I loved the dragon part more than the second part (that one felt a little bit cluttered?), and I definitely loved the love story. It's nice to have the drama in other parts than non communication between two people who want to be together.

yes i read 50 pages confused as fuck before i realised it was a sequel

As with the first book in the series I didn't really love this and the book didn't feel that good, but I was deeply emotionally engaged with some aspects of the story which makes it hard to review. So I guess I'll just do this one in points.

1. The book feels kind of episodic there is the part set in dragon kingdom, then a sort of interlude set in Kiata court, then there is a quest part and then when it seems like the book is ending another short episode. They are all connected and theoretically we should feel the book's flow, but... I just didn't?

2. The love triangle everyone was worried about was here, but it was actually handled pretty well.

3. My favourite parts is - again - easily Raikama. I'm really looking forward to reading her book.

4. The besotted hero is one of my favourite tropes so obviously I quite liked the romance. Honestly Takkan put up with a lot.

5. I kept mixing up the brothers. I really wish there was a list somewhere.

6. Aside from characters list this book should also come with some recipes! I want to taste the soup Shiori keeps making!

7. I also feel like someone promised me court intrigue and there is almost no court intrigue in this book... just so no one else is disappointed...

8. I was listening to an audiobook and while the narration was well done I wasn't really a fan - especially of the way Kiki was narrated, the high pitch was quite jarring and annoying to me.


Overall, it was enjoyable but I felt it could have been better. By the end I was a little bit "meh" about everything, but I was also crying so I guess it worked.

I echo a lot of reviewer sentiment that compared to the first book, this one was painfully average. :(

Shiori doesn't demonstrate any growth whatsoever in this sequel, which felt really frustrating to read over and over again. A lot of the other characters who were so endearing and charming in Six Crimson Cranes were now hard to like, boring, or dimensionless.

The title is a bit misleading. The plot itself was a bit wackadoodle.

Spoiler

At one point, I think someone tells Shiori that she has a good plan, and I was like ??? Are you sure? Nothing about her plan sounds good unless you know that she has plot armor! This is one of the books where I feel like the author should have killed Shiori off at the end, and it would have made a bigger impact. But no, we get some otherworldly intervention that gives everyone their happy-ever-after.

This book…
It’s a perfect sequel.
It’s a perfect finale.

This is one of the best duologies to walk the earth.

So much happened in this book, and yet it didn’t feel like too much.

Well I guess it did feel like that, but in the best way possible. So much happened, but it was all interesting and kept my focus.

I might’ve almost cried at the end… but we don’t talk about that. Speaking of the end, WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK?!

So you know how all book have a plot, right? And how every plot has one climax. Well, this book, it had… TWO CLIMAXES. And honestly, every book should have two climaxes. It was too good.

Now, I don’t know if the first ‘climax’ actually was one, but it sure felt like it!

Also, the ending was the sweetest thing ever! I almost cried (again).

So, anyways, read this duology. If you don’t, you might have to die.