ARC Review: The Dragon’s Promise

Title: The Dragon’s Promise
Author: Elizabeth Lim
Age-range/genre: Young Adult / Fantasy, Romance
Trigger warnings: violence, death, grief
Rating: 5/5 stars
Summary: [from goodreads]

A journey to the kingdom of dragons, a star-crossed love, and a cursed pearl with the power to mend the world or break it…

Princess Shiori made a deathbed promise to return the dragon’s pearl to its rightful owner, but keeping that promise is more dangerous than she ever imagined.

She must journey to the kingdom of dragons, navigate political intrigue among humans and dragons alike, fend off thieves who covet the pearl for themselves and will go to any lengths to get it, all while cultivating the appearance of a perfect princess to dissuade those who would see her burned at the stake for the magic that runs in her blood.

The pearl itself is no ordinary cargo; it thrums with malevolent power, jumping to Shiori’s aid one minute, and betraying her the next—threatening to shatter her family and sever the thread of fate that binds her to her true love, Takkan. It will take every ounce of strength Shiori can muster to defend the life and the love she’s fought so hard to win.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

recommended for: fans of high fantasy, epic adventures, and exploring family & romantic relationships

The Dragon’s Promise is a wonderful ending to the Six Crimson Cranes duology, full of magic and adventure. The novel has so much heart, making it a heartfelt story that plucks at heartstrings and concludes a great story.

“Never play games with a dragon. You cannot win.”

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• dragons and adventure •

The Dragon’s Promise follows immediately on from Six Crimson Cranes, where Shiori is mourning the loss of her stepmother, and on a new mission to fulfil Raikama’s final wish. With the pearl in her possession, she sets out to travel to the Dragon world to find out more on the pearl’s true owner, to reunite pearl and possessor.

We are immediately taken to the dragon world, which was explored splendidly. The descriptions were beautiful and, despite how stressful it was for Shiori, I thoroughly enjoyed the time we got to spend there.

As had been hinted in the first novel, Seryuu became a sort of love interest in the sequel. I was so happy to see more of Seryuu in this novel – he was such a fascinating character, so it was so interesting to see the dragon world and how he fit into it.

My only wish is that we could have explored the realm of the dragons more. This first part of the book could have easily been stretched out for much longer, and I wish we had gotten more of Seryuu. We were able to see a lot of the Kingdom but the lives of dragons who aren’t royalty weren’t really discussed. It’s one of the reasons I lament that this is only a duology. It’s such a cool underwater world, could we not see how it is for civilian dragons too? Or for people who aren’t part of royalty in general?

Fear is just a game, you win by playing.

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• story and pacing •

There were a lot of plot threads introduced in Six Crimson Cranes that needed to be wrapped up in The Dragon’s Promise – e.g the demons, the pearl, the Wraith. There was a lot going on, and it was one journey after the other. Personally, I enjoyed it; the journeys made for many adventures, and the stakes were always high throughout the novel.

With so much excitement and danger, there was not a dull moment in the story. There were a lot of twists and turns in the story, making every moment so interesting. The novel was hard to put down, because I was desperate to see the characters turn out okay – especially Shiori, as she has to endure so much.

The novel was very fast-paced and there was hardly a slow moment in the novel. Shiori was desperate to finish her mission, especially with so many peoples’ safety at risk. It was a thrilling ride.

“Your heart is my own, and where you are is my home.”

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• relationships •

I fell in love with Takkan and Shiori’s relationship in Six Crimson Cranes, and was so happy to see the relationship explored more. They were both head over heels in love with each other, and it was so obvious in every interaction they had. Takkan was wholeheartedly in on n Shiori’s plan, making a stark contrast to SCC when Shiori felt all alone in her mission to save her brothers.

I also enjoyed being able to see more of the sibling relationship again, now with the brothers no longer being cranes. Their bond and banter was always so fun to read, and I love how Takkan fit into the group so well and was invited to the family immediately. The love and loyalty the characters have for each other is prevalent in every scene, and it made my heart so warm to see. The relationships were all so sweet and developed throughout this duology.

All in all, I have many thoughts about the ending, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. Ending a story is difficult, especially one as magical as this because there’s so much to wrap up. Lim is able to create a satisfying conclusion to the story.

Thank you for reading!

links for the dragon’s promise:

goodreads • storygraph • bookdepository
Elizabeth Lim’s website

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