Book 0.5 of The Crimson Cranes Series
When Channi’s sister Vanna is born no one has seen such a beautiful child. Channi’s mother has lost a lot of blood and her father can only save one of them: his wife or his newborn daughter. He chooses his wife and leaves the newborn in the jungle for the Demon Witch to devour. Legend has it that the witch took one look at the beautiful baby and decided to spare her, so when her father returned the following day, the infant was still in the jungle.
The truth, however, is different. Her father left Channi, a two year old, in the jungle for the Demon Witch to find. The snake king took pity on Channi and bit her, making her blood poisonous to the witch and thus saving her life. The witch was not pleased with this and cursed Channi with the face of a serpent unless she brought her baby sister to the witch before her seventeenth birthday.
Now Vanna is almost seventeen and she is to choose her suitor. Because of her beauty many kings and emperors have come to bid for her hand. The richest of them is a vile, evil man who will stop at nothing to get his hands on Vanna. Will Vanna choose him to appease her father who wishes the man who pays the most for his daughter to win her hand?
Let’s start with an important fact. I am terrified of snakes. So for me to rate a book about a snake girl who is friends with snakes five stars – it has to be good!
Elizabeth Lim writes so beautifully, and I just loved this book. My heart breaks for Channi who is not treated well by her father and stepmother. However, the bond between Vanna and Channi is strong, although Vanna is at times a petulent child (but then again who isn’t at sixteen?)
Read for the ShelfReflection Reading Challenge 2025
Prompt 9: A book with a curse
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
