows stronger each day, and i am now confident that if she ever wants me to rake all my life savings over to her, all she will need to do is ask. i wouldn't even blink. i would die defending this woman and her books.

anyway, this is, by far, her best work. i take no criticism.

quotes that made me want to gouge my eyes out

Is it the cage that makes them admire him and revile me? Would I be an attraction like the dragon if I were chained and imprisoned?

"Are we enemies then?"
A muscle ticks in his jaw. "Enemies want to hurt each other. I don't want to hurt you."

Never will I apologize for being the monster they made me.

"Butterflies celebrate all love, Channi, because every love is precious. And mine for you, above all. That love is forever."

"She didn't love me until the end. She loved you from the beginning."

The snakes will be your family no matter where you go. From this life to the next, they will remember you. Ukar dips his head. Lady White Snake.

quotes that made me kick my feet

We're a breath apart, and it's an odd sort of intimacy: how well I know the chart of his veins, the throbbing pulse points across his body, the lean muscles cording his arms. How much I want to best him in a fight.

"Finally, you admit you like me."
"I didn't say I liked—"
"You're going to be the doom of me, aren't you?"
"What?"
He winks. "It's those snake eyes. I can't resist them."

"Why did you come back?" I ask.
Another bite. He takes a sudden interest in his plate and I almost think he won't answer. Then he says: "Isn't it obvious?"

I hold my breath as our fingers uncurl at the same time, palms flat against each other. It's as intimate as a kiss, standing like this, locked by our hands.

"Did I ever tell you that green is my favorite color?"

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rosemaryandrue's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Vanna and Channi are sisters, but they couldn't be more different - while Vanna is blessed with a strange glowing beauty, Channi has been cursed with the face of a snake and poisonous blood. As Vanna's seventeenth birthday approaches, Channi grows desperate to prevent her promised death at the hands of the demon witch Angma.

I did not realize until about halfway through this book that it is a prequel to Lim's Six Crimson Cranes duology, an East Asian-influenced retelling of the Six Swans that's been on my TBR for a while now. However, this book stands alone well and I didn't lose out by not having read those first.

This is a straightforward YA fantasy adventure, with a sympathetic heroine who grapples with issues of identity and belonging. I liked the relationship between Channi and Vanna, which is complex and loving, as well as Channi's friendship with the snake Ukar and her relationship with Hokzuh. The world-building is lush and sweeping, and the climax was tense and emotional.

I guess the only thing I didn't enjoy was that some plot elements were left untied. Some certainly must lead into the duology, but others seem to be just dismissed as incidental, such as what will happen to Meguh's throne after the events of the story. Channi's final choices also felt a little unsatisfying after the journey she goes on, probably because it felt like she chose that path because it was necessary to link the ending up with the starting point of the duology.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

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annaptobias's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Fulfilled all of my expectations and then some. Six Crimson Cranes was one of my favorite reads from 2023, and this novel filled in a lot of the gaps and made Channi the most complex character in this entire series. It genuinely made me want to re-read Six Crimson Cranes all over again, knowing what this character went through before becoming Raikama.

Elizabeth Lim writes such a good balance of intriguing plot and complex character development. I've come to realize that I enjoy novels where stuff is actually happening, and not so much when the characters are doing a lot of navel-gazing. Her action scenes are so well-written and exciting and keep moving the book forward, thus making it really tough to put down at times.

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fragrant_stars's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective relaxing tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Of all the books in the Six Crimson Crane series, this one has my heart. I loved SCC but this book? I adore this book. I feel like Elizabeth Lim was able to show off a bit more of her creativity for storytelling in this book compared to SCC and she really really did not disappoint. I will be thinking about this story universe for days.

I initially picked up SCC because I'm always eager for a good East Asian fantasy- and I was very much delighted by the world Lim described in books one and two. My heart skipped a beat in book two when I realised that Raikama's-- Channari's-- home was inspired by Southeast Asian culture, and now there's a whole book's worth of story about it? I could have jumped for joy. As a Chinese-Indonesian, I'm so happy to see snippets of both my cultures in this story.

Don't get me wrong, Shiori is a plenty loveable character in her own right, but my favourite has always Raikama, so learning more about her in this book was basically everything I wanted. I can't help but feel that Channari was the real protagonist all along, over these last three books. I love her so damn much.

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