First Lines Friday... an epic adventure!

The bottom of the lake tasted like mud, salt, and regret. The water was so thick it was agony keeping my eyes open, but thank the great gods I did. Otherwise, I would have missed the dragon.

He was smaller than I’d imagined one to be. About the size of a rowboat, with glittering ruby eyes and scales green as the purest jade. Not at all like the village-sized beasts the legends claimed dragons to be, large enough to swallow entire ships.

He swam nearer until hi round red eyes were so close they reflected my own. 

He was watching me drown…

                                ...Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

Don't you love that cover?!? I keep saying I'm not a fantasy reader and yet the past few weeks I've picked up quite a few of these types of novels. Six Crimson Cranes incorporates elements of folklore and epic adventure. I found Elizabeth Lim reading about special edition books from Waterstones, an amazing bookstore in the UK. Waterstones has some wonderful special edition books that have beautiful alternate covers, beautiful end papers and/or special sprayed edges, either colors or designs. I'm going to make a post about these because some of these editions are amazingly beautiful. In the meantime though, I have Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim on my Kindle! Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers in 2021.