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!

This is an epic fantasy inspired by Chinese mythology. The Last Kingdom has fallen and the Hin people are now ruled by the Elantians. During the conquest, Lan's mother was murdered. Before she died, Lan's mother sealed a powerful secret into Lan's skin. But all Lan knows is that it left a symbol on her arm, visible only to her. She searches for years but cannot find answers. Until one day, she meets a Hin practitioner who can see her scar and offers a path to figuring out what it means.

I really enjoyed this story. I thought the characters were enjoyable and I'm especially fond of Shan'jun. I also liked the way right and wrong is evaluated and not exactly black and white.

There was a lot of exposition and world building but I wouldn't say too much of it. That said, I do wish this book had more closure. I prefer when each book has its own story that fits into an overall arc. This definitely seems like it goes right into book 2.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy and is ok starting a series.

4.5⭐️

<b> “But what they do not know is that, so long as we live on, we carry inside us all that they have destroyed. And that is our triumph; that is our rebellion.”</b>

Lan is a songgirl who’s mother died and left her with a strange scar on her arm that only she can see, of a symbol Lan cannot decipher. Her mother was killed during the Elantian takeover. Whereas the Hin once wielded qi, the Elantians wield metal and have used their magic to attempt to eradicate the Hin’s practices. Lan has searched for what her mother left behind, and when she comes one step closer to finding the truth, her informant, Old Wei, dies by Elantian hands after Lan gives him a metal spoon as payment for his information.

Zen is posing as an Hin courtdog, a Hin who has become a traitor and works for the Elantian government, finds Old Wei’s body, and senses a yin qi had been present in his shop, and tracks down Lan at the Teahouse to question her. But Zen is not the only one who has tracked Lan down, and when Lan kills an Elantian soldier who buys her for the night, Zen senses it and comes to find her. An Elantian Magician who Lan remembers killed her mother also finds Lan and kills everyone in the Teahouse, forcing Zen and Lan to escape together. Zen begins teaching Lan the forgotten art of practitioning, and how to use her qi as they journey to the School of White Pines for safety and to treat Lan’s wound. The story continues to follow Zen and Lan as they unlock the secrets Lan’s mother left behind.

I loved this book so much!! It is full of action and adventure and there’s so much lore to learn. Lan is so funny and I love her playfulness combined with Zen’s seriousness. Some of the fighting scenes were a little confusing to keep up with, but overall it’s really fun to read. It’s absolutely heartbreaking at the end and I can’t wait for the next book!

<b>“I wish for you to not go anywhere without me. In this world and the next. I wish for you to choose me.” A pause, and softer: “That is, if you would wish it.” </b>

I’ve read another series by this author (technically, I haven’t completed it yet) and was ecstatic to learn this is the first book in a new series.

Another author described this book as “devastatingly gorgeous”. She nailed it. With lyrical writing, rich world-building, and fully developed, complex characters, this tale will awe epic fantasy fans. It’s inspired by the mythology and folklore of ancient China, and I was completely enthralled.

Lan’s kingdom was invaded, her people’s magic outlawed, and she witnessed the horrifying death of her mother. As she was dying, her mother burned a strange mark on Lan’s arm, and several years later she still has no idea what it means. Zen is a practitioner, a fabled magician of the Last Kingdom. Upon meeting Lan, he knows she possesses a powerful hidden ability in the mark on her arm. Her best hope of understanding and developing it lies with an order of practitioning masters. Getting her there is dangerous and challenging – Zen’s and Lan’s personalities are like oil and water. He’s more the strong, disciplined, silent type and she’s… not. I laughed over some of their interactions and felt Zen’s exasperation with her. Lan’s first meeting with Dilaya, another strong personality and wonderful supporting character, is one of my favorite scenes. Let’s just say it didn’t go well and leave it at that.

Jaw-dropping twists, shocking choices, and life-threatening situations (so, so many) kept me glued to the pages. Do I really need to say I’ll be at the edge of my seat waiting for the next book? Highly recommend to fantasy, folklore, and mythology fans.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

DNF at 65%

I found it difficult to care about the characters or the story in this book. I was struggling to focus and just generally apathetic about what was happening. This book is attempting to be a lot of things that it's not, and I think it would have found more success in scaling back in a few places. Not only is trying to be this expansive fantasy story but is unsuccessfully wedging in tropes left and right. This book was marketed as Enemies to Lovers which I don't think is accurate. Zen and Lan at best are strangers to 'lovers' but any chemistry that was there was dull. I found Lan to be a rather unlikable protagonist. Her cause may be noble, but when she is calling the only person left to help her discover her powers and what happened to her mother "ratfart instructor', I find it very difficult to root for her.

There were some positives in this story like the setting, magic system, and overarching plot but often it all just fell short. I assume that I will be in the minority with this opinion. I may try again in the future, but for now, it was not the right fit for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Before I get into the review, I'd just like to say how much of a joy it has been seeing Amelie Wen Zhao grow as a writer. I've been a fan of her ever since the Blood Heir trilogy. Seeing her flourish in SONG, I can truly say that she's found her voice. I think authors writing about and taking pride in their own culture and heritage is really special because their passion shows through in their books. SONG is no exception.

