Her Radiant Curse is easily a 5 star read for me. The hold Elizabeth Lim has on me is a ferociously tight one. Every book she writes, I'm counting down the days until it's released. The emotions I felt for Channi? Holy cow. I was rooting for her since page 1. My love for how she handled her emotions and knew how her relationship with her dad was bad versus how her relationship with her sister was codependent. Channi is quite possibly my most favorite book character of Lim's to date. Did I not like her in Six Crimson Cranes? Yeah, I hated her from Shiori's POV and now I just want to bundle her up. Maybe give her a cake. Vanna was so interesting to me because she had all the makings of a main character, but we got her from Channi's POV. Channi only ever wants to protect her and have Vanna be happy. To make her own choices.
Please read this book. I beg you.

This book had me from the prologue. Just that tidbit of information was enough to know that my emotions would be tossed everywhere. There’s so much to say and so much to love. Elizabeth Lim is a rare gem that can deliver a story with such eloquence. Channi, the demon sister, has faced adversity her whole entire life and you find yourself rooting for her the moment you get to know her. She is strong and so selfless that you just want to pour all of your love to her. While she has faced rejection, her younger sister Vanna has lived in glory and love. You would think she is vain because of it but the love and loyalty between these two sisters is so intricately woven together that nothing can come between them. She met the evil witch in her Tiger form when Channi’s father sacrificed her in hopes of saving their mother. Although Channi lives, she lives with a curse that will plague her throughout her life unless she sacrifices her younger sister whose beauty is radiant like the sun and pure like none other. Even with snake-like face, Channi never hesitates when it comes to her sister. She is willing to do anything to protect her and I think it is her loyalty to Vanna that makes this story so captivating. Channi does not have inferior complex, but she knows where she stands and that makes the beauty of this sisterhood even more incredible. Even though we don’t get to know Vanna as much, we see the love and bond between the two sisters is strong. When the witch goes hunting for Vanna, Channi stops at nothing to save her. On her journey, she befriends Hokzuh, a halfling – half demon, half dragon. Their dynamics with each other is comforting and something Channi has yet to experience. I can read about them all day long and not be bored. What they have with each other is special but witch Hokzuh being half-demon is already a red flag. Did that make me like him any less? Of course not. Haha. Elizabeth Lim told Channi’s story so well. I was entranced and there wasn’t a single moment where I felt I wanted to skim past. Every moment of the story meant something and the story itself was just so enthralling. I did not expect my emotions to be pulled every which way. It was heart-wrenching, bittersweet, and just oh so sorrowful in certain moments. I cried much more than I expected. Emotions running high and you just don’t know what to do with yourself. As previously mentioned, there is so much to love about this book. It makes you see Crimson Cranes in a new light and then your heart just wrenches again because you know now. I have read everything from Lim and while I love all that she has written, I would say this one has been one of her best if not THE best. Join the club and make yourself known to the Lor’yann world. You won’t regret it.

I have read both Six Crimson Cranes and The Dragon's Promise and I knew that Elizabeth Lim's amazing writing would take me on a journey into the same world with Dragons, Demons and Fight Scenes which I did not expect at all. I knew though at some point Elizabeth would tug at my heart strings but I did not expect it to start during the first Chapters of the story and I knew then that this would a special book. I was right and if you were expecting romance it is fleeting but for me it was about Sisterly Love and how powerful it can be.

I finished the book on the 10th August and had to take myself to bed a bit emotional and woke up with a massive book hangover and it is only now the day before my stop on the blog tour that I can actually put into words how much I loved this book.

For all the above reasons Her Radiant Curse scores 5 big fat stars

I enjoyed this book, however not reading the duology to this book I feel that I didn’t get the full experience out of because I wasn’t invested in the character that was in the duology. With all that being said, it was an enjoyable book regarding of not having read the other books. The story is very heartfelt and emotional. I appreciated the relationship between the sisters and how Channing was so dedicated to Vanna. The father in this book makes you so upset with how poorly he treats Channi. I would recommend this books, however I think it’s best to read the duology then Her Radiant Curse.

Thank you to Random House Children's, Knopf Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for an electronic ARC of this novel.

Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim is a well-written tale of 2 sisters, one cursed with a serpent's face by a demon witch when she is sacrificed to save her sister. Surviving only through the poisoned bite of the King Serpent, Channi grows up hiding her face in contrast to her beautiful sister Vanna, who literally has a heart light and has suitors visiting from all over the world.

When Vanna turns 17, there is a ceremony to pick her hand in marriage, and Channi is caught up in the lies from her father. She fights to rejoin her sister and to try to break the curse that the demon witch has put upon her.

