I went into this book with fairly high expectations, and it met each and every one of them!
I loved how vivid the writing was - I could imagine every scene so well.
Also, the growth that both POV characters go through to get where the book finishes is incredible to witness.
Finally, the history was everything! I appreciated that true Chinese history was used but tweaked for the fantasy world.
All in all, an absolutely fantastic read that didn’t bore me at any point.
I’m so excited to see what the next book brings!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received an ARC and I’m leaving an honest review.

(spoilers below)

A few times it felt like the author was trying a little too hard with the flowery descriptions (but that might just be a matter of preference). But you do get used to it after a while and I don’t think it disturbs the reading experience too much in the end.

The author marketed the book as enemies to lovers on TikTok. It could be considered a possible spoiler, but in a way it's not accurate either (in my opinion). Lan and Zen start as strangers and they then spend quite a bit of time together and end up developing feelings. Even when Zen made the bargain with the Demon God, the two of them never actually became enemies. Despite everything Zen still made sure to save Lan, and Lan kept being worried about him.
But anyway, even if "enemies to lovers" isn't accurate, their story was still worth it. Their relationship was adorable and Zen had been so sweet to her since the beginning. Lan with him, too.

It was a great read. The story was very interesting and, as already mentioned, Lan and Zen were so good together! I LOVE female main characters that don’t shy away from saying what they think.

The angst at the end made me cry and I'm so excited for book two.

I already read a book with this same dynamic before: demon bound boyfriend with a strong willed girlfriend, with a "bitchy" side female character and a sweet mlm side couple. If this series ends the same way the Shadow Of The Fox trilogy ended... I will cry my eyes out one more time I guess. I don't know if I'm ready for all that pain again, though.

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night was engaging, magical, and overall simply incredible. I was hooked from the first page. The narrator was fun and lively and her personality shone through every interaction. I'll be purchasing this for my classroom!

Ok. I just finished this book, a week after its release day.

I will start with the good things: it was entertaining enough to want to continue to read. I found it had a good magic system that got me interested and made me want to keep reading to find out all the details and secrets the story held. It is a good fantasy for a fantasy book.

The problem with it, though, are the characters. All the characters felt like bland versions of 2012s fantasy books and it made me cringe so many times. I really couldn't care for any of them, and it bothered me to read. This is a dual POV book, but both POVs were exactly the same. It was so hard to identify which was which and it became stressful after some chapters of having the same problem. Also, the fact that some things were too obvious and they acted as if they were the biggest reveals ever? Yeah, no.

I just couldn't deal with how long this book was and how nothing really happened for many pages, and when things happened, they were very repetitive: we find something, the evil people come to kill us, we escape. And that repeated like thrice during the whole book.

While the overarching plot direction and themes aren't necessarily unique, I found a lot to love in this book.

Years after losing her mother to the Elantian magicians during the occupation, Lan is still trying to figure out what the mysterious mark on her arm means. She finally has a lead, but when an Elantian officer buys her time as a songgirl, Lan is forced to defend herself and her life. Fortunately for her, Zen happens to be at the right place, at the right time, even if they don't entirely get off on the right foot. And as a practitioner, he might be able to help her unravel the secrets her mother left her with.

There were several moments while reading this that I thought I must be near the end already, only to check and see I wasn't even halfway. This isn't because it was lagging in any way, but enough happens in this book that it could have easily been split into two. In fact, there are a lot of YA fantasies that don't pack nearly as much into the first book, but that is part of what kept me engaged throughout the story. I never felt like the pacing dragged, or like I was reading about something that didn't feel necessary to the overall plot. Lan has a very specific goal in mind, and she never veers from this, even when she is forced to take detours for a time.

Speaking of Lan, it's been a while since I've encountered such a compelling main character. I absolutely loved the way she was, from her snarky replies, to her determination to learn new things and do what is necessary to protect herself and the people she cares for. Even though there is a romance between her and Zen, that never becomes the end-all-be-all of her as a character. She still makes the difficult choices, love and soulmates be damned.

