~Summary~
Shiori, Princess of Kiata, holds forbidden magic which hasn’t been seen in her land for centuries. When she loses control on the day of her betrothal ceremony it catches the attention of her stepmother, Raikama, who also possesses magic, but of a darker kind. When Shiori witnesses her practicing her magic, her stepmother banishes her and then turns her six brothers into cranes, threatening to kill one of them for every word Shiori utters. Alone and far from home Shiori is desperate to find her brothers, but on her journey to be reunited with them she uncovers a plot far more sinister than her stepmother’s curse.
~My Thoughts~
This is by far the most beautiful book that I own and the fact that the story is so good is an awesome bonus! I am currently attempting to write my own retelling and this book gave me loads of ideas. The plot started off a little slow but it did a great job of setting up all of the action to come in the second half and the last fifteen chapters were such a wild ride! I loved how twisty the story became and how many characters I was forced to re-evaluate and also see in a new light. Kiki was a star and the fact that she had such a big part in the story was really cool! Another thing which I thought was ingenious was the bowl that was cursed to stay on Shiori’s head. I’ve never read the original fairy tale so maybe the bowl is nothing new but it still gave me a good laugh and too many frustrated moments.
The only reason that I gave this four stars out of five was that for some reason I felt disjointed from the first part of the book and was actually considering restarting but, as I was already close to halfway through, I decided to keep going. It ended up being fine although I’m thinking that a good time to re-read will be when the second book comes out later next year which I am really looking forward to! Finally, it was so good to learn some Chinese mythology! I was hooked and left eager to find out more. As I’ve already said I’m excited for book two and will definitely be checking out this author’s other books in the meantime! Happy Reading 🙂
The Art of Reading 