Song of the Crimson Flower

I picked this book up on a whim, and I'm glad I did! I really loved the fairy-tale feeling of this story, it made me nostalgic for the dozens and dozens of fairytales and fables I read in elementary school. Apparently this book is set in the universe of one of the author's series, which I haven't read, but I understood what was going on and don't think you need to have read the others to understand and enjoy this book. I really enjoyed the writing style of this author, The plot is a little slow, but engaging, and I also thought Lan and Bao's romance was adorable. It took me a while to warm up to Lan, but Bao stole my heart from the beginning! Song of the Crimson Flower is a lovely tale of magic, romance, and adventure!

I was so lucky to get an ARC of this book from Bookish First! When I heard that the author was going to be writing another book based in the same world as The Forest of a Thousand Lanterns I couldn't wait for it to be released! I loved that duology and was more than ready to dive back in to that world. This story takes place several years after the Great War in which Empress Xifeng was defeated by Jade who became empress after and concerns mostly the characters of Lan and Bao with several appearances of the previous books' characters. Lan's heart was broken by a love that did not love her and unfortunately she took it out on Bao, causing him to seek out the river witch who ends up cursing. Lan proves herself to be strong though and she and Bao end up traveling to the Gray City for the cure to the curse. There is lots of excitement along the way and as I mentioned before, appearances by such characters as Commander Wei and Wren, and of course Empress Jade. I loved this story as it was well written and I could see the world and feel a part of the adventure. I will gladly read many more books by Julie Dao! She is a great author!