I enjoyed this book and now want to read more, it sounds like it's part of a series so I'm looking forward to discovering more from this world.

I always have this habit of thinking the ecopy of this book is enough and every time it is an Elizabeth Lim title I end up buying a physical one anyway. They are just that good! It’s cozy, but there is still plenty of action and I think that is a hard medium to find. Its beautiful sisterly love made me ugly cry at the end. All in all an amazing prequel to our Duology. However, those who have not read the other books need not fret as this one stands on its own!

Her Radiant Curse is a prequel to The Six Crimson Cranes, is the ¨villain origin story¨ of the stepmother.

Channi had it all, loving parents and soon a sister, but everything is about to change, her mother has a difficult birth and to save her life, her father will sacrifice one of her daughters to the demon witch. She should be Vanna, but she's such a beautiful baby, she literally radiates light that her dad would rather sacrifice Channi. She is abandoned in the jungle, but instead of being eaten, both sisters were cursed; Channi will spend the next 17 years protecting her sister and trying to break the curse.

While Vanna is grace in person, Channi is the opposite, her face now has a scar similar to the scales of snakes which makes her father and the town despise her, they call her a monster, everyone except Vanna. Vanna is lovely, a little naive thanks to her beauty, radiance, and sister protection, meanwhile, Channi is more pessimistic and complex

Channi has many reasons to hate her sister, instead, they have a strong bond, they are different, but both want to protect the other, Channi seeking and killing the demon, Vanna marrying the highest bidder to get her sister out of town and both start a new life together and happy.

I love romance, but I adore that this story is focused on sister love and friendship, also is a little about accepting us as we are, Channi struggles with her appearance, she is smart and brave but what everyone sees is the mark on her face. I wanted more scenes with Channi and Vanna together, mostly Channi in the jungle hunting for the witch with Ukar her sassy and loyal snake companion, and Hokzuh a dragon who deserved better 🥺

This was a character-driven and emotional story, from the duology we already know how it ends, but that does not mean that it will keep you captive and you will empathize with the sisters. Love the setting, the world-building was magical, woven with folklore We have snake besties, sisterly love, dragons, witches, demons, princes, magic, curses, and prophecies. There's a lot of action too, we travel to different settings, all wonderful and we have a lot of fight scenes, it's a fantastic prequel (maybe can be read as a standalone) if you already read The Six Crimson Cranes you will love this one.

Read it if you want:
• A fairytale style story
• Asian folklore inspiration
• Sisterly bond and least romance
• Animal sidekick

Honestly, this was such a fantastic read and I was so engrossed while reading this one that I couldn't put it down for a single minute!
Channi is just a few years old when her mother gives birth to her sister Vanna - who is born with a captivating radiance, and their father leaves Channi in the jungle hoping to save their mother's life by offering her to Angma the Demon Witch. But, Channi ends up being cursed with the face of a serpent and shunned by the whole village. The only light in her life is the bond that she shares with her sister despite being opposites. And with her sister's seventeenth birthday approaching their father decides to marry off Vanna in a way that Channi despises - with a contest where kings compete for her hand by showing off their wealth. She is determined to protect her sister from these vile suitors and from Angma who had warned her that she'd be coming for Vanna soon. But how far will she be willing to go for the only family that she loves more than herself?

Channi is such an interesting and complex protagonist because she's fierce and loyal to a fault. But at the same time, she gets angry very quickly and is hyper-focused on vengeance too. Though she's been treated unfairly for her entire life, she retains some goodness while making friends of the scaly variety as she can communicate with them. She isn't immune to betrayal or disappointment but she picks herself up quickly even if she's been defeated. But honestly, sometimes I just wanted her to slap her dad because he's the worst person in this whole story and I didn't like how she helped him at certain moments. I know that this is because she yearns to be a part of her family and has been conditioned to respect him at times but omg whatever was done to her was straight-up emotional abuse and she deserves better. I felt so sorry for her at times.

Another interesting thing is how Vanna comes off as naive and sheltered at first, but she has some hidden strength too. She was the only one who actually loved Channi unconditionally, so no wonder everyone was captivated by her. I loved discovering more about her slowly. There was no doubt about Channi's love for her sister but I wondered about how much of it was influenced by her promise to her mother and perhaps by Vanna's abilities too. I think that's what made this story very fascinating and complex, and I really enjoyed it! Elizabeth's writing is very beautiful and brings everything to life. I'm not ashamed to admit that I shed a tear or two at certain moments 😢

Hokzuh and Ukar were such amazing characters too and I loved the bond that slowly developed between Channi and Hokzuh! I wish they could have spent more time with each other!

In the end, this is a spell-binding fantasy story that's centered around sisterhood and magic with some amazing characters! Though this is a prequel to Six Crimson Cranes it works perfectly well as a standalone and I think almost everyone would enjoy this!

