2/5 stars

This had so much potential but sadly it didn't live up to it.

Meilin's relationships with everyone around her are uninteresting to me, and it didn't feel like there was any real connection. Her love interests are just in love with her because she's the main character.

The pacing felt off, particularly the part where Meilin is with love interest #2.

Stories with active oppression are hard for me because I love them but have a high bar. A lot of the time it's there to provide characters with a contrived obstacle, not to discuss the oppression in a thoughtful way. In this one, basically all of Meilin's problems would be solved if women weren't oppressed, which just isn't for me.

I only stuck around because I saw there was a cliffhanger, and it was so incredibly underwhelming.

I LOOOOOOVED this book. I can’t stress that enough. This is the adult, fantasy Mulan retelling that I’ve always wanted and I’m sure other Mulan fans will agree with me.

This book is definitely darker than the Disney movie but in a mature way. I loved the ties to the original story as well as the liberties taken to make the story unique.

Normally, I don’t like a love triangle but it kind of worked here? I also love a villain gets the girl theme but rooted against that here. I’m definitely team Sky right now.

I can’t wait for the next book in the series because this was such a strong start.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

{Thank you to PRH Audio and Ace books for my review copies.}
This was a surprising read I could not stop reading. First of all - a Mulan retelling, So that gives you an idea - a fierce female MC that wants to fight it all with a passion. No man will tell her what her future brings. Unless it is a dragon. But also, she fights a dragon!

In any case. This was a fast moving tale, full of adventure, passion, romance and a lot of mythology. It mixed well, and did not bend to the rules of the world, where maybe in the end will get a change of heart. No this girl goes with her heart all the way to the end! I loved it.

The Night Ends with Fire is a Mulan retelling with a darker vibe. While the story has some clear parallels to the disney version of the 1990's, it is neither a musical nor a world with happy endings. If you like feminist retellings that challenge the patriarchy head on you will likely enjoy this book. If you like all of your characters a bit grey you will also like this book. If you like complicated love triangles there is definitely one here.

"They would never let a woman get away with something like this. they would never let a woman hold on to power."

Even so, there are some aspects of the book that are a bit repetitive and the bleak outlook and self centered nature of the FMC may not be for everyone. I liked it, but also had hoped for more.

4 stars ☆

thank you to netgalley for the arc! <3

the night ends with fire by is a gripping exploration of human resilience and the haunting specter of history. song weaves a tapestry of vivid characters whose lives intertwine amidst chaos and devastation. through richly detailed settings and a poignant narrative, the author delves into themes of love, loss, and the quest for identity in a world fractured by conflict. the story unfolds with a sense of urgency, drawing the reader deeper into the lives of its protagonists as they navigate the harsh realities of war and the enduring consequences of their choices. k.x. song's storytelling prowess shines brightly in this poignant tale that resonates long after the final page is turned.

love, mitra ★

K.X. Song re-events the tale of Mulan in The Night Ends with Fire. This isn’t a Disney portrayal, and it includes gory violence and death. But it is still mythical making the main character question all she knows.
The Three Kingdoms are at war, but Meilin’s father refuses to answer the imperial draft. Instead, he sells her to a cruel man to pay off his gambling and opium debts. Meilin takes her fate into her own hands by dressing as a boy and enrolling in the military as her father’s bastard. Before she left, her stepmother bequeathed her with a jade necklace that used to be her mother’s. Well, it was till her madness drove her to suicide. Meilin’s tenacity and hard work bring the attention of Prince Liu who she starts to have feelings for. Things become even more complicated when she begins to hear the whisper of a mythical dragon. This voice makes her question what is true and what she really wants in life.
Song creates a beautiful, lush but dire world war-torn world. There are sumptuous dresses paired with dark muddy travels. These conflicting images show how war affects common people versus royalty. Song also layers a mythical layer adding complexity to the story. The imagery of the mystical and the mundane are beautiful, and you can believe you are actually there.
Disney fans will love that both dragons and phoenix are included in this book. But moviegoers won’t see them in ways they know. These mythical beasts are powerful and cause chaos. Even when the dragon helps Meilin, it’s always shadowy and the reader doesn’t know his true intentions. This tension is exacerbated by Meilin’s interactions with mere mortals. After being captured, she sees a new aspect of the world. She is hearing so many voices that she is having trouble finding herself. And that’s what the reader wants to see: Meilin having true agency.
The ending crashes down, and I was shocked it ended so abruptly. Goodreads says that The Night Ends with Fire is the first in a series. I haven’t seen evidence of another book, but I would absolutely read more and see Meilin fight.

