xparisn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
leyfe's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
2.75
eggcatsreads's review against another edition
2.0
I might try to sit down and do a real review later, but as of now: Mild spoilers below.
Shiori isn't a character but more of a vessel for things to happen TO her to make the plot move forward and she's a boring main character.
We leave the dragon realm and Seryu on page 148, and both are never seen again (except for a literal cameo in the epilogue to try to make us forget that he was basically ripped from the narrative)
The book is called The Dragon's Promise but the big promise we have to care about wasn't even with a dragon, it was Shiori's stepmother, and our entire trip to the Dragon Realm wasn't even relevant to the rest of the plot. The first 30% of the book has almost nothing to do with the last, and the getting to the demon island was almost pointlessly boring and short-lived by the time it happened.
The plot (if you can call it that) suddenly changes gears and gives us a more relevant ending, completely estranged from the middle of the book, in the literal last 60 pages. The first 148 pages are the dragon realm, the next about 250 pages are a middle plot completely different with the most pointless "battle" and solution to the "big bad guy" and the drama being a stupid plot device by the stupid talking paper bird, and then the last 60 pages are a completely DIFFERENT ending and solution to the narrative. And then Seryu comes back (only alluded to) as a Deus ex Machina to keep Shiori alive because Seryu only exists to love her and keep her safe, that's it.
Literally every side character is more interesting than the main ones. I am infinitely more interested in how the half-dragons came to be and her stepmother's past than Shiori trying and failing every other page and then whining that she's "betrayed" by people she met the day before and constantly fluctuating between being competent at magic or failing terribly, depending on whatever is needed to move the story forward.
Shiori has the option of a literal dragon prince who gave her a piece of his soul and not only risked his life to protect her, but reached his full dragon potential to take on the god of the dragon's to save her. And she chooses the human. The human???? Who is just some guy??? Takkan is fine on his own but c'mon now, compared to Seryu where is the competition.
It's such an insult how much Seryu isn't even an option as a love interest, his entire character is being in love with Shiori and keeping her safe and her rejecting him. Why does he even need to be in love with her at this point just make them friends if you're not even going to consider him.
--
Listen, I really wanted to like this book. I knew it might take a while, since it took a bit for Six Crimson Cranes to entice me to the 4 stars I gave it from the 2/3 it was hovering at for the longest time. But I couldn't. This book took so long for me to read, when normally I would have finished this within a day or so based on my normal pace. But this book sat at the mid-point for 2 days without me touching it bc it didn't interest me so much, to the point where I didn't even have the desire to continue the audiobook of it I was listening to. I had to just force myself to sit and finish this book just to finish the last 200 pages, when normally that would be just about 2-3 hours of reading.
It was a struggle because by that point I didn't care what would happen in the narrative, since we had taken out the character I was excited and expecting this book to focus on (Seryu) and instead brought back ANOTHER guy whose entire character trait is being in love with Shiori (Takkan) who is, I'm sorry, much more boring of a character and makes Shiori (another boring character) even worse to read about.
(Also I know it was a thing in the first book but god do I hate the trope of talking animal companion who is the most annoying being to walk the earth - why do these books keep including them???? Set the paper crane on fire I hated every interaction. The fact that the big bad demon got the name of the half-demon dragon because the stupid bird wouldn't shut up almost made me throw the book because it irritated me so much.)
Shiori isn't a character but more of a vessel for things to happen TO her to make the plot move forward and she's a boring main character.
We leave the dragon realm and Seryu on page 148, and both are never seen again (except for a literal cameo in the epilogue to try to make us forget that he was basically ripped from the narrative)
The book is called The Dragon's Promise but the big promise we have to care about wasn't even with a dragon, it was Shiori's stepmother, and our entire trip to the Dragon Realm wasn't even relevant to the rest of the plot. The first 30% of the book has almost nothing to do with the last, and the getting to the demon island was almost pointlessly boring and short-lived by the time it happened.