The prequel to the Crimson Crane series, focusing on the origin story of Channi, who becomes Shiori's stepmother in Six Crimson Cranes. Channi was cursed as child by the Demon Witch to have a serpent's face and has been shunned by others ever since. Channi's sister Vanna was the only one to care about her and Channi is determined to protect her from the Demon Witch who has sworn to come back for Vanna when she's older. However things don't go as planned and Channi finds herself in the company of a dragon and she has to rely on him to help save Vanna. Overall, an engaging prequel to the series centered on the bond of sisters and the lengths they'll go to save each other. Fans of folklore and adventure stories will like this one. For readers who have already read Six Crimson Cranes, this will make them want to re-read it with a new understanding of Channi.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children's for the advanced copy of this book.

To be completely transparent, it has been a hot minute since I read six crimson cranes so I thought I needed a refresher to get into it... but thankfully, I did not. This is a stand-alone/spin-off of Six Crimson Cranes and it was a lovely addition to the universe. The story follows two sisters in a far away land and excels in building their loyalty and friendship. I thought their bond was a really strong point of the novel.

Where it fell off for me, was pacing. I felt like it slowed down in all of the wrong places and then suddenly ramped up for that ending. It was great though, and that's a very minor fault for an otherwise great book.

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Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim was for me, almost entirely a cover buy/request. Not only did I pre-order this one but I requested a Netgalley copy based on that amazing artwork. I have to say, I’m not mad at it having read the book either! The other portion of my determination to read this was that I’ve been dying to try Elizabeth Lim and I thought this would be the push I needed. I am glad I picked it up, because -yes. She is worth the read.

Her Radiant Curse follows a young girl then young woman as she spends her life training to protect her sister. Her father, in a incredibly poor parenting moment, attempted to sacrifice Channi instead of her sister to a Demon to save his wife’s life. Instead Channi was cursed, and effectively a due date was placed on her sister’s life. She would die at 17, or Channi could hand her over. Through circumstances at this moment Channi’s face is twisted to appear as a snakes, and her blood incredibly toxic. She vows to her dying mother she’ll protect her sister against everything and everyone and thus kicks off her life.

The story has the feeling of a fable and by the end of the book that was my absolute favorite thing about this. It was fast paced, an easy and quick read and the ending seemed to present this setup of a world where more stories could be set and take flight. Not only is the ending wonderful as far as set up or a true ending, but it’s tragic and sad in a way that I didn’t see coming and one that I actually loved. For a YA Fantasy I’m impressed. Elizabeth Lim took a story that felt familiar and in the end gave it a profound and truly impactful feel.

If you enjoy fable style fantasy or YA fantasy in general this is one I can safely recommend.

I love Elizabeth Kim’s writing, it’s so lush and beautiful. A lot of her stories are from lores from her culture and I am obsessed. If you like stories with great setting, beautiful writing, amazing plot that will always leave you guessing for more, then you need to give this book a shot! Thank you so much for letting me read this and for the author for writing this!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the infusion of Asian folklore in this story. Channi was such an amazing character and I felt so sad for her and all the hardships she faced in life. The sisterly bond between Channi and Vanna was incredible and was really special. I look forward to reading the Six Crimson Cranes series next to see more taking place in this lush and exciting world.

Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim is the spin off prequel to one of my absolute favorite duologies to ever exist – Six Crimson Cranes. This is Channi’s origin story, Shiori’s step mother – we see how she became the amazing character that we saw her as in Six Crimson Cranes.

This is one of my most anticipated releases this year and it did not disappoint. Elizabeth Lim is master at story telling, she has perfected the art in which she is able to deliver YA stories and this was so very beautiful.

It was surprisingly a lot darker than Six Crimson Cranes. It brushes lightly on a lot more adult themes so if you are expecting another lower YA story, that is not what this is. It is however, very emotional, and it brings Six Crimson Cranes full circle.

There is romance in this book but to me this book reads more as non-canon a-spec. Because really it wasn’t romance but a bittersweet story of a girl who is trying so desperately to find love, a girl who wants to be seen as important, and finding that love and importance within herself and being ok with the idea of non-traditional happily ever after.

I took so long to gather my thoughts to review this because I just loved it and I am still a mess of emotions thinking about it.

Thank you for the Random House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Well this was a book I didn't know that I needed. It was full of mythological fantasy, an epic quest, demons, curses, and most importantly sisterly love that wins every time.

This reminded me so much of the kind of stories I used to read when I was young. It felt like a fable you read before bed where there's hidden meaning and lesson. One that would teach you about not going into a dark forest and looking for trouble. In this case, it is about defying orders and being defiant. I loved that about our hero, Channi. She is a hero that is cursed and shunned, but eventually proves her worth by going on an epic quest to save her sister and kill the evil witch.