This was truly, fully phenomenal in every possible way.

This is a gritty, high-stakes, adult Mulan reimagining that blew me away and made me feel the endure spectrum of emotions. It’s fiercely feminist, and gives us one of my favorite MCs to date in Meilin. We begin with her desperately seeking a way to get out of an arranged marriage that she knows might literally kill her, whether it be at the hands of her husband or a metaphorical death of her soul if she spends the rest of her life without freedom. She joins her country’s army as they face an impending war between 3 kingdoms, and learns quickly that there are more sinister forces at play than just men.

I found this to be paced beautifully, we really get to watch Meilin develop as a character and as a soldier alongside a slew of side-characters that she develops unique, complex relationships with. This includes our Prince, Sky, who Meilin has had a special connection with from the beginning. She is hiding secrets that are genuinely life and death, and has abilities that place her at the forefront of this war. The action is phenomenal, the political landscape is complex & captivating, the magic is thrilling just as much as it is frightening. Every time I picked this up, I felt myself disappearing into the world effortlessly.

I am truly reeling at the end of this tale, and so unsure what to expect to come next (in the BEST way). If you love Asian-inspired fantasy, Mulan, fierce & unapologetic MCs, romance that leaves you swooning but also guessing, magic & sacrifice, and feminine rage, you will fully adore this. I KNOW I did, enough so that this will very likely land in my top favorites of 2024!

Thank you SO much to Berkley Publishing Group, Ace & NetGaley for the eArc of this story!

Thank you to @prhaudio for my complimentary audiobook. Thank you to Ace and NetGalley for my complimentary arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Night Ends with Fire is a grown up version of Mulan. I've never seen Mulan so I'm not sure how close it follows.
It is full of adventure, fighting, war, spirit magic and dragons.
I am pairing the audio with the eARC. Natalie Naudus is an amazing narrator. I thought I recognized her voice and after some sleuthing found that she narrated The Celestial Kingdoms.

Finished : so many twists and turns who to believe anymore?
This was an amazing book. It kept my interest and I kept reading long into the night.

This story is inspired from Mulan and follows a woman who does not want to marry the man chosen to her so she decides to dress like a man and join the army.
Meilin starts having visions of a sea dragon spirit and she thinks she is crazy at first.
She starts forming relationships with some of the men. Friendships and has romantic feelings for one.
I enjoyed getting to know her and why she does what she did and this dragon spirit.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkey for the book to review.

Imagine if Mulan set out on her journey for a more self- serving and ambitious reason. Picture the dragon we love without any of the elements that makes him lovable and instead envision a dragon who stays in the spirit world, doesn’t add any fun to the story, who plays on the FMC’s greed and ambition for his own motives that we never learn. Now throw in a love triangle that doesn’t quite fit. Yes there is more sprinkled in but this pretty much sums up the story and honestly I was here for it… at least in the beginning.

We follow 18 year old Meilin who craves freedom and wants to prove that women are capable of so much more. I loved the idea of this. I loved seeing a FMC embarking on a dangerous journey for her own goals. Not to save anyone and not to honor a family name. But somehow along the way she still became a tool to be used by men. Yes, she is a great fighter, has proven to be more tactical and smart than she gives herself credit for, yet despite the constant inner monologues of how much she craves power and will never be controlled by a man again, somehow she always ends up in situations to be hurt, used and humiliated by them. I wanted to love this story so much more than I did.

Things I enjoyed:
- Merlin’s family dynamic: while definitely darker, the toxic relationship with her father, the friendship she has with her step mother and her complicated feelings towards her late mother added more dimension to the story and why her goals were what they were.
- morally gray characters: while you may pick a side/characters to root for, there is no one who is truly “good”. Even when the character feels they are doing the right thing, the means to accomplish it, isn’t without casualties.
- the pacing (kind of): the first 3o%
- the magic system— for the most part: I had no problem understanding it but it was definitely more telling than showing.

