Review by Booklist Review
Readers who love the classic fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" will be enchanted by Lim's imaginative take set in a world inspired by China. With her signature vivid writing and world building and multifaceted characters, Lim gives readers an immersive experience. Tru is a gifted art forger and reluctant con artist--and keeps secret that she can paint the future. She's spent most of her life supporting her debt-ridden family, but she's grown tired of fixing their mistakes. Things take a dark turn when her mother's reckless gambling puts them in danger, and when they're forced to flee, Tru takes on the responsibility of keeping them safe. While on the run, they meet dragon lord Elang, who is forced to live without his heart. He asks Tru to marry him in hopes of breaking the curse placed on him by his ruthless grandfather. Tru, eager to save her family and hopefully uncover the truth about her long-lost father, agrees. In a breathtakingly detailed fantasy setting, Lim combines an enchanting underwater world, a clairvoyant artist, and a brooding half-dragon hero in a story marked by a slow-burning, tension-filled romance. Tru and Elang's undeniably passionate chemistry comes through clearly in their banter, and Lim's lyrical prose superbly blends whimsical and action-packed moments. This emotional, thoughtful story about love and found family is perfect for romantasy fans.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
When teenage Truyan Saigas's adventurer father disappears during a treacherous voyage, Tru must lean on her skills as an art forger to ensure that her mother and two younger sisters are taken care of. Despite the discrimination she experiences for having a Balardan father and an A'landan mother, Tru makes a name for herself as an artist. When gangsters arrive seeking payment for her mother's gambling debts, Tru feels that she's run out of options. Then she recalls Baba's advice, pulled from fairy tales he told her as a child: "Fortune finds those who leap." Hoping to protect her family and secure their financial future, she agrees to marry the powerful half-dragon Demon Prince Elang, an arrangement that could also provide insight to her father's whereabouts. In beguiling prose, Lim (Her Radiant Curse) skillfully blends elements of classic fairy tales to render Tru's many adventures across Lor'yan, a fictional world inspired by China, and inject heart-pounding action into this lush romantasy epic. Tender moments of connection and discovery enrich Tru and Elang's cautious developing relationship, even as they both contend with xenophobia and preconceived notions based on their nation's mythology, and navigate a perilous world of politics and greed. Ages 12--up. Agent: Gina Maccoby, Gina Maccoby Literary. (June)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up--Tru Saigas, a talented art forger who can predict the future, is desperate to protect her struggling family from a ruthless debt collector. When the mysterious and forbidding half-dragon Elang offers to save them in exchange for marriage and her help in breaking a deadly curse, Tru agrees--especially after she uncovers clues suggesting her missing father might be alive in the dragons' underwater kingdom. As Tru explores her new home, she uncovers dangerous secrets but also realizes that the monster she married might just be her true love. Narrator Mirai's performance feels genuine and brings Lim's myth-rich story to life. Mirai ably handles complex words and vocally shows Tru's emotional depths and character growth. While the middle of the book feels dense and a few plot outcomes are overly neat, Mirai keeps the pace lively, making for an engaging listen. VERDICT This enchanting take on "Beauty and the Beast" is recommended where fantasy and immersive folklore are popular.--Claire Covington
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Lim blends "Beauty and the Beast" with Chinese folklore in her wondrous new tale set in the same world as her Six Crimson Cranes series. After Baba, her father, is lost at sea, Truyan Saigas turns to art forgery to support her mother and two sisters. But Tru's efforts to make ends meet aren't enough, and gangsters threaten to take away her sisters if their mother's gambling debts aren't paid. When the authorities come to arrest Tru for her crimes, she escapes--and then encounters Elang, a cursed half-dragon, half-human prince. He offers a deal she can't refuse: If she marries him and helps him dethrone his tyrannical grandfather, the Dragon King, he'll ensure that she and her family are safe and debt-free and help her get answers to her father's disappearance. After they're officially bound in a loveless marriage, Tru enters Ai'long, a magical underwater realm where she's guarded by turtles, befriends merfolk, and, with the aid of a hot-tempered water demon, masters her gift of Sight (an ability to see glimpses of the future) through painting. The inevitable romance is enhanced by a beautifully rendered subaqueous backdrop and beguiling folkloric elements. In this fantasy Chinese world, Tru's blue hair is evidence of her Balardan heritage on her father's side, a trait regarded as "a damning sight"; but being visibly different motivates her to be independent and self-loving. An adventurous and romantic addition to the genre. (map)(Fantasy. 12-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
