Long-winded and melodramatic.

"One sister must fall for the other to rise."

A complex, moving fairytale for those who don't believe in the simplicity of happily ever after.

When a sacrifice went wrong, one daughter was left with a supernatural golden glow, while the other daughter bore the face of a snake and poison in her veins. Channi's been told the only way to break her curse is to bring her sister to Angma, a tiger witch, before her eighteenth birthday. Now, Vanna, the golden one, is participating in a selection ceremony to find her new home and kingdom, while Channi tries to find a way to save Vanna from Angma, who has sworn to kill her on her birthday.

This is a tale of unlikely allies, betrayals and the power of sibling love. It kept me enthralled, with a sarcastic talking snake best friend and an untrustworthy dragon. The world is rich and enchanting, as Channi and Vanna travel far beyond their village home as they struggle to understand the power they have been granted. The action is non-stop, but it also doesn't skimp on character development as each of the sisters comes into her own.

Her Radiant Curse is set in the same world as Six Crimson Cranes but can definitely stand on its own. I didn't realize it was a prequel for much of the book and enjoyed it for its own merits. ( )

The author set herself up for quite the challenge in this book...And delivered quite handsomely. You begin with two sisters, one with ethereal beauty, the other cursed to have a hideous face and poisonous blood, but a good heart. Add a father who is blinded by greed and is willing to let the beautiful one go to the ruler who bids the most. Then when the selection time comes, everything goes haywire. What ensues is complicated, but a real page turner. There are some dandy plot twists that make imagining the actual ending extremely challenging. A very satisfying read. ( )

I think a prequel novel can be quite a difficult proposition—how to write something exciting, engaging, and surprising around a story we already know the ending of? This prequel to Six Crimson Cranes manages! Although, knowing the ending, every interesting bit just reinforced how repeatedly very sad I was for absolutely everybody. ( )

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This book contains scenes of blood, violence, death, kidnapping, captivity and animal abuse and poaching. The main character is a victim of abuse throughout the novel. They are verbally and emotionally abused by their father and other villagers, and she is treated as sub-human by a tyrannical ruler who considers her an oddity to collect.

Before I get to the review proper, I want to note that Her Radiant Curse is a standalone novel. I’ve seen some reviews mentioning that they didn’t realise that it is part of a series, especially when they picked it up on NetGalley, and that’s because it can be read on its own. It’s set in the same universe as the Six Crimson Cranes duology and reading the duology will give you some extra information. However, the duology is not required reading to enjoy this book. Personally I would read the Six Crimson Cranes duology first as I think reading Her Radiant Curse will give away part of that story, but that’s up to you.

I wasn’t sure about reading Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim because I didn’t know if there was much of a story to be told. Lim told us Channi’s story in the Six Crimson Cranes duology, and sometimes prequels just repeat a story that we already know just with more detail. I didn’t need to worry. Her Radiant Curse is as rich and fulfilling as the original duology. I personally loved this book more than the previous two books and found it much more compelling.

What Lim had told us about Channi’s story was just a tiny portion of this woman’s story, and the rest is told with raw power and brutal honesty. I’ve seen people refer to this as the villain’s story, and I dislike that description. Channi is very much an unwilling victim whose life is turned upside down when her father drags her into the jungle and leaves her at the mercy of a witch, attempting to exchange her life for her mothers. When he fails, his wife dying after giving birth to a second daughter, he takes it out on his eldest daughter especially when she returns with a face of a snake, a constant reminder of what he did.

I was in awe at Channi’s strength and tenacity, as Lim’s wonderful storytelling built up a little girl and older sister to the stepmother that carefully watched over Shiori in Six Crimson Cranes. I loved the way that Lim showed Channi’s love for the Emperor’s children even before she met them, confirming that she was never a villain and everything she did was for love. She used her experiences to protect her new family to the best of her ability.

I don’t know if Elizabeth Lim will return to this universe again, but she has definitely found a place as one of my go-to authors after this book.

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