I liked that this was a standalone, though I would have loved to see Channi on adventure with The Dragon. I liked this type of enemies to lovers, though it goes more platonic and there is no real romance in this book. I like that the main love is about family, and sister bond. I loved Ukar! I need one in my life.

What bothered me just a tad bit was the end. It was sad. Though I can see why the kind of ending was chosen, I wanted for a happier one. But I understand, not every story is a fairytale.

Thank you so much to the publisher and TBR and Beyond Tours for providing me a copy of the book for review. All opinions are my own. 4.5 rounded down.

Delightful book. A little bittersweet, a little sad. Everything I’ve read by this author has been excellent. I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite. I think you could read this prequel either before or after the Six Crimson Crane books and enjoy it equally well either way.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

WOW! When I say get ready to have feelings I absolutely mean it. This book totally ripped my heart out and stomped on it, and kind of put it back together at the end? I finished it yesterday and I still haven’t recovered.

Elizabeth Lim crafted such a beautiful and compelling world with her Six Crimson Cranes duology, and the more information we received about this character, the more I wanted to know about her! I won’t spoil that series just in case anyone is reading this book first.

Channi and Vanna, what a beautiful example of strength and sisterly love. They went through so much pain and heartbreak, but that unwavering love and support shined through until the end and seriously I AM STILL TEARING UP THINKING ABOUT THIS BOOK!

Read this is you live for books that give you big big endless feelings, magic, family, incredible friendships, and complex characters.

I’m not sure if I would say this is a happy ending, but it’s not all sad, either!

Note: I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for this review.

All in all, I thought this book was great.

This new release by Elizabeth Lim is a prequel to the Six Crimson Cranes series, and is a fantasy YA based in a world beautifully inspired by Asian myth and folklore. We follow Channi, a young girl who was cursed with a snake face who is trying to protect her younger sister Vanna, who is a beauty without compare. Its a beautiful story about sisterhood, personal triumph, and finding your own strength.

The book read for me very quickly, which I appreciate immensely. It helps me get fully immersed into the story and appreciate it in an organically raw readthrough.

I’m tragically believing I am aging out of YA - I liked the story but it wasn’t my favorite. Its definitely centered around a younger protagonist who represented a more adolescent worldview, and I didn’t personally feel drawn to it (I am almost 30, after all). I would still say Channi’s character is super well rounded and developed, and by no means is a poorly constructed lead. Its just a personal preference in this case.

In particular, I really loved the sisterly bond in this story - I am an older sister myself so I could really understand the unconditional love Channi has for Vanna.

The plot itself is pretty standard - its an adventure based story with consistent ups and downs. My one critique is that the plot seemed to include a few too many ups and it seemed a bit redundant after awhile. It could easily be split into two books.

The last note is that the book was not really advertised as a prequel, and it wasn’t until I looked at Goodreads that I noticed that. While you dont need to read the other books to enjoy this, I would’ve appreciated the heads up.

In summary: great YA fantasy with exciting worldbuilding and interesting characters. Would recommend for a YA reader looking for something new.

Her Radiant Curse is available today wherever books are sold!

If you love YA fantasy with Asian mythology vibes, a strong sister bond and a sprinkle of romance then I recommend picking up this book!

I absolutely love following Channari’s story, her story got me hooked right from the beginning making it almost impossible to put down. Plus it comes with an dazzling world building and loveable characters.

I love and admire Channari’s character. She may not be the ‘golden one’ but she definitely has a heart of gold. It was shown with how much she loves her sister and how far she’s willing to fight for her.

My heart breaks reading how the people treated her because of her appearance, even her parents. Fortunately, she has the snakes as her family and best friends to get her through all the judgement and resentment she got.
(special thanks to Ukar who always bicker with Channari and liven up the story!)

Overall, this is a well written prequel. It was heart-warming and also heart-breaking at the same time, I got teared up near the ending.
I highly recommend reading this one and I’m really looking forward to read what the author’s has in store next!

Her Radiant Curse is a standalone and a prequel to Six Crimson Cranes duology.
In my opinion, you can read it just fine without reading Six Crimson Cranes first. But if you’ve read it, this book is a story of Raikama – Shiori’s stepmother.

Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tour, Netgalley, author and publisher for giving me an e-ARC of the book and for having me on this book tour. I’m leaving this review voluntarily!

A brilliant new story, If Channi is the bad guy, no she isnt, she actually cant be wrong and I am sorry about that. The cast of characters were fun and vibrant, the book helps flesh out the world even more.