Things that didn’t work for me:
- it was -predictable: wait hear me out! I know it’s a retelling so that comes with the territory but the thing is I’m talking about when the author strays away from the Disney Mulan. Points that were suppose to be a grand reveal or shocking was pretty predictable. From plans going wrong to betrayals I saw them all coming.
- The writing seems more ya than adult fantasy. This has nothing to do with spice. The writing just felt like too much hand holding for the reader. Like a mentioned before it was so much telling and not enough showing. The conversations also felt geared toward more of a younger audience. Granted the FMC is only 18 but it’s marketed as adult so I expected just a little more maturity.
- Meilin’s character. I didn’t really enjoy. Her inner monologue and conviction didn’t really match up with her actions.
- the love triangle- this played a major role in why Meilin made some of the decisions she did which I felt took away from the goals that she was supposed to be moving towards.
- not enough character development
- it was repetitive. This is more of a personal preference, but one thing that irks me is when a character recalls a memory and has to replay the entire conversation verbatim. So I’m reading the exact same thing more than once and not for my benefit as a reader. This is used to show us how Meilin figured something out but this goes to my point of being predictable. Because I read the passage the first time I already figured it out I don’t need to read it again. I would possibly be ok with a summary. Another thing is her inner monologues (I know I said it multiple times but can you tell how much I didn’t like them). She was having the same conversation in her head. Wondering about her motives, her ambitions, questioning who she is, who everyone around her is. I wanted to skim. The amount of times she was injured and had to make her way back was also repetitive.
- the friendship dynamics or lack thereof. This is one of my favorite parts of Mulan and it fell flat.

Despite my rants on what I disliked I still want to know what happens so I will pick up book 2. Overall I didn’t hate this book. It kept me interested enough but I felt the hope that it would get better kept me reading. This is the same hope that will get me to read the next one.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin for the e-arc.

This is the best romantasy I've read in a really long time. A perfect blend of retelling the Mulan story, showcasing the brutality of war like The Poppy War, and also representing the whimsicality and yearning of Six Crimson Cranes. I adored this so much!!!

Freaking incredible story! I binged this story in every available waking hour I have had. The world building, the tension, the twists, magical creatures (A DRAGON!!!! and others), magic system and most importantly our powerhouse of a female main character! She is just off the charts amazing! K.X. Song you have a brand new fan!

The Three Kingdoms are at war, but Meilin’s father refuses to answer the imperial draft. Addicted to opium, he plans to marry her off to a man just as violent and vindictive so he can use her dowry. Taking matters into her own hands, Meilin disguises herself as a boy and joins the army. Training hard, she grows close to Sky, a prince who is her training partner. Meilin also begins to have visions of a sea dragon with his own agenda and meets an enemy prince who makes her question everything she once knew.

Inspired by Mulan, this tale is the story of a young woman searching for freedom and glory. War has come between the Three Kingdoms, each vying for dominance, and in Meilin's home, all talk of spirits is strictly punished. They're believed to be evil, and her mother had supposedly gone mad due to spirits when she was little. In training for the war, she not only must dodge superior officers who hate her, she has a jade seal tied to the sea dragon that wants her to use its power to gain dominion over the kingdoms. Sky sees her determination and helps her train, but is ultimately a prince of the realm and follows the duty set down by his warlord father. The enemy she meets is from a different kingdom and has stolen the jade seal for the phoenix, who gains power through the fire of vengeance.

The world here is messy and complicated, especially the farther from home that Meilin gets. At first, it was easy: she wanted to escape her father's household and the abusive man she was being forced to marry. Then it was to be seen as something other than a loser within the training division. Then it was to have power and recognition, something women traditionally don't get in her culture. The dragon is fueled by water, by the fact that she has "greed enough to fill an ocean," just as her counterpart in the spirit realm is fueled by the fire of vengeance for losing his family to war. It's not enough to fight in the army and be seen as a good warrior, she has to make sure her side wins and the other loses. She wants, which is diametrically opposed to the role she is duty-bound to play at birth. Everyone else around her also moves within the confines of duty; even Prince Sky must honor his father and brothers, lead the soldiers, and reinforce the rule over the people.

The second half of the novel begins with a covert mission to recover the lost pieces of the phoenix jade, which can only be destroyed by the person it's bonded to willingly breaking it apart. Between the General and the enemy prince, she has a better understanding of what the seals do and what the dragon might want. Everyone here has their own motives for everything, and Meilin can't tell what they are or even predict what will happen next. She repeatedly puts her trust in others, even when they clearly don't trust her in return. Instead of easy sparring, she faces real combat, deadly enemies, and a real risk to her spirit. Meilin never backs down and continues to fight even when outmatched. I hoped for more in the ending, but it also fits and gives us the feeling that this could have happened. It was an enthralling read from start to finish.

this morally grey retelling of Mulan caught me off guard with how easy it was to read. KX Song builds such strong characters and a world in this book and i had so much fun reading it. this did need a little bit of a tighter editing job but i can't wait for the second book!

