Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Six Crimson Cranes

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

29 reviews

mariahmmm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This is a beautiful retelling of my favourite fairytale (Grimm's "The Six Swans"), transported to an Asian-inspired fantasy world mixed with traditional myths and folklore.

When Princess Shiori stumbles upon her hateful stepmother (the Nameless Queen) casting dark magic, her stepmother retaliates by transforming Shiori's six brothers into crimson cranes and cursing Shiori to be unrecognisable. The only way to reverse the curse is to gather and weave a net of the wickedly painful starstroke nettle and cast it over her stepmother while saying the Nameless Queen's true name. On her journey with Kiki (a paper crane she brought to life), Shiori will cross paths with an insufferable dragon, warlords, assassins, and her loathsome betrothed. Through it all, Shiori must guard her tongue, and her heart, as for each sound she utters, one of her brothers will die...

The Asian twist made so much sense and really enhanced the story! However, there was far too much going on and it felt like there were multiple disconnected stories crammed in. Most of the twists were incredible, but the major one was disappointing and definitely felt wrong for how the whole book had set things up (but I still wept like a baby after the revelation...). The romance, too, felt unnatural with unbelievable choices and circumstances pulling me out of the story.

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estock36's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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williamabookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad 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

3.75

An immersive read, a strong and authentically written, genuine appearing female main character, a cute quirky sidekick, a very cute slow burn and of course magic and a dragon, all set in ancient china. This was a premise of what I liked, what I didn't care for was the changing pace that was too slow sometimes, hence the often dragging story, the tenseness and so the lack of light-heartedness and the amount of pain that is thrust on the main character.

</Also the lack of a happy end was displeasing (not that there wasn't one), it just basically immediately started with the second book without any celebration of the overcome hurdles and problems./ In conclusion a magical mythical read which was good but not great on my opinion. Still looking forward to the second book.

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claudan's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? N/A

4.0

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fragrant_stars's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

My god I am starstruck by this book. I cannot wait to devour the sequel!! I loved the characters, and my heart genuinely ached for the main character as she went through her struggles. The Wild Swans was one of my very favourite fairytales as a child and as a Chinese person seeing this beloved myth retold as a East Asian fantasy was so thrilling to me that I procrastinated for maybe a whole year. I was so nervous because I desperately wanted to love this book, but if I could go back now I'd be shrieking at my past self to dive right in post haste.

One of the things I loved best was how much agency was given to Shiori as a character. The blurb on the back of the book suggested to me that she would be getting a lot more help from Seryu, but as I read the book

that didn't seem to be the case. Yes, he helped Shiori in some key moments, but most of the time Shiori got on using her wits. I also thought, based on something Seryu had said in an earlier chapter, that Shiori being forced to not use her words would eventually figure out to use wordless magic, and maybe that would be what saved the day- but no, not even that.

Mostly wits. I found that brilliant.

My only regret is that the Raikama, the main antagonist / twist villain / antihero of the story, died before all the loose ends could be satisfactorily tied together. Then again, I guess that's just life for ya. Death doesn't really tie things neatly, so I guess that makes sense. Even before she was revealed to be more than she seemed I could already sort of tell- which, trust me, it was a good thing and it felt soooo rewarding when my guesses turned out right!! Made me feel like I'd have loved to see a few more scenes with her before she left the story.

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broccoli_j's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

I think this book has to grow on you! It has a relatively slow start, but I have never read a book with such an original take on the „chosen one“ Trope.

The worldbuilding, the characterarcs and the magic system are just insane and the story uses the found family trope in such a unique way!

This was a great first book and I’m excited for the rest of the series!!!

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lotoblanco's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-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? No

5.0

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monniebiloney's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This book really reminded me of the movie BRAVE (Disney)
It's definitely its own thing, but it is weirdly similar on the bases of it's exciting insidient.

If you liked Brave, you will LOVE Six Chrimson Crains.

I love that I didn't read the back of the book, cuz some of my favorite plot points that grabbed me by surprise were greatly spoiled on the back of the book.

So please, just read the first page to see if you'd like the book

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the_books_music_life's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

5.0

I was very wary and had low expectations going into this book and honestly, I don’t really know why. It could have been because of how big the book is, the words and names I knew I was going to mispronounce, or because it is a retelling I’m not at all familiar with. Whatever my reasons were for being weary this book OBLITERATED them.

I ADORE this book so very much. The writing was lyrical and descriptive, the characters are so well developed and their flaws and the struggles they faced helped the characters grow in a way that was slow but felt real. The magic system was honestly amazing. Not once was I confused about the magic system, everything is explained in a way that makes it easy for the reader to grasp. This book and its magic system is probably one of my favorite magic systems.

Don’t even get me started on the world building. I want to visit this world, I want to eat the food that is mentioned and I want to meet a dragon!

I loved watching Shiori grow from a pampered princess to the woman she is at the end of the story. The things she faced and went through changed her, but changed her for the better. They didn’t deter her and she never complained, she took lessons from everything she was faced with and it made her stronger.

The relationship between Shiori and her brothers was incredibly sweet and felt real. I know as the youngest I have my ‘favorite sister’ just like Shiori had a favorite brother. I think it’s something every sibling does/haves.

Elizabeth Lim has a way with writing that just grabs you and sucks you into the world and the story.

I was SHOCKED at the big twist. I can’t say too much about it because of spoilers but you know what villain twist I mean if you’ve read it.

I love me some morally grey characters.

The romance wasn’t so front and center, all in your face. It was a nice slow build that made me fall in love with Shiroi and Takan.

I would definitely recommend going the audiobook route if you’re worried about mispronouncing things.

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fatherprozac's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

I think I was so entranced by the gorgeous cover art that I set my expectations too high. The writing in this book has a huge problem with telling rather than showing, which robbed all the key moments of their tension and emotional impact. Shiori never really develops as a character, either. We are told that she is stronger, smarter, tougher but that is never shown to be true. In fact, she constantly sees a bad choice, recognizes it as a bad choice, and chooses it anyway literally just because and then acts surprised that it turned out poorly. Rinse and repeat for the entire book.

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