In comparison, Zen almost comes across as bland. I think the reason for this does become more clear the more you find out about him, but for me it meant that while I understood Lan's motivations and feelings, Zen never felt quite as genuine. When they first confess to having feelings for one another, reading that he cared so much for her took me by surprise, because I hadn't seen much of it prior to that point. This is despite the fact that the book is written in 3rd person, and that we get chapters from both their perspectives.

The other issue I had were a few of the antagonists, especially Dilaya. That girl was just everywhere at just the right moment to hear all the things she shouldn't know about, and she predictably reacted badly every time. This felt like a bit of a pattern for many side characters—while Lan and Zen felt fleshed out, the others were a bit flatter.

Overall, I still really enjoyed this, and if you're looking for a nice, meaty start to a YA fantasy series, I highly recommend checking this out.

When I tell you that this book blew me away, I’m not kidding. I absolutely adored it. It took me a couple of chapters to get into it, but after that it absolutely FLEW by. I am in a major East Asian folklore retellings phase right now, though I have been a fan since I first read The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo. My interest was rekindled by Elizabeth Lim’s recent Six Crimson Cranes and Blood of Stars duologies. Perhaps that makes me slightly more biased, but if you enjoy stories like that, you will love this.

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night explores severe colonialism and culture erasure from the viewpoint of the oppressed. That alone is a good reason to read this, but the intensity does not stop at the violence. The Elantians, who are colonizing the Hin lands, bring a strange magic that is pulled from metals as opposed to the magic of the Hin people, which is based on qi-the natural energies of the world, which must keep a balance. The Hin people pre-conquer believed in keeping qi in balance, and also believed in the four Demon Gods who used to rule the land. The Silver Dragon, The Phoenix, the Azure Tiger, and the Black Turtle. These demons were purportedly long trapped, but those who possessed the dark qi of the demon gods wielded great but uncontrollable power. The first chapter goes through the history, legends, and lore and adds depth into the world build and aids in the reader’s understanding of the need for balance and care by practitioners of qi-related magic.
In the beginning of the book, Lan, orphaned at a young age, works for the largest tea house in the capital, Haak’gong as a song girl. Life as a song girl is very precarious and Lan, a strong and rebellious sort, soon finds herself in hot water when a Elantian soldier threatens her and she unwittingly kills him with magic she didn’t know she had possessed. She is saved by a boy in hiding as a Hin court employee, Zen, who secretly is a qi practitioner and part of the last hidden school of magic.
Soon, Lan finds herself in the secret school training. However, as the threats to the last remaining bastion of Hin culture loom ever closer, Lan and Zen must find the secrets behind the mark left on her by her mother before her death at the hands of the Elantian Winter Magician. It may be their only hope to saving their people. Danger lies ahead, and a hunt for the four demon gods begins.
The fantasy elements of this book are incredible, the writing is absolutely engrossing, and you can feel and practically see the emotions and settings of this book. I give major props to Wen Zhao. I didn’t think I could be as captivated by this as I was and it was so much better than I could have anticipated. I had this on my list for 2023 books I was interested in, and that list was super short this year (MAYBE 10 books deep). I was overjoyed to get an advanced copy of it and finished it so very quickly in December, 2022. Yes, my review is late, but that should tell you how great this was that has stuck in my brain so firmly. In other words, it’s been released and if you don’t have it in your cart right now or even have it already on its way, you are sorely missing out.

Genuine thanks to Netgalley, Amelie Wen Zhao, and Random House for the advanced copy in exchange for this sincerely honest review. I can’t wait for more books like this!

An excellent start to this duology, and I find that I’m particularly fascinated by the lore and world. This is not to say that I didn’t also appreciate the characters (who I thought were pretty great too, and I definitely want to see more of them), their journeys and the actual plot, because I totally did. I really need the sequel because I must know how it all ends!

