DNF.
I think I've read enough. And skimmed enough.I'm sorry, but I was very bored while reading 'Six Crimson Cranes'. It is exactly like most YA fantasy books (high fantasy or other) that I've ever read before, and tried to read before.
Practically all the clichés and tropes are here. The super special young heroine (who is also a spoiled princess who learns humility, hard work and responsibility by being banished and having her privileges stripped) with rare magical powers is the least of them. The characters are unlikeable and horrid; not to mention wildly inconsistent, like the writing is sometimes. Most of the females are either villainous or idiotic, while the males are heroic, smart, worldly, and who actually help move the plot along. Antagonism and distrust are present everywhere, but they are especially prominent between the women and girls, who are obstacles to be overcome. I just didn't care about any of these stock archetypes I've read about a thousand times before.
Despite this being a 2021 female-led YA novel, there is still a damn love triangle - between the heroine Shiori, an arranged-marriage-prince-who-turns-out-to-be-a-good-guy (arranged marriages are a good thing, kids!), and an incredibly dangerous, shady, scheming, manipulative, pretentious, smarmy, condescending, very-possibly-a-murderer, arsehole dragon boy. He's a dragon prince whom Shiori literally has no reason to trust, much less spend time with, but the moody, inconsistent, childish "strong female character" does so anyway because the plot needs her to.
'Six Crimson Cranes' is also far too long at 454 pages, in my opinion. The worldbuilding, full of gods and demons and forbidden magic and banishments and borders, could have been more fleshed out, as well. Occasionally, the way the story is structured and paced can come across as confused, erratic, irregular and careless.
There is no LBGTQ content, as far as I could spot.
To be fair, it might be that I've misunderstood a lot of the book through skimming. However, I know enough about its plot progressions, convolutions, clichés and twists to be annoyed at them. Besides, if the first hundred pages didn't impress me and keep me interested enough to read further, then it is likely I wouldn't have cared about the rest of the book if read more properly. I am not obliged to make myself finish something I'm not enjoying. No one is forcing me to, and I am not wasting my time and energy over it.
And while I praise the Asian-inspired setting and culture, I never cared for the Grimm's fairy tale that it is based on, so that might have been an extra factor in my indifference to 'Six Crimson Cranes'.
It's such a shame, too, because the UK cover is breathtakingly gorgeous - it's the main reason I wanted to buy it. I wish there had been something special within its pages; something as akin to treasure inside the book as its beautiful chest. I wish I'd trusted my instincts and didn't waste my money. It turned out to be yet another sloppy, been-there-done-that book. I should have known, and not be fooled by the cover.
In the interest of fairness, I won't rate 'Six Crimson Cranes'. But I'm done.
Hey there, i reccomend an anime called 'Yuukoku no Moriarty', or also kown as'Moriarty the Patriot'. It's an interesting take on the classic Sherlock Holmes characters and it gives a different perspective into their actions. If you find it interesting enough, you could review it :)
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