A solid 4.5 story!

I really enjoyed the relationship that Channi had with Vanna even though it wasn't perfect. What I liked more than anything was her and Mr. Dragon Boy, gave major Haku vibes from spirited away. While this was a prequel, I don't actually remember anything from Six Crimson Cranes to connect it(I really need a reread) but I think that's a testament to how strong the story was by itself. This may be the best writing I've read from Elizabeth Lim yet.

Thank you so much NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
The characters, the world building, and the magic in this book are all stunning. This is a captivating book about the love that binds two sisters and the burden each must bear. I was surprised by the ending to be honest, but it didn’t feel entirely wrong. I do wish the relationship between certain characters were explored more. I want to go more into my impression and thoughts, but I worry that I will spoil the book as I have a lot of thoughts. I would love to do a more thorough review once this book is released.

This is a beautifully written prequel to the Six Crimson Cranes duology, that will capture your heart with its tale of love and loss. If you are familiar with the duology than you already know the characters and their stories will be heartbreaking. If you have not read the books, don’t despair. This is a book that can be read as a stand alone, but once you are done you will want to read the other two.

The narrator of this story is Channi and this is her story. It is all about how she became Raikama, the stepmother in the duology. It is a very sad and heartbreaking story, but it is also full of love and bravery. Channi is cursed by a demon witch at an early age, to have a face like a snake. She is forever perceived as a monster by both her father and the villagers. She learns to hide her face or herself when others are around. But her sister Vanna is the only one who sees her for who she is, brave, courageous and strong. Channi’s journey in this story helps her to see these qualities in her self and by the end she is able to shed her mask and stand up to those who have bullied her. Both sisters will do anything to help and save each other and the love they share is certainly evident in every interaction.

Vanna was also a well written character, although we do not see as much growth in her as in Channi. She at times appears weak, as she goes along with whatever her father demands of her, but many of her decisions go back to her desire to protect Channi, even if they are a little misguided and not what she really wants. She does eventually realize her mistakes and tries to right them, but by then it is too late.

This is also a little bit of the story of Hokzuh and Channari. Hokzuh is a dragon that we meet in the second book, A Dragon’s Promise, and I just adored him in this book. He is broody, and sarcastic and there were times when I thought he would kill Channi just out of sheer frustration with her, but he doesn’t. They are very much alike, in that they have both been unloved and unwanted for most of their lives. Hokzuh has also been tortured and forced to do things he didn’t want to. They start off as enemies, but end up with an unlikely alliance and as something more than friends. It was very hard to watch Channi betray him at the end because of their bond. Even though I was excited to see more of Hokzuh in this story, it still left me wanting to know more about him and his journey, both before and after this book.

I have to give a little shout out to Ukar, Channi’s best friend and companion. He is a snake, but he is so much more. He stays with Channi through thick and thin and protects her with such ferocity for a snake. There were times I forgot he was a snake because he has such a great personality.

This story is well thought out with some good twists throughout. It is wonderfully written and the main characters are well fleshed out. I love the setting and the world that is built here. It is well paced with lots of action and sweet moments between all of the characters.

This book is such a great prequel with themes of love and sacrifice, grief, and learning that you are so much more than what people see. It is a wonderful standalone as well and even though it doesn’t end happily, it is the beginning of another story that does.

If you’re a fan of Elizabeth Lim then you are going to be really excited to hear she has a new release. Her Radiant Curses. This is set in the same world as the Six Crimson Cranes duology which is a south east asian YA fantasy and it’s following 2 characters from that story, Channi and her sister so it’s a bit of a prequel story for them. Channi is cursed with a face that is considered a monster But there is an opportunity for Channi to shed her curse but only if she sacrifices her sister. It’s a lyrical story about the bond of sisters and it extends the story we previously learned about.

What a treat to read this stand alone prequel to Six Crimzin Cranes. I'm a fan of Elizabeth Lim's writing and was happy to read this new novel. Lim creats beautiful worlds with her writing and captures the hearts of her readers. Thank you netgalkey for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Her Radiant Curse
by Elizabeth Lim
Pub Date: 29 Aug 2023

One sister must fall for the other to rise.

