Book #359 of 2021:
Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim (Six Crimson Cranes #1)
This is an #ownvoices East Asian retelling of the Wild Swans fairy tale, wherein a princess’s brothers are transformed into birds by their wicked stepmother while the girl herself is cursed to be unrecognizable and warned that each new word from her lips will cause one of the boys to die. That’s a fine premise, but the execution here feels rather meandering and slow, with its characters regrettably flat and obscurely motivated. I particularly think the protagonist’s perspective reads as much younger than she’s supposed to be, like a middle-grade fantasy heroine instead of an older teen on the cusp of marriage. (In some ways, this is the opposite issue to what I’ve been facing in my recent Animorphs reread, where I’m jolted every time those traumatized and battle-hardened warriors note that they aren’t even in high school yet. But I’m more sympathetic to children forced to shoulder grown-up responsibilities than immature young adults who shirk them.)
A two-star rating may seem harsh, but my initial impression in the early chapters was of a solidly unremarkable three, and the story has continued to disappoint me after that. Despite all that’s left unresolved at the end, I do not intend to check out the forthcoming sequel.
[Content warning for threat of sexual slavery.]
★★☆☆☆
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