I was right to get into this with low expectations, but I still ended up being disappointed. Not because I expected too much, but because the ending was actually very good, so good that it made me emotional and that made me wish that the first 90% or so lived up to it. 

Let's face it, Elizabeth Lim doesn't know how to write good sequels or good adventures for that matter. The events Channi went through felt repetitive again, some scenes dragged on too much. And this book suffers from the same problem as the Dragon's Promise, the final goal the character must achieve is said too early, and there's nothing more throughout the story that adds to that goal to make it more interesting. Everything that we need to know is revealed at the beginning. Consequently, there’s little to no mystery to cling to, and we just want to see Channi achieve the final goal, but the author purposely slows her down with incidents that mean nothing much at the end of the day. 

The ending was good because I finally got what I was waiting for: the sisters trying to sacrifice herself for the other and it was truly emotional, truly heart-wrenching to see how much they loved each other despite their differences. Why wasn’t the entire book about them travelling across the world in order to solve their problems? We could have seen them quarrelling, apologize for hurting the other, caring for the other and overall grow together through their journey. If that were the case, we could have understood what Channi meant when she said she both hated and loved her sister more than anything in the world. 

But all we’ve got is Channi and Hokzuh travelling together and growing close. In theory, the romance between these two could have worked but in practice, it didn’t deliver. I don’t know why but Hokzuh first taking interest in Channi didn’t make sense to me, though them finding solace in each other at the end was endearing but that’s it. It couldn’t beat what the sisters had going on. 

The villain was interesting at first, but her character lost its charm when the author tried to draw parallels with Six Crimson Cranes, which didn’t work. Why would Channi ever pity the witch who wants to kill her sister? Just because she has a sad backstory? Which, let’s be real, wasn’t even that sad. The witch bit off more than she could chew and made it everyone’s problem. It’s in no way comparable to the villain in Six Crimson Cranes, where Shiori had valid reasons to doubt her stepmother’s intentions. This cheap method of trying to replicate the same emotional connection between the protagonist and the villain ruined the story so much more. 
In the end, it wasn’t the great and sad backstory I expected for Channi. Its only saving grace is that it’s better than Dragon’s promise, so kudos for that I guess? This book is the last one I’ll ever read from Elizabeth Lim, though. I'm sorry but despite still loving Six Crimson Cranes, the last two works showed me that I don’t enjoy her writing as much as I thought I did.