Channi was not born a monster. But when her own father offers her in sacrifice to the Demon Witch, she is forever changed. Cursed with a serpent’s face, Channi is the exact opposite of her beautiful sister, Vanna—the only person in the village who looks at Channi and doesn’t see a monster. The only person she loves and trusts.

Now seventeen, Vanna is to be married off in a vulgar contest that will enrich the coffers of the village leaders. Only Channi, who’s had to rely on her strength and cunning all these years, can defend her sister against the cruelest of the suitors. But in doing so, she becomes the target of his wrath—launching a grisly battle royale, a quest over land and sea, a romance between sworn enemies, and a choice that will strain Channi’s heart to its breaking point.

Weaving together elements of The Selection and Ember in the Ashes with classic tales like Beauty and the Beast, Helen of Troy, and Asian folklore, Elizabeth Lim is at the absolute top of her game in this thrilling yet heart-wrenching fantasy that explores the dark side of beauty and the deepest bonds of sisterhood

This book immediately reeled me in with its beautiful writing and the way the beginning read like a folk tale. I blazed through the first two-thirds of this book and couldn’t put it down! In the middle there were definitely some scenes I wish had been a little better fleshed out or had been longer to allow me more time to connect with the characters, but overall it was a fun, beautiful story!

Lim creates an excellent prequel to her Six Crimson Cranes duology, giving readers an inside look at backstory creation and an important curse came to play. While readers of the duology will not little callbacks and details, overall the book holds up as an entry point for new readers as well. Highly recommend for fans of the series or ya fantasy generally.

4/5 ⭐️
Wow, this was such a great prequel to Six Crimson Cranes. We got a glimpse at her stepmother at the end of the first book, but to see how she came into her strength and heart and power was so interesting. Just like with Six Crimson Cranes, it felt like it could’ve been a real folktale, but this one had an even more badass female main character. But beside taking inspiration from Chinese folktales, I loved how there were elements in this story that reminded of the tale of Helen of Troy. And the dynamics between Channi, the witch demon, and the dragon reminded me a lot of the relationship dynamics in Spirited Away from Studio Ghibli.
If you’re a fan of folktale retellings that are so rich and engaging that you can’t stop thinking about them even after you’re done, check this out.
Thank you to NetGalley & Random House Children’s for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?

Elizabeth Lim always creates the most enchanting worlds, with magic that seems to sweep across your skin and characters the nestle directly on your heart, and Her Radiant Curse is no different. It's just an incredible tale of beauty and sisterhood, and the curses one is forced to bear, both with hope, as well as pain. I loved it.

This is the story of the stepmother from Six Crimson Cranes. It is also the story of a character from The Dragon’s Promise, though not entirely. Instead, Her Radiant Curse is about a girl called Channi.

Channi’s father tried to sacrifice her to a demon witch in exchange for his wife’s life after Channi’s perfect little sister, Vanna, is born. Instead, thanks to the serpent king’s interference, her blood is poisoned and the tiger-shaped demon witch curses Channi to never look at her own face without feeling pain, though the witch promises to undo her curse if Channi brings Vanna to her before Vanna’s seventeenth birthday.

Channi grows up scorned for her poisoned blood and cursed face, but for the snakes, who treat her as one of their own. The one time she is given an opportunity for a better life, it is taken violently from her and she is made a captive of an avaricious king, who will put her in a menagerie with his other monsters, only to find that her enemy is waiting for her.

With the dubious help of a dragon called Hokzuh, Channi begins to plan how to escape and get to her sister before the demon witch can. Hokzuh has his own literal demons to contend with, including a stolen pearl (see Lim’s other series about dragons for more on these) that turns out to be the most important thing.

As backstory-filling prequels go, Her Radiant Curse does a great job, but as a standalone book, I’m not sure it would quite cut it. The action all seems to happen within the span of a week, really, and then the denouement is just about getting from this book to Six Crimson Cranes, rather than actually providing a satisfying ending to the story being told in Her Radiant Curse. At least that’s how it seems to me.

