Six Crimson Cranes (2021) is a young adult fantasy novel written by Elizabeth Lim, the first installment in a duology (as of the 2022 publication of its sequel, The Dragon’s Promise). Like Lim’s other works, Six Crimson Cranes interweaves European fairy tales with Asian folklore and mythology, blending them with elements of adventure and romance. Intended for young adult readers, this novel explores themes such as coming of age and finding one’s courage.

This guide is based on the Knopf eBook edition.

Plot Summary

Sixteen-year-old Shiori’anma (Shiori) Hanriyu is the youngest of seven children of the emperor of Kiata. Shiori resents the societal expectations of being the empire’s only princess, preferring a carefree, rambunctious life and shirking many of her responsibilities. One of these responsibilities is accepting her betrothal to Takkan Bushian, a northern lord’s son, whom she despises simply for existing. She sabotages their betrothal ceremony, abandoning everyone because her enchanted paper crane, Kiki, flew off. Magic has been outlawed in Kiata, in the name of everyone’s protection, and Shiori is terrified by the manifestation of her magic. Shiori tries to rescue Kiki from the Sacred Lake but begins to drown. When she awakes in the castle, she remembers seeing a small dragon underwater, but her family does not believe her, instead chastising her for her disrespect.

At the annual summer festival, Shiori meets the small dragon, Seryu, in his human form, and he encourages her use of magic. They start meeting for sorcery lessons, and Seryu explains that he implanted part of his dragon pearl, a source of raw magic, into Shiori’s heart to keep her from dying in the lake. Shiori is also shocked to hear that her despised stepmother, Raikama (“The Nameless Queen”), is a powerful sorceress. She confirms this by following Raikama through a magic portal in her private garden and witnessing Raikama’s face turn into a snake’s. To keep Shiori and her brothers from sharing this secret, Raikama curses them: She turns the six brothers into crimson cranes—as they were named after the first six stars of the Crane constellation, with Shiori being the “knot” that holds them together—and conceals Shiori’s identity and magic by covering her face with a walnut bowl and banishing her to a far northern island. Shiori is also forbidden from speaking, because for any word she speaks, one of her brothers will die.

Penniless and desperate, Shiori tries to steal a boat, but Mrs. Dainan, the owner of the Sparrow Inn, catches her. She forces Shiori, whom she names Lina, into working as a cook and housekeeper, paying her no money and treating her cruelly. Two months pass before a sentinel stops by while searching for the missing royal children. Sympathetic, he gives Shiori money and his dagger; she uses the money to leave the island.

Shiori spends many days at sea before her brothers rescue her and bring her to their mountain cave. Their reunion is bittersweet: They are relieved to be together again, but each night, they transform back into their human forms, which is a painful process. The brothers met an enchanter who explained that they must capture Raikama’s dragon pearl, which powers her magic. To do so, they must weave a magic net of starstroke, which grows on Mount Rayuna, a volcano protected by dragons (specifically, the Dragon King). The last step in capturing the pearl is for Shiori to speak Raikama’s true name, which the siblings do not know, and speaking it means one of the brothers will die.

Shiori successfully harvests the starstroke, despite the immense pain it causes her hands. She and her brothers barely escape the Dragon King, Seryu’s grandfather, but return to their cave safely. While the brothers fly south to learn more about Raikama’s past in the Tambu Isles, Shiori sneaks out and is captured by Bushian soldiers searching for Lord Takkan. In their exchange, Shiori realizes that the kind sentinel she met at the Sparrow Inn is Takkan, her betrothed. Seeing his dagger in Shiori’s possession, the soldiers assume Shiori has something to do with Takkan’s disappearance and bring her to the castle’s dungeon in Iro.