The plot (if you can call it that) suddenly changes gears and gives us a more relevant ending, completely estranged from the middle of the book, in the literal last 60 pages. The first 148 pages are the dragon realm, the next about 250 pages are a middle plot completely different with the most pointless "battle" and solution to the "big bad guy" and the drama being a stupid plot device by the stupid talking paper bird, and then the last 60 pages are a completely DIFFERENT ending and solution to the narrative. And then Seryu comes back (only alluded to) as a Deus ex Machina to keep Shiori alive because Seryu only exists to love her and keep her safe, that's it.
Literally every side character is more interesting than the main ones. I am infinitely more interested in how the half-dragons came to be and her stepmother's past than Shiori trying and failing every other page and then whining that she's "betrayed" by people she met the day before and constantly fluctuating between being competent at magic or failing terribly, depending on whatever is needed to move the story forward.
Shiori has the option of a literal dragon prince who gave her a piece of his soul and not only risked his life to protect her, but reached his full dragon potential to take on the god of the dragon's to save her. And she chooses the human. The human???? Who is just some guy??? Takkan is fine on his own but c'mon now, compared to Seryu where is the competition.
It's such an insult how much Seryu isn't even an option as a love interest, his entire character is being in love with Shiori and keeping her safe and her rejecting him. Why does he even need to be in love with her at this point just make them friends if you're not even going to consider him.
--
Listen, I really wanted to like this book. I knew it might take a while, since it took a bit for Six Crimson Cranes to entice me to the 4 stars I gave it from the 2/3 it was hovering at for the longest time. But I couldn't. This book took so long for me to read, when normally I would have finished this within a day or so based on my normal pace. But this book sat at the mid-point for 2 days without me touching it bc it didn't interest me so much, to the point where I didn't even have the desire to continue the audiobook of it I was listening to. I had to just force myself to sit and finish this book just to finish the last 200 pages, when normally that would be just about 2-3 hours of reading.
It was a struggle because by that point I didn't care what would happen in the narrative, since we had taken out the character I was excited and expecting this book to focus on (Seryu) and instead brought back ANOTHER guy whose entire character trait is being in love with Shiori (Takkan) who is, I'm sorry, much more boring of a character and makes Shiori (another boring character) even worse to read about.
(Also I know it was a thing in the first book but god do I hate the trope of talking animal companion who is the most annoying being to walk the earth - why do these books keep including them???? Set the paper crane on fire I hated every interaction. The fact that the big bad demon got the name of the half-demon dragon because the stupid bird wouldn't shut up almost made me throw the book because it irritated me so much.)
kavasprout's review against another edition
4.0
I was surprised with the route this book went down. I was expecting more Seryu and the dragon realm. I feel like his character got butchered a bit lol. He was very whiny in this and then just peaced out and we didn’t hear from the dragons again till the last chapter.
It was like… we meet all these characters and get lore on the dragons but then it got dropped and it’s about the demons. I liked how it was fast paced and the writing is great as always. I just wish it had more of a focus? It was a lot to get through at times lol.
I do agree with other reviewers that Six Crimson Cranes could’ve been a standalone! I did enjoy EL’s writing and the story, but yeah just some little things that make it so I can’t give the full five stars!
It was like… we meet all these characters and get lore on the dragons but then it got dropped and it’s about the demons. I liked how it was fast paced and the writing is great as always. I just wish it had more of a focus? It was a lot to get through at times lol.
I do agree with other reviewers that Six Crimson Cranes could’ve been a standalone! I did enjoy EL’s writing and the story, but yeah just some little things that make it so I can’t give the full five stars!
kirsty_11's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
nith's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
relaxing
fast-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
4.0
nightowl_stacks's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I was so looking forward to this sequel of SCC (that book was sooo good), but this book did nothing but disappoint. I wish SCC was a standalone book. There were so many different plots in this book that were left unexplored. And it draggggggged on for way longer than necessary. Thi one book could have easily been 3-4 different books.
The characters, the plot, the flow, the pacing...no, just no!
The characters, the plot, the flow, the pacing...no, just no!
schnedlington's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
4.0
isolde_'s review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
3.75