I would like to thank Underlined of Penguin Random House at NYCC for providing a digital copy of this novel via NetGalley. I was initially drawn to this novel by the cover. I was intrigued when I read the description. Once I started reading it, Song of Silver, Flame Like Night immediately captured my attention. The story is based on Chinese folklore. It introduces Lan, whose mother had passed away at the hands of Elantian forces. A once great kingdom is now under Elantian rule, leading to many adverse consequences for its people. The Hin language is forbidden and Lan is not the name she was born with. Additionally, magic is banned. The author effectively explains the magic system early on. It is based on qi, which all people possess. But some individuals have an affinity for channeling it and concentrating it into seals. Also, some individuals can hold more qi than others. Lan is one such individual. She joins a school to help her control her qi. She meets Zen who is a qi practitioner and he helps her on her path to find answers regarding her mother’s passing as well as the mysterious seal on her leg. Not everyone is welcoming of Lan and her unique abilities. The source of her special ability is a mystery that the book slowly unravels. We discover what lead to her mother's passing and this revelation is another of many that shape the plot and story in interesting ways. The novel alternates perspectives which helps build the main characters of the story. This story contains themes of light and dark forces and raises questions of whether using dark forces is justified in difficult times. Can dark forces ever really be controlled? Once embraced, do these forces eventually take over the light? This novel tells a compelling story and tackles some difficult themes successfully. About 98% into the book, I was wondering how the story would wrap up since it still appeared there was more story to tell. The conclusion, although satisfying, raised new questions and set up a sequel—one that I’m very interested in reading. I really want to see how the author further dissects themes of light and dark and the very interesting folklore explored in this novel.

Amélie Wen Zhao returns with a new YA fantasy steeped deeply in Chinese mythology. I really enjoyed her previous trilogy, Blood Heir, and was really excited to get approved for Song of Silver, Flame Like Night. (henceforth known as SOS in my review, minor spoilers ahead)

SOS is an intriguing tale of a girl (Lan) whose mother was killed by colonizers but before she died she imprinted something onto Lan, a seal of magic. In Lan's search to understand what the seal on her arm is she collides with Zen, a practitioner of Hin magic. Zen is very much the stickler for rules type and doesn't speak a whole lot. On the other hand our girl Lan is a snarky brat and she carries loads of magic with her but has no idea how to use it. Zen decides to help her figure out what the seal is all about and A LOT of information is told to the reader where in the end we find out that Lan must not only destroy the colonizers she must also destroy the four demon gods of the Hin culture and return the power to the people. Not a tall order at all.

I loved Lan from the get go, she makes some silly mistakes but she definitely became dear to my heart because of all she goes through and discovers about her mother. She's very plucky and has tons of courage. Zen was kind of robotic but having a demon bound inside of you might have something to do with that. His backstory is very sad and at this point my heart is broken for him. He's such a self sacraficer. Her and Zen's chemistry was a bit "meh" for my taste (nothing like Ramson and Ana unfortunately) but they are cute in their own sunshine grumpy way.

It was a bit difficult for me to get into it at the start because it's very info heavy. And I haven't read a whole lot of Chinese mythology so I might've had to re-read certain parts to really soak in the information. I don't really mind informational heavy books but they just take me a minute when there's not a whole lot of other stuff going on in the plot at the same time. Plus with this being the first book in the series I expected a little world building. The book definitely picks up in the last 25-30% though.

I didn't alternate between reading and listening to the audiobook and I would definitely recommend doing that. Getting the pronunciations taught to me with the narrator was so helpful in understanding some facets of the culture and mythology. The narrator, Annie Q, was fantastic and I loved all her inflections and tones for the different characters. I would definitely listen to more books narrated by her.

The way SOS ends is not necessarily a cliffhanger. People have their agendas and their own squads but they might not be paired up with who you'd want them to be with. There's a really difficult death towards the end that had me tearing up so beware.

