Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Six Crimson Cranes

First of all, how beautiful is this cover?

I really enjoyed this book. It was a slow start for me but, when the story really started to gain traction I got completely addicted. Great world building, amazing scenarios, character with such a rich and interesting background - these are the things we can enjoy when reading this book. I love Shiori strength, the way that she overcame everything that was thrown in her way. Even when everything was hopeless.

I can't wait for the next 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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saintyeehaw'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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chrisljm'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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

amazing

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thenareads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

this was a good book. i didn’t really like it at first and i considered putting it down because the main character was very unlikeable in the beginning and the plot was too slow, but once it got to the main part of the plot, it picked up the pace quickly—even too quickly in some parts. it definitely felt rushed at certain points and i wish the author had let some plot developments linger for longer

Spoiler

(like when one of her brothers got mad at shiori, it felt very realistic because my mind had gone to that too before she even found them, but i was so disappointed that he got over it in one night. especially since it was implied that she was the least close with this brother. i know the author wanted to emphasise family with this book, but i would’ve liked it more if he stayed angry at her for a longer time before eventually forgiving her. i feel like that would’ve been more realistic, but it felt rushed and forced especially when he began to train her.)

though i loved the worldbuilding, some characters, and plot, they all just felt lacking in certain ways, which is my biggest critique of this book. none of what happened in this book is bad or unnecessary, i just feel like they either weren’t formed naturally enough to immerse the reader or was rushed too fast. some dynamics, relationships, and arcs that could’ve been prolonged throughout the course of the book—and maybe even the next one—were limited to one or two chapters at most, like the book cannot have more than 3 ongoing subplots/arcs at the same time. i feel like if the author just took more time to fill in the empty parts a bit, the book would’ve been richer and easier to read in certain places. besides that, though, i love the characters and plot enough that i’m excitedly anticipating the 2nd book!

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erinaskelley's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.5

I thought that this was a really fun fantasy story, especially considering that one of my favorite fairytales growing up was the six swans (the pictures in the book were so pretty!). I think that Lim is excellent at weaving tales into her novels, either as the base or just mentioned in the story itself. I really enjoyed when Shiori was in Iro, but the pacing of the story as a whole wasn't my favorite. Maybe it's because I stopped being used to very long books and this sort of style of high fantasy (and, come to think of it, duologies/series) but I think that some parts felt really fast, whereas some parts felt much slower. It did do a good job of matching with what her mood would have been but I think I might have enjoyed some more lingering on some aspects of the story. I hope we get more exploration of some particular things in the second book!

Spoiler

I hope she isn't really separated from her beloved for years

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rensreading's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

when people said it gave them studio ghibli vibes, they really weren’t kidding! still, i had my doubts so it kind of caught me off guard how right these people were about it.

it took me a hot sec to figure out which area of asia this story was drawing inspiration from though. i think i may have just been confused by the studio ghibli comments but idk. the elements of chinese folklore became more clear only once someone pointed them out to me so im probably just slow. the red string of fate was a dead giveaway for sure though.

the plot was okay. it took a little too long to start in my opinion and certain details were brought up in the very end to try and link them as an explanation for why the beginning was so long but it still felt clunky. it seemed like lim had a plan™️ for her ending but didn’t execute it smoothly enough to make sense. there was just a lot of rushing at the end, which i get because its the end but the change of pace was weird and kind of unnecessary too. slow and steady wins the race after all.

i didn’t really care for our mc or how she seemed to enrapture two boys. the romance was just meh to me. it felt like it was missing something but i honestly couldn’t tell you what it was. probably just plain old chemistry. either way, i thought there would be more emphasis on her brothers since they’re the whole reason she’s trying to break the curse anyway but, sadly, we get to learn very little about them. instead we get a good chunk of the book about someone else’s sibling instead :)) how fun :)))

all in all, this was an okay read. there definitely were some overdone cliches and hiccups in the plot but it wasn’t enough to make me dislike this book either.

Spoiler

i didn’t care for the random power-ups or how quickly the stepmother was forgiven though.

all of that should have been expanded on for sure.

because of all of the above, i give this 4 stars

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lmaloney's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

4.0

An adventure.
.
It was so fun! I really enjoyed the pace and the twist at every turn !

Liked: magic, cultural landscape, the map, hidden indentity trope, stacrossed lovers, humour, revelations!

Disliked: pace, why was Shiori seemingly competing with every girl she met besides her sister in law and a paperbird, very boy centric, very cishet…

4 stars xxxx

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