Keywords: The wild swans retelling, Hans Christian Andersen inspired, Asian mythology, Childhood Stories, Young Adult

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Length: short medium long

Country: USA

Synopsis from Goodreads

A princess in exile, a shapeshifting dragon, six enchanted cranes, and an unspeakable curse….

Shiori’anma, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted. But it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother.

A sorceress in her own right, Raikama banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes. She warns Shiori that she must speak of it to no one: for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.

Penniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and uncovers a dark conspiracy to seize the throne. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in a paper bird, a mercurial dragon, and the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she’s been taught all her life to forswear – no matter what the cost.

Weaving together elements of The Wild Swans, Cinderella, the legend of Chang E, and the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, Elizabeth Lim has crafted a fantasy like no other, and one that will stay with listeners long after they’ve turned listened to the last minute.

Review

If there is one genre of books that I don’t think I’ll ever consider myself too old for or ever get tired of, it is retellings of childhood stories. Now, granted, I do not believe that anything can surpass those stories; the emotional connection, the memories, the vivid images we created in our minds while reading them for the first time, all of that simply cannot be recreated. But I do enjoy a good retelling every now and then, which is why I pretty much grabbed Six Crimson Cranes, a title that is quite a mouthful if you actually have to pronounce it ( I dare you to try saying it out loud a few times).

And Elizabeth Lim truly delivered a very enjoyable story.

Six Crimson Cranes draws on multiple childhood stories and mythologies like the blurb already announces. Between you and me, The Wild Swans was my favourite childhood story. I couldn’t tell you exactly why, but I still remember the incredibly vivid imagery I had in my mind when I first read it, and I think that probably explains some of the nostalgia I felt while reading this book.

Main Character: Shiori/ Shiori’anma

Six Crimson Cranes follows Shiori, a princess who, naturally, is not going to be like all the other princesses. For one thing, she is a glutton. She loves food and seems to think in terms of sweets, cakes and biscuits, which is admittedly a very familiar trope (the “not like other girls” one, the “gimme food” part was unique to me as I could only think of Nina Zenik of Six of Crows), but one that I found rather endearing here. She is also deeply loved by her six brothers and is meant to marry a prince she has never met, has lots of prejudice about and, most importantly, has absolutely no desire to marry. She also has a stepmother, Raikama, who was probably one of my favourite characters in the story, although very much for emotional rather than rational reasons. You’ll have to read the story to see why.

Plot

The story opens with Shiori running away from her engagement, making a fool of both her future fiancé and her own kingdom because, well, running away from your arranged marriage is probably not considered the height of diplomatic etiquette. She ends up at a lake, where she encounters and is saved by a dragon AND we discover that she possesses magic. This is rather inconvenient, considering that magic has been banned in her kingdom.

Things become considerably worse when Shiori is cursed and sent away by Raikama. And she isn’t the only one affected. Her six brothers are transformed into cranes, while Shiori is cursed with a bowl covering her head and forbidden from speaking about what has happened:every word she speaks will cost one of her brothers his life.

You can imagine how difficult that makes things.

Shiori eventually ends up in the kitchen of a particularly unpleasant woman, where her love of food becomes surprisingly useful. She knows how to cook, and from there begins a series of adventures, trials and tribulations that eventually bring her back into the orbit of the very prince she ran away from, Takkan.

Meanwhile, her brothers are not simply sitting around waiting to be rescued. They are trying to find a way to break the curse themselves, and I think this is where the book really shines.

The highlights

For me, the highlight of Six Crimson Cranes was the relationships between the characters.

Although Shiori’s brothers spend much of the story as cranes and only become human at night, you can genuinely feel that they are siblings. Their banter, their disagreements over what they should do, their different opinions regarding breaking the curse and the sacrifice that entails, the way they warn one another and look out for each other all create a convincing sense of brotherhood. And importantly, it isn’t an idealised relationship. They don’t all get along equally well, Shiori is naturally closer to some of them than others, and there are misunderstandings and disagreements. But that is precisely what makes the relationship feel real.

“One doesn’t need magic to be dangerous, Shiori,” Benkai replied. “A reputation is all it takes to spread fear. And fear is a mighty weapon.”

I also really enjoyed the relationship between Shiori and Raikama.

There is a constant sense that something about Raikama’s behaviour does not quite add up. The things she has done, and the things she does before and after the curse, don’t entirely fit with the personality of someone who simply wants evil for these children and their kingdom. There is a persistent tension between appearances, actions and what we think we know about her, and I thought that added another layer of depth to the story.

Then there is Shiori and Takkan.

“I would tell you stories from dawn to dusk if it meant filling your eyes with happiness.”

This is a young adult fantasy, so you have to approach it with the appropriate mindset. There is a very familiar romantic trope at work here, and while I did feel that Takkan didn’t necessarily have enough reason to fall in love with Shiori as deeply as he did, that was something I could easily overlook. What I appreciated much more was the pacing of their relationship. Their feelings don’t develop overnight, but they also don’t drag on forever. There are misunderstandings, they get resolved, and the relationship develops naturally enough within the conventions of the genre.

More importantly, neither of them completely loses themselves once they fall in love. They don’t suddenly decide that their responsibilities, their kingdoms and everything else in their lives no longer matter because love conquers all. They remain the people they were before they fell in love, and I was genuinely happy to see that.

The antagonist was also very well handled, particularly because of the misdirection involved. For much of the story, you are convinced that you know who the real villain is. And even when things begin to look different, you still don’t have the complete picture. I thought that kept the story engaging and gave it a nice sense of mystery.

And then there is Seryu, the dragon prince.

I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed by how little page space he gets in this first book, because given the grandeur of his character, I expected him to play a much bigger role. His role becomes more prominent in the second book, but, unfortunately, this brings me to my one major problem with Six Crimson Cranes as a whole.

The problem

There is a second book… I am very sorry to Elizabeth Lim, but I genuinely don’t think we needed it.

The adventures Shiori goes on in the second book simply did not work for me. In fact, I felt that almost everything I appreciated about Shiori in the first book was taken away from her. She becomes incredibly clumsy and, at times, astonishingly foolish, constantly getting herself into situations without apparently thinking about what she is going to do once she gets there. And Seryu’s role becomes incredibly strange. There is something resembling a love triangle, except not quite, and the whole thing felt messy rather than compelling.

The second book felt like it had surrendered completely to the tropes that the first book had managed to navigate well enough to not deter the reader from the plot.

So I finished it, but mostly because I wanted to say that I had finished the duology. I will not be reviewing it because, frankly, I don’t think I have the patience, the nerves or the emotional maturity required to write an objective review of that book. I really did not like it.

Closing words

If you listen to me and to the many readers who have made similar observations, and simply stop after the first book, Six Crimson Cranes is a very entertaining read.

Overall, if you’re an adult who still has a soft spot for childhood stories and enjoys seeing them transformed into something new, I would recommend Six Crimson Cranes. And if you’re a young adult looking for a fantasy with magic, curses, dragons, sibling relationships, romance and a good dose of fairy-tale nostalgia, I think this is a very nice choice as well.

Just don’t blame me if you decide to read the second book, I warned you.

Next week, I don’t know whether we’ll have a review. I am finally going back to work after quite a long holiday, which is why I’ve managed to produce considerably more reviews lately. Hopefully, though, I will finish Taiwan Travelogue, a book I’ve been trying to get my hands on for ages, and perhaps that will be our next review.

Until then, have a great week and keep on reading.