Reviews with content warning for Violence - Six Crimson Cranes

A very cozy and simple read, beautifully written and full of adventure, twists, and magic. Lacking in description at times which made me feel like I missed information. I was in love with the writing and adventure for 35 out of the 40 chapters. After that I felt like some things were both a bit rushed and strung out longer than necessary.

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emmacartlidge's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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jj_tj's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? No

5.0

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serenitypickle3's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

5.0

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robin1010's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful slow-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

4.0

This was a lovely book, very well written with gorgeous world building and interesting lore/magic systems. The protagonist was likeable and her victories felt hard won and worked for, and the romance for the most part was sweet. The plot started off very strong for the first two thirds, but kind of fell a bit flat towards the end. Regardless, I cannot wait to read the next book.

As I mentioned before, the world building was gorgeous and very well done. There were some occasions here and there where the author took a while to discuss it but it wasn't quite info-dump levels. Most of it was very naturally worked in, and I never felt lost lore wise. The magic system is more vague than not, but in this context it really works as its sort of presented to have its own autonomy in interpreting the wishes of the caster.

The characters were broadly fine. Shiori was a good lead, strong without being emotionless, and her genuine struggles and victories were hard won and satisfying.

Spoiler

Raikama was a fantastic character, and the little bits of breadcrumbs left around the earlier chapters were very well done in hind sight. I also liked the emphasis on found family she gave the novel - realising the song she'd sung through the whole novel came from Raikama and not her birth mother was a beautiful bit. Takkan fell a bit more flat, in all honesty. He doesn't really have a personality beyond Shiori, and it really shows when Hagese isn't there to work as a character foil. Speaking of - the villains like him and Zairena were frankly borderline one-dimensional. I get that they had complex motivations, but the comically evil way they act towards the lead from the get go really stripped it of a lot of its depth. It also weirdly felt like it undermined the theme the book had going with Raikama's reveal.

The plot was definitely a bit more of a slow burn, but done in a way that really let the complications and limitations Shiori was facing settle in properly. It felt quite genuinely like an impossible situation for Shiori to get out of for a decent chunk of the start. The build up was also excellent, lots of little things along the way adding fuel to the fire and pressure that Shiori had to act and act soon, which kept the plot from stagnating for too long.

Spoiler

My only gripe would be that the author spent a huge amount of time building the tensions for a frankly unsatisfying, quick solution with little to no consequences. Shiori's sudden ability to speak without harming her brothers was through no ability of her own and had no consequences, it really felt disappointing in comparison with the hard work we'd seen her put into the net. It also felt weirdly cheap to have Takkan have realised to some capacity the entire time that it was Shiori. A lot of their bonding had felt sweet and genuine because there was no sense of duty on his part here, he didn't have to love her, and it said something about his character that he was sympathising and getting feelings for someone ostracised by the rest of the castle. All this is undone with the reveal - their relationship feels flatter, and Takkan loses frankly vital personality. The scene where he discussed the letters with Shiori had felt absolutely beautiful at the time of reading it, but in hindsight was a weird attempt at a guilt trip.

The ending scene in the mountain is one that really sticks out to me, as it was wonderfully written and imaginative, and the image of following this red thread of fate through a mountain of demons was a powerful one.

Despite my complaining, did genuinely enjoy this one a lot, and its probably one of my favorite YA books of all time. Will definitely be reading the next one.

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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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squisheebee_'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book literally had me completely spellbound from the first page. Literally ran to order the sequel AND the authors book for a separate series. Like omfg. Yes it’s YA. Yes the pros is super easy to ready but god is it beautifully written AND the story!? Don’t get me started. I will not take slander about this book. If it was not for you that’s fine, but it was certainly for me. 😇

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cecinamo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

It was an incredible story! I read the Six Swans fairy tale as a kid, so this book was somehow quite nostalgic to me xD. The main character is absolutely amazingly written. The side characters too! I especially liked

Spoiler

Raikama! I thought her story was so interesting and the relationship between her and Shiori was so cute ;^;. It was a nice twist to make the stepmother kind instead of evil like in the original fairytale

. Also Seryu was robbed ;-; He was such a cool character and we didn’t see enough of him.. I liked Takkan, but he seemed a little to perfect… Would definitely recommend this book tho!!

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