Overall, I would put this at about 3.75 to 4 stars in my opinion. I will continue the series because I adore Amélie Wen Zhao and want to continue to support her and I do need to find out what happens to Lan and the gang. Thank you so much to Random House and Delacorte Press for providing me an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the E-ARC of this book.

I wanted to love this book, I really did but I didn't. I liked it and therein lies the difference. The first part of the book is very heavy on world building but that makes sense since this is the first of a series. It takes a while for the story to get going and for the characters to truly develop and even then, I don't feel that they were developed all that much. That being said, I will read the second book since I do want to know what happens and the last few chapters were good.

first off thank you to netgalley and harpercollins for the arc however late my review may be! second, support the harpercollins union strike!!!!!!!!

song of silver, flame like night is a tale of both fate and sacrifice as it follows both lawn and zen and their path to self-discovery while facing against foes both human and supernatural. this was truly the perfect book to start off the new year because it just proved how much i love fantasy as this book is full of multiple popular elements that simply tickle my fancy within the fantasy genre.

although it starts off slow, it is still interesting as you become endeared with both characters and when the plot takes off it does with a bang! with wonderfully written characters and a SUPERRR intriguing plot, i’m incredibly glad to have read this book and am excited for the sequel!

In Song of Silver, Flame like Night there are secrets simmering in the air and on our skin. I was instantly drawn to our heroine, Lan. In many ways she's on a quest alone and is searching for knowledge and answers. Is there anything any more universal? Plus the action immediately sweeps us away. I was left reeling wondering, "who are all these baddies?" I knew I wanted to follow Lan's quest until the end. At the same time, I greatly enjoyed the magic all the way from the metal magic to the MAGICAL TRAINING SCHOOL!

But I think what ended up captivating me - predictably so - were the themes. How do we question authority? There's this almost intoxicating power of silence around authority. Around obedience and speaking out. Song of Silver, Flame like Night asks us these questions. Asks us what society expects in terms of sacrifice. In terms of what we will do for power and for those ethical decisions.

I really enjoyed Song of Silver, Flame Like Night. This book was fast paced and full of action and adventure..I never knew where it would go next! I loved the world building full of intriguing Chinese Lore! Lan and Zen were both well written characters and I enjoyed getting both perspectives. I am rooting for these two and can’t wait to read the sequel!

I throughly enjoyed this story! The characters as well as the world building were unique. I did not care for the in depth descriptions of the dynasty and Kingdom, just a preference. I feel those could have been left out. The brief passages at the beginning of the chapters were interesting but I feel did not hold any real relevance. The friendship between Lan and Zen was developed quite nicely and I do love the more intimate moments between them. The scene where Zen present s Lan with the necklace was truly one of my favorite aww moments in the story. Once I familiarized myself with the characters the lore and background made so much more sense! Overall I do want to keep reading to see where the story goes next.

I was not quite as won with this one as another bookseller friend who received an ARC as well, but her enjoyment kept me engaged enough to get into it and not miss out. It took a little settling in, but I get it now, and I feel like the world was done very well. I hope to see more.

I really wanted to love this, but I just couldn't get into it. I liked Zen. Lan was ok, but annoying at times. The writing was info dumpy and boring.

Starting off the year with a five star read!! I always find it intimidating to pick the first book of the year and it's such a good feeling to pick one I loved! This book is the first in a series, and I'm not going to lie, after seeing this gorgeous cover I knew I had to read it. This book was slower paced than I think I'm used to, however I felt like it made perfect sense for this story. The world building was done so well and I feel like it was described perfectly without being too much of an info dump right at the beginning. I loved the writing style. It was incredibly descriptive and a lot of passages had lyrical qualities to them. I felt like I could see the scenes of this book play out. The qí based magic system was really cool and I enjoyed reading about it.

