Hi friends, happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a good week! Today I’m posting my review of Julie C. Dao’s novella, Song of the Crimson Flower from her Rise of the Empress duology.

You can read my review of book one: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns
You can read my review of book two: Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix

Song of the Crimson Flower by: Julie C. Dao: Lan is the daughter of a wealthy nobleman and is set to marry the physician’s son, Tam, or so she thought. When she realizes a rather harsh truth, she takes it out on the messenger, Bao, although Bao has secretly always loved her. But when Bao is cursed by an evil witch, who also happens to be his aunt, Lan knows she must help him to try and break the spell, while also absolving her guilt for the things she said to him. Taking place eight years after Empress Jade came to power comes a powerful short story of love in all shapes and forms, escapades through the kingdoms and lots of magic. This novella was beautifully written just like the novels before it. The reader was fully immersed in this tale of love, strength and resilience. The plot was fast-paced and it gave us enough that we weren’t left hanging, but we also wanted more because this world has become such a fascinating yet intense place. The journey that our main characters went on was filled with magic and darkness where the reader had no idea what was going to happen next. What the reader enjoyed the most was the fact that characters weren’t as they seemed; some weren’t as good as they let on, just as some weren’t as evil as they first appeared. It was really fun to watch it all unfold because these characters who we only saw for such a short time had so many different layers. They were so morally grey and thought they were doing good, when at times they really weren’t, but seeing their motives was just so interesting. The reader wished this could have been longer, alas this story was well told with so many different elements; from the adventure to the magic, to the romance and family plots, there was just a bit of everything that kept things engaging and entertaining. Highly recommend this novella for fans of this duology.