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night follows the tale of Lan, a girl in a fallen kingdom who carries the key to discovering the secrets of her nation’s past—and unleashing the demons that sleep at its heart. It's nothing like any fantasy book I've ever read, and I'm going to tell you why.

This book was intricately plotted and paced--I physically couldn't stop reading. Some high fantasy books meander when it comes to plot, putting in a lot of unnecessary exposition and taking the reader out of the story. That is not the case with SONG. All the events and plot twists were relevant to the storyline and advanced the character arcs, which is something you don't find in every fantasy book.

I also loved getting to know the characters. Lan in particular was a favorite of mine, but I honestly loved all of them! They had such excellent motivations and backstories that I couldn't help but want to like them, even when they made dumb or reckless decisions (and they made their fair share). I only wish that I could've seen more of Zen's personality. Otherwise, this was an amazing cast, with realistic and messy relationships. The romance in this book had my whole heart. I would've liked to see it develop a tad more, but I'm just a hopeless romantic and love stretching out the slowburn stage as much as possible, haha.

And then there's the worldbuilding. Where do I even start? It was so refreshing to step into the world of SONG. Normally, I just tolerate worldbuilding in high fantasy books--it's okay, it's necessary, but I don't love it or anything. With this book, it was different. The magic system literally made my jaw drop, it was so well thought-out. I actually enjoyed reading about the history and lore of the world, and when I tell you that that's rare for me, I mean it!

All around, I can say with confidence that this was a five star read and one of my best books of 2022. In fact, it's one of the best books I've ever read. I won't apologize for this essay of a review because SONG is truly a masterpiece. I can't recommend it enough!

Thank you Delacorte Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book! I was so intrigued by this new fantasy story from #OwnVoices author Amelie Wen Zhao. Her world-building and storytelling threaded with Chinese folklore made this an easy read that kept me glued to the page. The emphasis on balance in the story mimics Zhao's craft; she seamlessly blends fantasy elements with Chinese culture without overwhelming the reader with excessive infodumps. It's refreshing to read a YA series with so much depth that doesn't rely so heavily on the romance side of things. I am so looking forward to what comes next for Lan and her hunt for the Demon Gods!

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night is out now!

We enter this story in a setting of a fallen kingdom. In this story we meet a girl named Lan, who once upon a time had a different name. Lan just happens to have a strange mark that her mother left on her before dying. However, the one
strange thing about this mark is that only she can see it until a random boy saves her life. This boy, Zen will help can discover her true self.

I want to thank Netgalley for granting me this book in exchange for a honest review lately I've been enjoying books that draw from mythology and folklore from China. This book was crafted well and definitely hooks you, I really enjoyed the writing style and I have to say I like the writing and storyline more than Blood Heir. I did find the pacing of this story to be slow at times, I do want
to see more chemistry between Lan and Zen. Overall I found this story to be enjoyable.

This was absolutely magical. The world building was so captivating and the characters were woven into the story beautifully. Seriösly can't recommend this one enough to those who love ancient folklore of ancient China and its mythology.

I always love reading what Amélie has in store for their readers because they never disappoint.

This was such a beautifully written story. As with any fantasy that is first in a series, there is a LOT of information dumping/world building. But the characters were enjoyable and the story really picked up around the 2/3 mark and I felt all the feels! Really looking forward to the next book in the series!

Thank you to the publisher for sending me this e-arc for a review.

This was a simply delightful read and I went through so many emotions! Gorgeously crafted tale, with likeable and relatable characters, amazing magic system imbedded in Chinese folklore (something which we know is close to the authors heart). It was action packed, intriguing and I could not get enough.
There are very important themes mentioned throughout one being colonialism. It felt like a beautiful Chinese drama going off in my head.

Lan and Zen both had my entire heart. Both so different but so similar too. Elantian Colonisers have ruined both Lan and Zen’s lives and taken all they knew and loved.

We have Lan who now lives as a orphan Songgirl and who is trying to figure out what her mother left behind. She teams up with Zen a practictioner, who recognises a mark on her arm, one which she truly has no idea what is. There were so many mysteries to solve which made for an exciting read. The plot flowed beautifully and you can just tell a lot of thought and love went into this story. It was captivating.

And by the end of the story we have learnt sooo much and I truly wasn’t expecting so much of it. They both team up and off on an perilous adventure we go. Both Lan and Zen by the end are changed, mature and willing to do whatever they need to, to protect their loved ones. The ending was not at all what I was expecting and I completely LOVED IT! Absolutely obsessed and it just left me feeling for more and more!

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night is honestly such a beautiful book. The ancient culture and language used here is absolutely beautiful. I loved how nothing in this book feels forced and there are no cliche scenes or troupes. The romance is so pure and satisfying and I absolutely love both the female and male lead. Perhaps what I enjoyed most was how realistic some of the scenes are and Lan's realization of her weakness and her resilience in the face of danger.

I 100% recommend it and you should definitely give the book a try. The only thing that you should note is that the lore is a bit confusing to get a hang of. Still, the descriptive language and scenes totally override that factor.

Thank you to NetGallery for sending me a copy of this beautiful book for me to read!