Thank you NetGalley, Amelie Zhao, and the publisher for an early copy of this book! Below is my honest review. 

Summary of Plot: 

Our main character, Lan, is a song girl who wants to figured out what really happened to her mother, whose death she saw with her own eyes. Before her mother died, she seared a symbol on Lan's wrist, which only she can see. Lan encounters a boy, Zen, who can use the ancient, forgotten magic of practitioning (using qi). Lan and Zen go on an adventure to figure out what Lan's mother died to protect. 

Thoughts on the Book: 

The theme of colonialism and the loss of culture, traditions, and identity are brilliantly weaved into the story, and doesn't distract from the fantastical plot. The magic system is one that isn't written too often in YA, so it felt like a breath of fresh air to read this. As a Chinese person, I love this homage to Chinese history and culture. 

Additionally, I really enjoyed reading about Lan and her journey to figure out who she really is. Lan starts off as someone who is simply trying to survive this harsh life that is bestowed upon her. Then as the story progresses, you can really see her dive into the history and culture that she thought was erased by colonialism. Zen is also a very interesting character because he's someone who has a dark past and wants to redeem himself so badly. His relationship with Lan makes my heart shake with excitement. All the side characters played their role well and I will enjoy seeing them in the next book. You know Amelie wrote excellent characters when I felt sad for the mean girl. 

The only thing that bogged me down was all the details in everything. I think some of the details could have been cut out, but that's just a personal preference! 

Overall, this book was really well done and I'm grateful to have received an early copy. Amelie Zhao's writing is beautiful and lyrical, and I can't wait to see what else she writes! 

Would I recommend this book? Yes!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book!

This book was beautiful! The romance and the magic were well thought out and stunning, Lan and Zen are so sweet together, plot twists were great, the writing was descriptive and easy to read. I really enjoyed the world and the monsters and action, it was a page turner for sure. Also...can we take a moment to just take in that beautiful cover?! It's absolutely breathtaking, a perfect match to the story.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy to read and review. All of these thoughts are my own. May have spoilers!!!

First if you liked the book Daughter of the moon goddess; I really feel like you’ll enjoy this book too. Second of all how dare you kill off Old Wei two chapters in!!! Lan deserved better than that. Okay, rant over about that.

I really like Lan and Zen. I feel like they are both good strong characters. Although this book is lengthy in my opinion, it never really got boring. There were a lot of details and things going on and surprisingly it wasn’t hard to keep up with it all besides with some of the history but I’ve never been good at history lol. There were some plot twist that I didn’t see coming, like Lan’s mother literally sealing the silver dragon into her. That blew my mind.

I also really liked the magic in this story. It was very descriptive and it really helped you visualize what was going on. At some parts I literally felt like I was in the story because it was described so well.

Side note: I really have a lot of hope for Lan and Zen. I just really really like them together. Zen has his own personal battles he’s dealing with and Lan seems pretty well put together on herself, so I’m hoping they will even each other out and be together.

Also, I’m hoping the second book explains a little bit more on some topics because I do feel like we were left hanging lol. I’m just really excited to see where the story goes!

4 stars!

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao Book Review
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Alright, I am going to try to keep this quick because I could go on for days about this book. I would write an entire essay for this book but I’m not sure you all reading this want that. I’ll start with my favorite part, the world-building, it is beautifully elaborate and complex. I love the way Amélie wrote this world, the language and flow of the story is otherworldly. The characters, I love them like I can't get into the details of everyone because I don’t want to spoil anything but each character is intricately woven into the story that is shown and it's mind-blowing what Amelia has done. Like honestly these characters are well-developed and have their own uniqueness which makes them stand on their own aside from the main characters. You know how sometimes authors write characters that are purely there to get the main character to their next arc, Amélie did not go there and it's freaking amazing. I've even found myself liking a character that I hated in the beginning by the end of the book. Lan is such a fun and deeply relatable character for me, I loved her story and the journey she went on, and how she surprised me. Zen is so amazingly not what I expected of him, I had expectations from the beginning and then I was completely taken aback by him. In the best way possible, the vulnerability of his character was beautifully done. The spins the story took, and the twists up to the end had this book constantly on my mind. I couldn't wait to get back to reading at the end of the day. Okay, let me stop before I reveal too much. 😅 I will end this by saying Song of Silver, Flame like Night is so hard to capture in a review for me because I loved it so much and it just feels like my words aren't even close to grasping how truly amazing this book is. I suggest that everyone preorder this book if they can. It’s going to be a top book for 2023. Also hears to hoping a book box features it, cause I would love a special edition.

I was lucky enough to get a copy of the sample at NYCC that came with this eARC. I'm so glad I was able to fit this in and get a chance to read yet another fantastic book by Amelie Wen Zhao.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I am OBSESSED with this book. The romance, the tension, the magic. Everything I need in a good book was delivered in this beautiful book, with the biggest bow on top. I will be throwing this book rec at everyone I can. A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

This is one rollercoaster of a story you wont forget . A C-drama (wuxia/xianxia) in book form , it promises you magic, adventure and angsty romance. Heck the school of white pines rivals Hogwarts. Need I say more.

