Song of the Crimson Flower

I was given an eARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

I am SO thrilled and excited for another Julie C. Dao book!!

This book takes place within the same world of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, but with all new characters. If the YA trend of cutthroat, cold hearted, sword-wielding army girls is getting to you, this is the PERFECT book to pick up. Lan and Bao are soft human beings who are questing to break a curse. Bao is a healer, a physician’s assistant, and Lan is a noblewoman, rarely allowed to leave the household. Together they strike out for the witch who cursed Bao and get tied up in a stunning adventure! Seeing soft, emotional characters in my fantasy adventure setting was exactly what I needed. It made Lan and Bao a lot easier to connect to because they acted more like I would, and they had heartwarming, vulnerable scenes that open them up to the reader.

The only reason this book isn’t getting 5 stars is because nothing seemed high-stakes and nothing in the last 40 pages or so was really shocking. It’s a sweet story, but I thought I’d be on my toes a bit for the finale and I wasn’t.