Review by Marian DeLamare, Library Tech I, Del Mar Library
(Cover art for Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim. 464 pages, published July 6th 2021)
Six Crimson Cranes is an engaging and well-written Young Adult Fantasy novel with East Asian influences, encompassing magic, dragons and demons. For parents whose early teens want to get into the YA genre, this book is a great starting point.
The story follows a 16-year-old princess who inadvertently causes a series of events in her attempt to avoid her pending betrothal ceremony. All her life she's known not to speak of magic that once existed, especially her own. But then she discovers that there is someone else whose magic is greater than hers and also has secrets of their own - her stepmother. Cursed and banished from her father’s kingdom, the princess must find her six brothers who have been turned into cranes and find her way back home. She must remove their curse and hers without speaking a word, for with every word she speaks, one of her brothers will die.
Themes of romance and violence are kept to a bare minimum.
The book is available at the library as hardcover, ebook or audiobook.