Six Crimson Cranes

 Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim, 454 pages.

 Princess Shiori can do magic. Which is a problem because all of the magic in Kiora is supposed to be locked in the holy mountains with the demons, and she'll almost certainly be banished there if anyone finds out, whether or not she's her daughter's favorite. When she loses control right before the betrothal ceremony she wants nothing she thinks that nobody notices the little paper bird she brought to life, but it turns out that she's caught the eye of her stepmother, who has dark magic of her own. Soon her brothers are cursed to turn into cranes and Shiori is transported far from the palace with a bowl magically attached to her head to hide her face and the knowledge that any sound she makes will kill her brothers. Now Shiori must find a way to break the curse and fix the even greater dangers that are coming to her kingdom.

This is a beautiful fantasy retelling of "The Wild Swans" by Hans Christian Anderson. The mythic, fairy tale type feeling is also enhanced by weaving in bits of many other fairy tales, including Cinderella, The Girl with the Black Bowl, and the legend of Chang'e, until there is an extremely magical, out-of-reality feel to the story. I really enjoyed all of the characters, and was pleasantly surprised that in a story like this all of the brothers had enough personality that I could remember who was who. This book is intensely magical, and just generally very cool. I would definitely recommend it. 

Note: This cover is so pretty, I just wanted to draw attention to it.