I think the magic of the first book didn’t transition well into the sequel. I think the whole plot of her navigating this world unable to communicate enticed me to pick up the series in the first place. Without that there anymore, a little of the magic was faded. 

The first third of the book was a little odd for me personally. We spent so much time in the dragon realm and i just didn’t feel connected with anybody but Seryu (whom is by far my favorite character). 

The book definitely picked up my interest again in the middle when were back in the human realm. Learning about Raikama’s past was my favorite part of the story by far.

My least favorite character of the main cast was Takkan. He just didn’t add anything in for me and was pretty boring, in a way he made Shiori a lot more boring in my opinion. I found myself rolling my eyes a few times at their interactions. I mean it’s cute but lacked elements that made me want to ve interested in their relationship.

If i were to do anything to make the book better for me personally, id change out the Dragon realm arc for something different, make Raikama’s home a bigger portion of the book, have shiori learn more magic and abilities, keep Gen more in the story, and have Seryu end up with Shiori instead of Takkan.

I will say Shiori choosing to free the demons was an interesting choice which i appreciated. It was some nice growth.

Enjoyed for the most part - but the plot felt somewhat rushed and disjointed. Thankfully Takkan continues to be an amazing book boyfriend, even when Shiori is a bit of a disaster.

Those familiar with the Wild Swans inspiration will recognize a few additional details.

Overall, lovely sequel but didn’t quite live up to the first one, for me.

Great continuation of the series, lots of action. 

I think I'm in shock a little as I write this--I literally finished this book 2 minutes ago. I want to make it clear that I don't think this book was bad, but I do think it was underwhelming/disappointing. This picks up right after Six Crimson Cranes so I had to play some mental catch up in terms of what happened in the previous book. I also think that y'know, if you title the book The Dragon's Promise and then only about 1/4 of the book takes place in the Dragon Kingdom, and then we don't see another dragon for a solid 70% more of the book, the title may be a bit of a misnomer. I also didn't like the lack of

Seryu, and I didn't understand why he didn't stick around?? Maybe I missed something

. 

In terms of plot, it's fairly straightforward--go to point a for the purpose of b, but there were a lot of unnecessary, small bits that added up over time to make the book drag. It also lacked a lot of the charm of Six Crimson Cranes, but that is in part due to the higher stakes in this book. Other reviewers have touched on the villain and the lack of nuance and development that the "antagonist" of the first book had, and I agree. I think that overall I'm just disappointed because this book didn't live up to Six Crimson Cranes for me. There were definitely some good parts, and Takkan is a gem, but there were just some elements that didn't gel together for me.