SuitabookSix Crimson Cranes
Elizabeth Lim
- Reading
- If your reader is sensitive to bodily danger or grief, flag these themes before starting. Afterwards, compare the story’s family sacrifices with its treatment of personal identity and choice.
- Themes
- Family loyalty and sacrifice: Shiori undertakes repeated trials to save her brothers and is described as willing to sacrifice anything for her family. Family love and courageous sacrifice are presented as forces that help overcome obstacles.
- Identity, silence and making amends: Shiori is not permitted to speak aloud for much of the story, loses her identity under a curse and recognises that she has hurt someone. The book presents this favourably.
- Folklore and retelling: The fantasy reworks Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Wild Cranes” and incorporates Chinese and Japanese myths and legends, including dragon folklore. The book offers a modern fantasy framework through which readers can notice how motifs from several traditional tales are combined and changed.
- Worth knowing
- Prepare for repeated peril and grief, including physical attacks, imprisonment, deaths and threatened burning. Romance is limited to near-kisses; adults drink plum wine.