Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 482 pages
Author: Elizabeth Lim
Publisher: Knopf Books
Release Date: August 30th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads
BOOK SUMMARY:
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.
A BIT LETDOWN.
I was hoping that this would be an ending I could fully fall in love with, and while there were some good moments…it also was missing some stuff too.
I really liked the father/daughter relationship. I love seeing a good parental relationship. Also, the BROTHERS. I could read a novella spin off about each one of them and be content with everything. I love their dynamic and the love they clearly show for one another.
The romance could have had a heavier hand. I don’t think the love triangle should have even been used. It just made me sad for one of the characters rather than being satisfied with how things wrapped up.
I was confused by the book defeating the bad guy with 80+ pages left? Things got stagnant at that point and then the ending was a bit lackluster. I felt like it was reminiscent of Daughter of the Moon Goddess but in a lesser manner.
I think I’ll go the library route next time for her books. I always seem to LOVE the first one and then the second is a bit meh.
Overall audience notes:
- YA Fantasy
- Language: very little
- Romance: kisses
- Violence: mild
- Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of loved ones, battle scenes, demon attacks, physical and magical altercations
Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph
GoodeyReads 