Several days later, Lady Bushian, Takkan’s mother, interrogates Shiori and deems her not a threat, allowing her to work as a servant in the kitchen. Megari, Takkan’s younger sister, is eager to befriend Shiori, but Lady Zairena, an orphaned family friend, is convinced Shiori is a demon and makes her disdain known. The enchanted paper crane Kiki, who was separated from Shiori in the woods, finally finds her living in the castle’s fish cellar. During a winter storm, Takkan is delivered to the castle, having been attacked by assassins. Shiori helps the sentinels hide Takkan in a guard castle, and stitches up Takkan’s wound, saving his life.

One day, Megari convinces Shiori to sneak out of the castle to look at the blossoming plum trees, a ruse to have Takkan and Shiori spend more time together. A pack of wolves appears and begins to attack, but Shiori and Takkan fight them off. They both notice a strange wolf with a golden cuff around its leg, which they later agree might be the Andalan enchanter.

Back at the castle, a sentinel is assassinated with Four Breaths poison; despite Shiori’s suspicions that the assassin was Zairena, Takkan finds evidence that it was the castle chef. Eager to leave the castle as soon as possible, Shiori de-thorns the painful starstroke nettles at night, and then sneaks into Zairena’s room to use her spindle and turn the nettles into thread.

As Shiori spends more time with Takkan, she learns that they met years ago, that he wrote her letters and stories that she never read. Shiori feels ashamed for her past actions, and realizes she is developing romantic feelings for Takkan, yet cannot reveal her true identity.

With the woven starstroke net complete, Shiori prepares to leave Castle Bushian. When her brothers finally find her, they encourage her to stay for the Winter Festival and enjoy her last night with Takkan before they break the curse. Shiori enjoys her night at the festival until she discovers that Zairena was responsible for poisoning the sentinel. Back at the castle, Zairena uses her own magic to convince Lady Bushian that Shiori is a demon.

In the dungeon, Zairena reveals that she is actually Guiya (Shiori’s “maid”), a priestess of the Holy Mountains, who uses magic to disguise herself. She explains that Shiori is Kiata’s bloodsake, which means Shiori has the power to unleash all of the demons trapped in the mountains. Therefore, to protect Kiata, Guiya must kill Shiori. Shiori realizes that Raikama’s curse was intended to protect the royal children from Guiya, seemingly friendly warlord Lord Yuji (who first showed up at the Summer Festival), and an A’landan enchanter called the Wolf (the strange wolf with a golden cuff around its leg), who were all conspiring together. The next morning, as Guiya and the sentinels prepare to execute Shiori on a pyre, her crane-brothers arrive to rescue her. Shiori is about to die when she sees Takkan riding up, and in an attempt to prevent Guiya from killing him, Shiori calls out his name in warning, which breaks her curse. Takkan reveals that he always suspected she was the princess of Kiata, despite her hidden identity, and remains committed to their betrothal.

The Wolf, Lord Yuji, and Yuji’s soldiers surround Shiori and Takkan in the forest. The soldiers have captured Shiori’s brothers and kill Guiya on the spot. The Wolf kills Lord Yuji, and in breaking his oath to his master, ascends to a demon form. Everyone is able to escape the forest except for Shiori, whom the Wolf (whose true name is Bandur) snatches as the Holy Mountains magically recall the demon. Inside the mountains, Shiori flees from thousands of demons through an illusion maze, and with Raikama’s help, escapes.

Shiori helps the weakened Raikama back to her garden, where Raikama reveals many secrets about her past. Her sister Vanna was born with a dragon pearl, and Vanna was the only one who loved her sister’s true serpent self. When Vanna died, the dragon pearl embedded itself into Raikama’s heart, transforming her appearance into Vanna’s. Joining the emperor’s family provided Raikama with a fresh start, but to keep Shiori from learning about her magic, Raikama distanced herself from the children despite her love for them. She is ready to die and be without the burdensome pearl. Before her death, Raikama reveals that the few memories Shiori has of her mother are actually with Raikama, and that she has always known her true name because of the songs they would sing together about a girl named Channari. With the help of Seryu, Shiori enters the Dragon Kingdom to fulfill Channari’s final wish—to return the dragon pearl to its rightful owner, the Dragon King.