Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Her Radiant Curse

Before I say anything else, I have not read Six Crimson Cranes and I did not know until about 5 minutes ago that Her Radiant Curse is a prequel to it. I’ve slightly pieced things together that will probably connect the two books such as

Channi being the mother of Six Crimson Cranes’ protagonist who’s name I can’t remember.

The characters in this book were definitely a highlight, specifically Ukar. I never thought that my favorite character in a book would be the animal sidekick but he was fantastic and hilarious.
All of the characters were well developed and had reasons for their actions, even the worse actions that betrayed everyone that they cared about *cough cough*

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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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tarfishy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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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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