Six Crimson Cranes

A fascinating story, mainly based on the fairy tale "The Wild Swans" but its own added elements, about a princess, her enchanted brothers and a stepmother. But the tale gets twisty towards the end as the author throws in her own variations.

Princess Shiori possesses magic, which she hides, in a kingdom where magic has been banned by the gods. But on the day she is meant to be betrothed to a prince, she runs away, setting in motion events that would cause her stepmother to curse her brothers to be turned into cranes. As for her, she is cursed to remain silent or cause the death of her brothers with every word she says and cast out of the kingdom. As she finds her brothers and struggles to return to the castle, she discovers the way to break the curse. But doing so would cause her much pain, and the journey leads through the fortress of the prince she was meant to marry.

It is here that things start to change, when she discovers the prince is not as 'barbaric' as she initially though. But conspiracies in the fortress thwart her as she struggles to complete her painful task, and she begins to get second thoughts on her stepmother, and the reasons she and her brothers were cursed. It would all come to a climax at the end as plot twists make her to realise the dangers she and her kingdom are in and what she would have to do to save it.

This book was a pretty decent read, not only in terms of quality but as in length; coming in at nearly 500 pages. This book lays the foundation of a new world with dragons, gods, and magic.

In the story the main setting is across a few points of interest in the country Kiata, but there are cursory mentions of other nations beyond the sea. Each setting has a distinct impact on the main character and her growth.

The romance tropes trickle in slowly until the faucet is fully opened by the end, at which time I felt glad that the book was over.\

The rules for magic were easy to follow at first, until, again, at the end where the exceptions seem to either be poorly explained or simply put in place to give the main character plot armor. Those trip ups were jarring considering that with almost 500 pages there shouldn't be this feeling of being rushed to reach the conclusion of everything.

However, even with it's flaws at the end, it was a very enjoyable to follow the journey of the main character and watch her grow. I would totally be interested in reading the sequel to learn more about the other countries use of magic and the influence the dragons have over the human realm.