Lan was such an interesting character! She was funny, witty, and her sarcasm was brilliant. At the same time she is curious to know the secrets her mother left behind and will do anything to fight against the Elantian rule. I loved reading about her journey as she learns to become a practitioner and how she learns the skills she needs to save her country. Zen was also an intriguing character. He had his demons (literally and figuratively) to fight. He had some tough choices to make throughout the book. Both Lan and Zen have been through so much and I'm interested in seeing how this journey unfolds after this book. The ensemble cast is also very interesting and well balanced. I loved watching Lan meet everyone at the school and interact with them. The Elantians are the absolute worst and I can't wait until they are defeated (hopefully soon, though I'm worried it'll get worse before it gets better). Erascius specifically is the worst villain.

The reveals at the end were done SO WELL! There was so much revealed in the last 100ish pages that I immediately could not wait until the second book! Overall, this is a fantastic start to a series. I loved the characters and the writing style and I look forward to reading the follow up!

“So long as we live on, we carry inside us all that they have destroyed. And that is our triumph; that is our rebellion.”

★★★★½

a captivating story that felt like i was watching a chinese fantasy drama. the intricate magic system and impressive lore had me at the edge of my seat

one thing i didn’t love was that at times there were just random info dumps, which disturbed the flow of some scenes

i will definitely be picking up the sequel though bc that ending ?!)?!?!&?? i need to know what happens next !!!

thank you to Delacorte Press, Random House and NetGalley for the e-arc!

WOW. This was my first book by Zhao, and it will not be my last!

I so enjoyed this tale. I am a massive fan of Asian-inspired fantasy, and Zhao created such a magical and haunting world inspired by mythology & folklore of China. The premise is that the Hin people are facing mass colonization & erasure, and Zhao paints the carnage this brings in a way that is cutting and raw, and with an expert hand. This story moved QUICK, and for this reason I can see it being a very easy place to start for those who have not read much Asian-inspired fantasy and want to jump in.

I adored Lan. I loved her quips and her attitude, along with her fierce conviction and strength. She and Zen have outstanding backstories, and they emerge organically throughout the story. The action scenes are absolutely cinematic, especially toward the end, leaving you tearing through the pages.

The only thing I found myself disappointed with was a bit of a double edged sword: due to how fast this plot moves, I did not feel the characters connections to one another very well at all. This did not diminish them individually in any way, it just made the depth of their relationships hard to believe. While avoiding spoilers, I will just say that there are events in the last 30% between Lan & Zen that I wanted to be devastated by, and by all accounts, I should have been. The battle playing out around them was absolutely stunning in how it was written, and the reveals still packed a punch. What I didn’t feel was the emotional repercussions of how these events will naturally change the relationships built throughout this story.

Regardless of this, I was stunned at the end of this book. The last half especially had my heart pounding, and Zhao’s writing makes it incredibly easy to picture the events in your head with stark clarity. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next installment in this series, and I can’t wait to see where the adventure brings Lan next.

Thank you SO much to Random House Children’s & NetGalley for the eArc of this title!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a review!
Song of Silver, Flame Like Night is a YA epic fantasy inspired by Chinese folklore and mythology. We follow Lan who lives in a world where the Elantians have taken over and eliminated all Hin culture, language, and magic. Lan is a songgirl with a unique mark on her wrist. When Zen comes into the tea house he sees that something is different about Lan and he seems to be the only one to help her when an Elantian magician is out to kill her. This is a very basic description of how this novel begins but it evolves into much more. This is a novel that I was excited about and highly anticipating. However, this is not a favorite for me. This story is beautifully written and the magic system was unique. I loved the scenery and how it was written because the forests, mountains, and school were beautiful to imagine. My issue with this one is that I did not connect with the story or the characters. Lan is new to magic so we learn with her so the first half of this novel felt like reading a detailed textbook which was not enjoyable for me. It took me two weeks to read this because it was just very slow-paced and there was nothing that drew me back. It typically takes me two or three days to read a book and I probably would have DNFed this one but I wanted to give it a chance because I was so excited about it. I think this book could be great for some people because it's beautifully written and has a lot of lessons. Unfortunately, I could not connect with it so it was not for me.