Caiyan and Lilian, two twins that Hesina’s father adopted when they were young, are two of the most delightful characters of the story, with Lilian never failing to make me laugh out loud, and Caiyan having one of the more surprising character arcs in the book. Then there is Sanjing, Hesina’s younger brother who commands the Yan military. At the forefront is Hesina, the protagonist of the novel and whose POV the book is told from. They all feel so real and so alive, and each of them have their own distinct personalities that you come to depend upon and look forward to throughout the story. Speaking of the characters, the ones that are brought to life in this book are some of my favorite characters to date. Everything flows together beautifully, and I felt as if I knew the characters so well even though I had just met them a page or two ago. In just the first couple of chapters, He introduces the plot, the characters, builds the world and the history of that world, and does it all in such a seemingly simple way. I started reading the book while I was at the pool, lounging in the sun, and He’s prose pulled me in so effectively that I sat there reading for an hour without even realizing it (and got an impressive sunburn on my leg as a result).

I almost don’t even know where to start for this review, because there are so many good things to talk about, but He’s ability to weave words together and create a story and a picture to go along with that story deserves to be praised first and foremost. You name it, this book has it, and it accomplishes everything that it sets out to do.

Then there was the plot description – magic, assassinations, secrets and lies, political turmoil. It came to my attention when I was searching up-and-coming YA novels, and the cover – which is so beautiful – immediately caught my eye. I read Joan He’s debut novel, Descendant of the Crane, for this week’s blog post and (spoiler alert) I absolutely loved it.

The descendant of the crane