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A review by crybabybea
Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I'm sad because I really wanted to love this but it just wasn't it for me.
This leans more toward the younger side of YA, which isn't bad but means the world and writing is quite simple, and the stakes don't feel as high as they could. The premise of the book is so interesting and unique - a main character who can't speak and uncovers a plot to take the throne. But, her not being able to speak doesn't actually matter at all, except that she can't tell anyone her true identity. People understand her perfectly, and the consequences for her being mute and cursed with an unremovable bowl on her head are nearly irrelevant.
I felt like this book tried to do too much at once. I found the weaving together of fairy tales (the main two being Hachikazuki and The Wild Swans) interesting and a unique take on a retelling. However, being YA, a lot of time was spent on the love story aspect which felt lackluster and caused the pacing to drag horribly in the middle of the book. The story was all over the place with fairytales, magic, love, battles, multiple antagonists, changing settings... it was just a lot and it caused the quality of the main plot to suffer.
The world didn't feel very clear to me, it was a pan-Asian fantasy setting that pulled from Chinese, Japanese, and Korean culture and didn't really have an identity of its own. The magic system still doesn't make all that much sense to me which really makes the last twist for our main character fall flat. It felt like the magic only existed as a plot device to invent either conflict or resolutions for Shiori. Her paper crane familiar, Kiki, is cute but was used to unnaturally move the plot forward. Same for Seryu, the dragon.
The characters were also quite flat and uninteresting. The whole emotional investment of the story comes from Shiori's desire to save her brothers, but we are never introduced to their personalities enough to care, the narrative just tells us who they are and how they act but they spend the entire story as cranes and we rarely interact with them. The main love interest is sweet but he very much falls into the Prince Charming role and doesn't have much complexity. The coolest character is a shapeshifting dragon but he disappears after we meet him and only shows up as a plot device once or twice in the story. I will say I did like our main character, Shiori, and her growth as a character felt satisfying and realistic.
As a fairytale retelling, this is fun and wholesome, and I especially enjoyed the weaving in of East Asian mythology/fairy tales as well as the way the author turned some of the tropes of the genre on its head. I did like the writing and the ideas of the author so I'm not completely turned off from trying something by Elizabeth Lim again though!
This leans more toward the younger side of YA, which isn't bad but means the world and writing is quite simple, and the stakes don't feel as high as they could. The premise of the book is so interesting and unique - a main character who can't speak and uncovers a plot to take the throne. But, her not being able to speak doesn't actually matter at all, except that she can't tell anyone her true identity. People understand her perfectly, and the consequences for her being mute and cursed with an unremovable bowl on her head are nearly irrelevant.
I felt like this book tried to do too much at once. I found the weaving together of fairy tales (the main two being Hachikazuki and The Wild Swans) interesting and a unique take on a retelling. However, being YA, a lot of time was spent on the love story aspect which felt lackluster and caused the pacing to drag horribly in the middle of the book. The story was all over the place with fairytales, magic, love, battles, multiple antagonists, changing settings... it was just a lot and it caused the quality of the main plot to suffer.
The world didn't feel very clear to me, it was a pan-Asian fantasy setting that pulled from Chinese, Japanese, and Korean culture and didn't really have an identity of its own. The magic system still doesn't make all that much sense to me which really makes the last twist for our main character fall flat. It felt like the magic only existed as a plot device to invent either conflict or resolutions for Shiori. Her paper crane familiar, Kiki, is cute but was used to unnaturally move the plot forward. Same for Seryu, the dragon.
The characters were also quite flat and uninteresting. The whole emotional investment of the story comes from Shiori's desire to save her brothers, but we are never introduced to their personalities enough to care, the narrative just tells us who they are and how they act but they spend the entire story as cranes and we rarely interact with them. The main love interest is sweet but he very much falls into the Prince Charming role and doesn't have much complexity. The coolest character is a shapeshifting dragon but he disappears after we meet him and only shows up as a plot device once or twice in the story. I will say I did like our main character, Shiori, and her growth as a character felt satisfying and realistic.
As a fairytale retelling, this is fun and wholesome, and I especially enjoyed the weaving in of East Asian mythology/fairy tales as well as the way the author turned some of the tropes of the genre on its head. I did like the writing and the ideas of the author so I'm not completely turned off from trying something by Elizabeth Lim again though!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury