I have been waiting for this book forever ever since I saw it all over Booktok. And I was pretty excited to read this book when I received my copy in the mail.

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night did not disappoint me at all. It may have started off slow, but once I got the hang of it, I dived right in. I will say that this book is mainly YA fantasy read, not YA romance fantasy read. Keep that in mind, you will truly enjoy it.

Song of Silver, Flame-like Night brings a different type of fantasy mythology. It focuses on different characters, but the main focus would be Lan and Zen. Both are different from each other, but yet they are connected in one way or another.

Lan has lost so much that she is more than willing to learn her mother's secrets. And she is willing to put her trust in Zen since he is more than willing to help her. He is also trying to uncover secrets, especially since people keep trying to attack Lan. They both are willing to go forward on their journey, but they will soon discover how much everything will change in their lives.

I won't give out any spoilers because it will ruin the fantasy read. But expect so many secrets to unravel between Lan and Zen. And also expect betrayals.

Before picking up this book, be sure you check out the content warning. There are heavy topics discussed and mentioned.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been so charmed with a YA book, then along comes Amelie Wen Zhao’s Song of Silver, Flame Like Night. I cannot emphasize how much I loved this book. The worldbuilding is strong and layered, incorporating both Chinese history with Chinese mythology, the characters were interesting, and the plot kept me hooked the whole way through. This is probably my new favorite Chinese-setting YA novel.

The first thing I must talk about in this book is how fantastic the worldbuilding is. Song of Silver, Flame Like Night is set after the fall of the The Last Kingdom, a close fantasy equivalent of the end of the Qing dynasty, after the Elantian Empire (white people) has taken over the seat of power and colonized most of the East of the country. When you first open the book, you get a short chronology explaining the different periods that have occurred through the history of the Last Kingdom, which the characters often reference back to throughout the story. It’s a fantastic way to showing how deeply layered history is in this book while not bogging the reader down with infodump after infodump. Granted, Zhao has a slightly easier time as much of this is a condensed, re-named version of actual Chinese history: the city we begin in, Haak’gong, is implied to be Hong Kong, the ruling ethnic majority right before Elantians arrive, the Hin, are a letter away from China’s most populous Han ethnic group, the Warring Clans Era has a similar equivalent to the actual Warring States period, etc etc. Yet, praise must be given in knowing what to keep and what to leave out. Perhaps my one criticism is that with the amount of dedication and care put into the worldbuilding of the Last Kingdom, I wish the Elantians had a more interesting portrayal than just Evil White Empire^TM.

On the more magical side, Zhao features Taoist shamans, known as practitioners in the book. (For those familiar with wuxia/xianxia, these are cultivators). I think this is the first time I’ve read a western novel that’s so fully committed to xianxia element and I’m so here for it. The practitioner deuteragonist we meet, Zen, is probably my favorite character in the book, in no short part because of how cool the practioning abilities are. In addition, the four cardinal beasts: Crimson Phoenix, Black Turtle, White Tiger, and Azure Dragon play important roles, especially in the latter half of the story as we learn that some of the popularly accepted history might not be so true after all. Zhao gives the White Tiger and Azure Dragon a color change so they’re Azure Tiger and Silver Dragon for some reason.

The plot and pacing in this book are fairly fast, yet it allows the characters room to breathe and interact. We open with our main character, Lan, attempting to learn about an invisible seal on she can see on her arm, and turning to shadier and shadier sources. When that gets her in trouble with the Elantians at the pleasure house she works in, There’s tensions and drama in that escape that made it hard for me to put my Kindle down. Once we get more into the practioning element, Zhao gives Lan and Zen the room to breath and fully take in the beauty and the calmness of the practioning arts, without losing the tension of the overarching plot. The characters themselves are great. I was never yelling at my book because of stupid decisions just to further the plot and no elements seemed to happen just because the author didn’t know how to transition from point A to point B.

Overall, I rate this book a 4.5/5. Zhao incorporates fantastic use of Chinese history and mythology with xianxia practices to writes a masterful first book in this new series. I can tell we’re only scratching the surface of this story and I can’t wait. to see what happens next.

Review will go live on my blog 27 Jan 2023

Thank you for the opportunity to read this!
AWZ really wanted to talk about her history and her intro about her grandmother was very heart touching. I can overall say I reccomend this book but it was not outstanding in its writing and pace. 3.5 stars
Themes:
Demon and gods in real world
Chinese history crossover
Slow burn romance ( real back burner if you like that)
Amnesia/forgotten family/past
Hidden past
Epic adventure
Big mouth FMC (in a good way)

Now overall i did like the characters, Lan especially. She had a mouth on her which i was surprised slightly but it was funny in her bantering. I didn’t care for the last second (literally ) plot twist with her and the master. The pacing was really off. Multiple times the Mc’s are walking through the countryside with tatted falling off clothes and it stays that way for days/weeks. It was off putting when they could have taken some or stolen if off grid but thats just me. There was a lot of traveling than plot the beginning and the end were interesting but i cant say the middle was great. It took me 2 months to finish this, not even 500 pages, though it felt like it.
I think it will be better action packed in the next book. The fighting is so fast because the characters black out and many people are dead, i want to see what more the metal magic can do!

I read this book in audio format, but the digital and print versions are gorgeous, with lovely art.
Song of Silver, Flame like Night is an exciting coming-of-age story set in beautiful places with deeply conflicted and hopeful characters. I loved each revelation and look forward to seeing where Lon's journey takes her next. I love a good heroine.

When I was younger, I went through an interesting phase of being obsessed with mythology. Greek. Roman. Egyptian. Chinese. Indian. The list could go on, but my top three favorites in mythology was Greek, Egyptian and Chinese mythology. All three knew how to capture my attention and exploring a bit of Chinese mythology inspired tales had been a fun foray into widening my literature scopes.


But the years passed by and these stories either weren't as popular anymore or they got lost in the types of books out there and when I got approved an eARC of this one, I was definitely overjoyed to dive in. The reader's note sold me on this being a good book.


I was not wrong.


Short Summary: A girl who could bring a nation to its knees with a hidden mark teams up with a runaway magician with plans to overthrow an empire to an adventure that fate has tied them together for.


Long Summary:In a fallen kingdom, one girl carries the key to discovering the secrets of her nation’s past—and unleashing the demons that sleep at its heart. Once, Lan had a different name. Now she goes by the one the Elantian colonizers gave her when they invaded her kingdom, killed her mother, and outlawed her people’s magic. She spends her nights as a songgirl in Haak’gong, a city transformed by the conquerors, and her days scavenging for what she can find of the past. Anything to understand the strange mark burned into her arm by her mother in her last act before she died. The mark is mysterious—an untranslatable Hin character—and no one but Lan can see it. Until the night a boy appears at her teahouse and saves her life.


Zen is a practitioner—one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom. Their magic was rumored to have been drawn from the demons they communed with. Magic believed to be long lost. Now it must be hidden from the Elantians at all costs. When Zen comes across Lan, he recognizes what she is: a practitioner with a powerful ability hidden in the mark on her arm. He’s never seen anything like it—but he knows that if there are answers, they lie deep in the pine forests and misty mountains of the Last Kingdom, with an order of practitioning masters planning to overthrow the Elantian regime. Fate has connected them, but their destiny remains unwritten. Both hold the power to liberate their land. And both hold the power to destroy the world.


Now the battle for the Last Kingdom begins.


This book is out now and it's a great way to start 2023, so get your copy now!


Overall: 5/5 stars

Almost lost interest in the middle due to ridiculous protagonist syndrome but then the twists started to hit and it redeemed itself.

full disclosure- i got this book as an arc!

but that doesn’t make this book anything less than amazing. the prose is beautiful- i have so many highlights for this book, moreso than any other. zhao seemingly sat down at a keyboard one day and went :) i am going to ruin my readers with prose and characters. and she truly delivered on that.

from the first chapter we are introduced to lan, and then next to zen. these characters feel real in their environment. we get to see their inner workings, and tidbit by tidbit is fed to the readers so that by the climax you not only feel for these characters but you understand them and their decisions.

often times when reading fantasy there’s a lot of worldbuilding text that bogs the read down, but here the worldbuilding flowed with the story and felt natural in the world. there was no initial fifty plus pages of world building to slog through- it’s interspersed through the story the whole way through.

definitely my first 5 star read of the year, and will probably end up on my best of 2023 list.

This is the first book I’ve read of Amélie Wen Zhao’s and I am in awe—what an absolutely thrilling and magical read.

This book is fast-paced and filled with lots of adventure. The writing style is so stunning and magical and the premise of the book is like nothing I’ve ever read before. It’s truly such a unique and enthralling read. The world-building is incredible, from the magic system to the history of the clans and mythological creatures.

This book is pure magic.

I loved so much about this. The Chinese mythology and folklore, the magic system, the beautiful prose, the characters. I'm obsessed with the way that music is used in magic. The story started off a little slow for me at first, as the groundwork was laid. There is a decent amount of worldbuilding in this book, but I think it's done pretty well. Once I got past the first few chapters, everything started to flow, and I really enjoyed myself. I'd definitely recommend this to fans of Fantasy/YA Fantasy.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children's, Delacorte Press, and Amelie Wen Zhao for the opportunity to read Song of Silver, Flame Like Night in exchange for an honest review.

Zhao has an amazing Letter to Reader that introduces some excellent information regarding her inspirations for this novel. Growing up having heard about her grandparent's experiences during China's Century of Humiliation was a major inspiration for this novel. The best way to describe Song of Silver, Flame Like Night is Zhao's explanation in the forward that the novel "is an interrogation of and a response to history. This is a tale of my heritage. Welcome to the Last Kingdom." The Letter to the Reader is important, powerful, and impactful. White the novel is fantasy, it delves deep into China's resistance to outside forces.

In the past, Lan had a different name, but now she is known by the name given to her by the Elantian colonizers when they took over her kingdom, killed her mother, and banned the use of magic by her people. She works as a songgirl in Haak'gong, a city that has been changed by the conquerors, and during the day, she searches for any remnants of the Hin people and links to the day her mother died. She is determined to understand the mysterious mark that her mother burned into her wrist upon her death by the Winter Magician. While the mark is of Hin origin, Lan cannot seem to find an accurate translation anywhere, and it sure doesn't help that no one else can see the mark on her wrist.

Zen is a skilled user of magic--called a practitioner--known as one of the legendary magicians from the Last Kingdom. It is said that a practitioner's was obtained through communicating, and even bonding, with demons. It is a magic that is believed to no longer exist and demon bonding is frowned upon by the masters of the Way. Either way, it is crucial that this magic is kept secret from the Elantians.

Zen encounters Lan after following a trail of qi, recognizing her as a potential practitioner, evidenced to him by in the symbol on her arm, which he seems to be able to see. He has never seen anything like it before, but he believes that the answers he seeks can be found in the dense pine forests of the Last Kingdom, where a group of skilled practitioners are plotting to overthrow the Elantian government.

Zen learns to control his own demon practitioning, while Lan learns how to use her own energies. When her past finally comes forth, Lan finds herself wrapped up in something huge, something that might just be the key to destroying the Elantians and bringing back peace to the Last Kingdom, and the lives the Hin people once knew.

This book has rich and detailed world-building based on Chinese history. This creates a sense of wonder and intrigue that keeps readers engaged throughout the book. The characters are exciting and complex, both with haunting pasts and a drive to secure a better future not just for themselves, but for their people as a whole. There is a light touch of romance, written in the Zhao well, with eloquence and risk.

After reading Zhao's Blood Heir trilogy, I was excited to see yet another history-based fantasy coming from this author. And another trilogy, no less! An exciting start to the Song of the Last Kingdom trilogy!

I enjoyed this, but did find it to be a bit slow and really long at times. I was a little conflicted and honestly a bit bored, but the ending of this book completely turned around my opinion around. The ending was amazing, the stakes so high, and I want book 2 right now.

I really wanted to love this story, at face value it seems like an interesting tale about a song girl with hidden magic capabilities and the boy, Zen, who finds her and helps her harness them, However, the writing style is so description heavy and boring. I constantly felt my mind drifting and having to reread pages since I was just not into it. Some of the action scenes would pull me back in but I couldn't finish it.

Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read a review copy of this book!

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao is a book that covers quite a lot of space from beginning to end. The book follows an orphan girl named Lan as she ekes out a living in a tea house where girls perform for a living. Lan's history is something she never shares with anyone, but she tries to find answers to on her own.

Lan's mother was killed right in front of her when she was small after the Elantian Empire invaded her country. With her dying breath her mother created an imageon Lan's wrist - one that Lan can't understand and which she found out is only visible to her. Or at least until she runs into Zen...

Zen is a disciple of the last school of magic - one that isn't supposed to exist anymore. He recognizes the magic present in Lan and rescues her from an attack and takes her to his masters for training. Here Lan will possibly find more answers to her family's past. But as the Elantians hunt her, will she be able to save the people she's learning to love and trust? And what legacy did her mother carve into her wrist?

This book was absolutely gorgeous. I love the author's writing style - I've been a fan since her Blood Heir trilogy. This book is highly influenced by the history of China, and it was so well worked into the fantasy story-line that if you weren't familiar with it you wouldn't even notice.

I applaud this book for retelling history in a similar way Poppy War did, but still keeping its own voice. I am eagerly awaiting the rest of this series!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I binged this entire book in one day and loved it.

my favorite thing about this novel wasn't the chatacters, the writing or even the plot, but the fact that you can really tell that the author wrote from her heart. I recently read the blood heir trilogy and while it was good, this was entirely different.

if you've been going back and forth about this one, definitely keep it on your list because it is well worth the read (and the COVERS!)

read this book for:
🐉 long lost gods
🐉 Chinese lore
🐉 ancestral magic
🐉 anti-colonial messaging

---- 4.5/5

This was such a good fantasy! It was a quick page-turner and the characters were so well developed with great backgrounds that drag you further into your stories. Definitely recommend!

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night is a young adult fantasy that draws magic inspiration from Chinese mythology, and setting inspiration from China's "Century of Humiliation". We follow a girl named Lan as she forms an allegiance with a mysterious boy who helps her escape an Elantian sorcerer, and who may help her learn why her mother was murdered, and what mythical force Lan carries inside of her. This is a powerful story of grief and determination, magic and history. I was really pulled into Lan and Zen's developing relationship. I appreciate that they took their time learning to trust each other, but recognized their immediate affinity for this other person who understood their particular grief. And their relationship made the end of this book all the more tense and emotional, because you knew how much they both desired a better world for their people, but were conflicted on the best path to reach that goal. There are some pacing issues in the middle of the story, as we learn the details of the history and magic system of this world, but it builds to a lushly complex world, and I greatly look forward to book 2.

I absolutely loved this book. It was my first by this author and I'll definitely be coming back for more. Once I started, I couldn't put it down. I loved that this was fantasy built on Chinese folklore and mythology, and that it served as an introduction to those stories for me. Any fantasy lover will be enthralled by this book. Would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

🐉 Book Review 🐉
𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤: Song of Silver, Flame Like Night
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: Amélie Wen Zhao
🐉
𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc!

This epic fantasy novel inspired by the mythology and folklore of ancient China follows Lan and Zen. At night, Lan is a songgirl in Haak’gong, a city conquered by foreign invaders, the Elantians. During the day, she is trying to find answers about her past specifically the strange mark which was burned into her arm by her mother before she died. Zen is a magician of the Last Kingdom and comes across Lan one day. He recognizes that Lan has a unique ability of her own. Together they

Once I started reading this book, I couldn’t stop! From beginning to end, there’s this element of suspense that kept me captivated. We, the readers, are finding out new information as the characters were discovering it. And there was no hints anywhere so we are really kept in the dark. The world building is very immersive and the characters really bounce off the book. Lan is definitely a strong main character. I love how feisty and sassy she is. At the same time, she is also kind and resilient after losing her loved ones and seeing the atrocities being done to her people. Zen is also very similar to Lan but he definitely has an unsteady moral high ground when it comes to defeating the enemies and protecting his people. This book speaks about colonialism and the suppression of the Han people by the Elantians. The love that Lan and Zen have for their people and their fight to liberate their lands really connected with me as the reader. The only reason I docked a half star off my rating was because I needed at least a huge reveal or a plot twist somewhere in the storyline. Apart from that, Song of Silver, Flame Like Night is the perfect fantasy novel and has everything I look for in one! I will DEFINITELY be picking up the next book! I have so many questions and I NEED answers!
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