For fans of Untamed and Daughter of the moon Goddess ,this is sure to not disappoint you

I'm familiar with Zhao's debut trilogy "The Blood Heir" so I'm excited to dive back into her writing. I can really tell the world building will be phenomenal in the first few pages. This was such an action packed book and I can't wait for the next one!

I'm going to write this review with spoilers so be warned! I just want to remember what happened so I can remember for when the next book comes out and I do hope that next book comes quick!

This book follows both Lan and Zen as they meet up in order to figure out what kind of powers Lan has. Lan has been working at a Teahouse, not by will, where she is trying to figure out why her mother was killed and why she has a certain symbol on her arm. Zen notices her and helps her escape when Elantian angels try and take her. They both escape to Zen's school where Lan tries to learn the Way and hone her powers. Lan has a vision that she must visit the Guarded Mountain, which Zen helps her get to. There they find the ocarina, which becomes Lan's tool for her practitioning. When the Ocarina is played, it shows the map of the 4 Demon Gods' locations. Zen is able to figure out the Black Tortoise's location and lies to Lan about saving the village. He takes on the demon, like he has done before, and wipes out a lot of the Elantian army. Lan is also being hunted by the man who killed her mother, because her mother actually sealed the silver dragon into her. In the last part of the book, Lan and Dilaya and Tai must flee in order to save their kingdom. The Elantians have knocked out the school and find out that the Azure Tiger had been kept in the school and protected, but now it has been released. Lan and her friends must now find the Godslayer to kill the demon gods and also use her dragon demon god to fight the Elantians. Zen must also find a way to control his Black Tortoise demon or else he will lose his body, mind, and then soul.

Okay now for my review of the book. I really enjoyed the book. Since the first chapter, I was hooked. I knew Zen and Lan would get together and somehow find a way to fight against the Elantians but also of course go against the masters. The writing was easy to follow and very descriptive. I could visualize everything pretty well. I enjoyed the action scenes and the magic was very intricate. The history of the Kingdoms was a bit confusing, but it didn't take away from the story. When Zen was revealed to be part of the Monsurian clan, oh man that was a twist. I also did not expect Lan to stab Zen in the chest, even though it made sense for her to do so. I hope we get a resolve between those two in the next book. I like Lan and Zen together. I can't wait for the next book and this book isn't even technically out yet.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯.

Monsters & Demons: 100/5
Redemption: We're not there yet
Sacrifice: 100/5
Plot Twists: 100/5
Love: 4/5

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Random House Children's in exchange for an honest review.

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night promises you a story unlike any other, one you won't forget, and this begins immediately with the author letter right at the beginning of the book highlighting the Chinese heritage, legacies and mythos that build up this story.

Fans of fantasy C-Dramas with wuxia 武俠 martial arts and xianxia 仙侠 immortals will find the richness of it wrapped in the texts of Song. Reading this book is akin to watching a C-Drama unravel before your eyes mostly from the rich imagery that the author weaves into her storytelling.

As an Asian reader, I loved how the story wrote in hanyu pinyin (romanisation) of various words and phrases spoken by the Hin, alongside the translated meanings which didn't hinder the pace of reading at all. At the same time, whenever I read it I would subconsciously switch to hearing the characters speak whole sentences in Mandarin 😂, especially if they were using formal language, odd phrases or curses.

From the beginning of the story, we are immediately thrust into this elaborate world, following Lan on her journey to discovering the mysteries surrounding her identity while uncovering the mysticism of the long lost world of magic practitioning. Every character, even Lan herself carries secrets within them, known and unknown. While some secrets slowly build up into realisation, others you don't see even from a mile away as they pile up high into the mountain of plot twists.

Zen is your typical dark MMC with the secrets and burdens of lifetimes thrust upon his character and his struggle between descending into darkness or fighting to stay in the light. We spend most of the book discovering his nature, rather than witnessing much of how this plays out in his mind. There is more potential to truly delve deeper into his psyche and for him to discover properly the real consequences and choices between good, evil, and sacrifice. Lan herself has a firm grip on these moralities but further into it, she does realise that situations are not as black and white as they seem to be.

I won't give too much away on the plot and it's mysteries because it is so much more exciting to discover during the read. If you like school-based settings and rivalries, there are hints of that toward the middle of the story when we meet a myriad cast of characters, who too hold their own stories and burdens. This book felt a bit longer to read than most YA novels but I didn't feel that it was draggy, rather, it built up the world that much more clearly for you to better understand what is at stake.

Do we end up with more questions than answers? Yes of course! The twist of events towards the end of the book does set up a whole road ahead of diverging paths, on the road to darkness and light.

I'm already excited for the second book even though this is still months ahead of release! The pre-order campaign for this book is still running with super cool goodies featuring the cast!

I really love this author so I was very excited to review this book! It did not disappoint and I could not put it down all day! The story was full of adventure and depth but fast paced enough that I never felt bored. I will be purchasing this book and recommending it to all of my family and friends.