A heart-wrenching prequel that stood on its own; this book had me hooked! A snarky snake companion, an untrustworthy but dashing dragon, and a fierce sister with a soft heart? Yeah, tears were shed. The story of these two sisters is as unforgettable as it is compelling.

So I absolutely adore Elizabeth Lim's fairytales and I was excited to start on her other books. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this was a prequel for her other series, it just slipped by me. It was a good read (although be warned that it is sad and depressing), and now I plan to read her series. I just wish I had read this one after as I tend to love to read prequels and other tie in novels after I have finished the main series.

This is a book that we all go into knowing it has a very sad ending, and yet we have no choice but to keep reading (and it’s definitely worth it). Channari, Vanna, Hokzuh, and Oshli are extremely well-written and unlike many young adult stories, they don’t make stupid choices that lead to the bittersweet ending—they do everything right and it still doesn’t end how any of them hoped, which makes it so much more sad to read. And still, you can’t help but finish the story :’)

I read an eARC of Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim. Thank you, Random House Children’s and NetGalley for this chance.

This is a prequel to the book Six Crimson Cranes, and I’m not sure if I would have rather read the duology first or if it just inspired me to really want to read those books again and actually read the second one all the way through because as much as I loved Six Crimson Cranes, the sequel was a letdown I DNFed.

This story was fascinating, if ridiculously depressing. It’s a focus on the ‘evil stepmother’ of Six Crimson Cranes. This starts with her as a small child when her little sister is born. The baby is born “golden”, glowing, and beautiful. The problem is that after her birth, the mother starts bleeding out. Knowing the only way to save her is to sacrifice the baby, but unable when he instantly falls in love with her, the father instead throws the ‘evil stepmother’ over his shoulder and takes her into the forest to witch. The little girl is saved by the snake emperor who bites her to make her blood poisonous so the witch can’t eat her.

The witch curses her face and says that if the little girl doesn’t give her sister to the witch by her eighteenth birthday, she will come back and kill them both. So, the little girl grows into a jaded young woman, determined to save her sister and hated by everyone but her sister. Her sister’s beauty draws many suiters, including kings. So the father puts forward a “Selection” and while they pretend that the daughter has a choice, they quickly overrun her and make it clear the one who pays the most will get her.

Thankfully, a prince is able to win after the stepsister fights for her sister against a dragon. And then the story just goes on it’s twining way from there. While I was invested every step of the way, it’s definitely a story that feels like it’s connected to something. It also tends to meander from place to place.

For people that have read Six Crimson Cranes, I think this is a great tie-in, but I don’t think it would work well enough as a standalone as it really does feel like it is tied to something. But then again, I read this knowing it was a prequel, so I can’t tell you for sure.

What a beautifully written story! I've not yet read the series this goes to but Elizabeth made sure that jumping into this first there is no confusion. This makes me look more forward to reading the connected series!

This author is a must read for me and this book did not disappoint I absolutely loved it and cant wait to own a copy

I'd like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me a chance at reading this book.

I actually read the first book, but I never read the Dragon's Promise. I read this, then ended up reading The Dragon's Promise and in my eyes I felt that was the way the series was meant to be read.

This book was really, really good. I found it surpassing in areas where Six Crimson Cranes failed. I liked the main character, her sister, and the curse. The supporting characters and the plot wove everything together very nicely.

If you haven't read the series yet, I strongly encourage you to start with Six Crimson Cranes, this and then The Dragon's Promise. It feels like a complete tale, and makes The Dragon's Promise flow better and allows you to understand the world building.

Elizabeth Lim is such a great author and I can’t tell you how excited I was to get the chance to read this one early!!! If you liked Six Crimson Cranes then you will love this prequel.

I will always and forever read anything by Elizabeth Lim. Her stories, world, and characters are truly an art. This story is the back story, or villian origin story, for a character from Six Crimson Cranes. It truly makes you appreciate the character more in SCC while seeing her a true character in her own book.

I was really looking forward to this book and it does not disappoint. You do not need to read SCC before reading this one as it holds it own as a stand alone.

Thank you net galley for advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.