It is always fun to find a unique fantasy with incredibly detailed world-building. The ways that magic is described feels very different than most other fantasies, and it is even better that different characters use their magic differently. (My favorite was how music was used as a weapon to attack!) It was a tiny bit slow to start as you figure out the details of the setting and the bigger issues Lan is facing. When reading any type of fantasy, there are so many new names for everything that it took a while to absorb it, but by a few chapters in, I feel I could recommend it to anyone who enjoys high fantasy or is looking for something unique. I'm very interested in reading the next book in what I assume will be a duology. Despite the cliff hanger, I appreciate the epilogue where readers are shown that certain characters are still alive, though their friends don't know it yet.

"But you must remember that, should you choose to live, you do not live only for yourself." He made a gesture as though to touch his heart. "You live for those you have lost. You carry their legacies inside you."

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

Thank you to Delacorte Press and Turn the Page Tours for a copy of this book for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

content warnings (from storygraph): death (including parental)/grief, racism/racial slurs, xenophobia, colonization/genocide, blood/injury/violence/torture, war, child abuse/kidnapping, misogyny/sexism, panic attacks, self-harm, medical content, gaslighting

This is not Amélie Wen Zhao's first novel, but her debut trilogy (Blood Heir) was not on my radar before this book! Delacorte Press is one of my favorite imprints, and when I went through their 2023 upcoming releases earlier this year, I was immediately drawn in by the gorgeous cover art! Mythology and magicians full of secrets? I applied for this ARC and its tour immediately!

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night follows Lan, a songgirl in Haak’gong, who spends all of her free time bartering and scavenging for information on her past, something quite difficult as her city has been colonized by the Elantians. When Zen, a fabled magician, saves her one night at the teahouse, Lan finally has the opportunity to find answers. Will she be able to learn what the mysterious mark her mother left on Lan's arm in her final moments means, and can she trust Zen when he is hiding secrets of his own?

Each character feels so vibrant and unique and multi-faceted! Zen might be my favorite and the one I relate to most for both of us being so lawful good. The side characters were important, too, and I think two or three will be more strongly featured in book 2!

Reading this book made me feel as though I could envision every setting with ease. I only struggled a little with what the demons looked like, but the acknowledgments joking that they look like legendary Pokemon had me cracking up.

This book felt almost more New Adult or Adult to me as the lore is very in-depth. I loved the detailed timeline given before the story even begins, and the way we learn more about each era from new characters, like slowly unlocking more of the story as you go. This is so silly, but the only thing that annoyed me is the number of times some word involving “fart” is used as an insult, especially in the first half of the book. Upon finishing the book, it was only used 9 times, but it felt like more. 😂😂

The plot was interesting, and there did seem to be little strands of foreshadowing woven throughout the entire book for both main characters and even a side character or two! One twist happened at the end (85-ish%?) that was heartbreaking, but I understood. Then, the next plot twist around 90% just felt so belligerently hypocritical of one of the main characters that I wanted to scream. There better be some apologizing for that in book 2 or I don't know if I can forgive that particular chain of events...

I loved this book (all but maybe 5% of it where I wanted to throw it across the room before remembering it was on my iPad), and I think that if I'd been able to read it in less than 7 weeks, it would have been a 5 star read, but the holidays and work got in the way and my intrigue fizzled out in the final week or two.

The logic felt airtight for most of the book! Lan seemed to know almost nothing about the magic system and other characters had varying beliefs on forms of magic, but it all makes sense in an unreliable narrator sort of way. The twists at the end are what left me feeling like "where is the logic?!" but that may be more of a complaint towards an individual character and not the book. I did expect them to be impulsive, but they didn't strike me as thinking they were better than everyone else, though...

I have laughed out loud and teared up at this book! I was able to read it as a buddy read with my friend Alkisti, and we both thoroughly enjoyed our time with Song of Silver, Flame Like Night and are hyped to finish the duology and then go back to read Blood Heir since we loved the writing style so much!