Holyyyyyy.... Please someone, anyone, I am BEGGING you for a sequel. I won't elaborate on that much, as there is too much that could be spoiled but I was screaming at the page by the end.

The Night Ends with Fire is a GORGEOUS, gritty look at the tale of Mulan- but steeped in a more realistic and honest view of feminism in a time and place when women were treated as chattel. It takes the more Western, Disney-fied view of Mulan's tale and returns it to its roots, while still giving Meilin a more dynamic soul with a desire to grow beyond her circumstances and change the fate of history. I love the tension between Meilin and the male main characters, the court politics and deception and honestly just BRILLIANT writing. I am feral for book two, and for a man I know I should so not be into but am. FERAL I TELL YOU. Morally grey absolutely everywhere you turn. Delicious Avatar the last airbender vibes. FERAL. K.X. Song absolutely killed it.

If there’s one thing about me, I’m mulan obsessed and when someone tells me a book is mulan inspired I am immediately sat. I thoroughly enjoyed this story from the very start to end. For the entirety of it I felt on edge and just so drawn in the world that K.X Song had crated, the world building was immersive and impressively done. I also adored Meilin , how cool she was and her journey from start to finish. Cant wait to see more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this book! I was already looking forward to it because its a Mulan retelling and the cover was BEAUTIFUL but I am so glad to say that the story and characters were fantastic! It was an awesome fantasy romance filled with self-discovery, adventure, and a bada$$ FMC.

The world, the writing, and the magic; it was exactly what I was hoping for! I highly recommend this book!

Read if you like:
- Retellings
- Bada$$ FMC
- Feminine Rage
- Political Intrigue
- Chinese Mythology
- Love Triangle (DON'T LET THIS SCARE YOU AWAY)
- Betrayals
- Revenge

From the Goodreads synopsis: “Infused with magic and romance, this sweeping fantasy adventure inspired by the legend of Mulan follows a young woman determined to choose her own destiny—even if that means going against everyone she loves.”

Three kingdoms at war; a gambling, opium-addicted father, who refuses to join the army; a young woman on the eve of being married to an abusive merchant; and the unexpected gift her late mother left for her—these elements set the stage for K.X. Song’s The Night Ends with Fire.

Meilin finds death in war preferable to marrying the merchant, so she binds her chest, dresses as man, tucks her mother’s pendant under her tunic, and heads off to enlist.

She’s already trained in qi gong and kung fu, but she still has a lot to learn.

Juxtaposed against the training and experiences in war are Meilin’s trials and tribulations learning to harness her own magic and the spirit power channeled to her through her mother’s jade pendant. The dragon spirit connected to the jade isn’t the Mushu from Disney’s version of Mulan, though, and there’s a learning curve for Meilin when it comes to her levels of trust with him.

There’s also the beginning of a love triangle. (This is the first book in a series.) One love interest is bound by duty; the other is not exactly what he seems. I’m interested to see where these relationships go.

Please note that, while our heroine is quite young, some of the content is not.

Also expect to see discussions of gender and gender roles, the characteristics attributed to, the expectations of, and the liberties (or lack thereof) awarded to each. Meilin is a woman masquerading as a man, after all, and she struggles to accept her own ambition.

I received an advance copy of the book from Berkley/Ace and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Ace for the e-arc!
Now this is a stunning edition! I have seen this book so much lately and I am so glad to get a copy. A fantastical and romantic retelling of Mulan with magic?!? Say less! I went into this story expecting a Mulan-based plot, which it totally is, but there are so many different elements that I can't even describe! There is this amazing dark magic system that is packed full of mythology and lore. The MC, Hai Meilin, is unbelievable. She is so entertaining to read about and so relatable in so many ways. I can already tell this series is going to be absolutely epic and I need the next book!

I received this advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I was intrigued by the premise of this novel, but I found the overall writing a bit immature and the plot devices to be predictable. I'm sure it will be enjoyable to many readers of the romantasy genre, as well as young adult readers. But for my taste, this book was a bit cliched and used tropes I've seen many times.