Review: Song of Silver, Flame like Night, by Amelie Wen Zhao

Blurb

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 spends her days
scavenging for remnants of the past. For anything that might help her understand the strange mark burned into her arm by her mother, in her last act before she died.

No one can see the mysterious mark, an untranslatable Hin character, except Lan. Until the night a boy appears at the teahouse and saves her life.

Zen is a practitioner – one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom, whose abilities were rumoured to be drawn from the demons they communed with. Magic believed to be long lost. Magic to be hidden from the Elantians at all costs.

Both Lan and Zen have secrets buried deep within. 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.

My Review

Thanks to HarperVoyager for sending me a copy of this novel and to Anne from Random Things Tours for organising this tour. I had this book on pre-order and then the tour invite turned up in my inbox.

For reference, all publishers specialising in fantasy and sci fi, you are always welcome to email me and send me copies of the latest books.!

This book is heart-breaking! Seriously, I cried so hard. I’m emotionally fragile at the moment, but still…amazing book. What a story!

I don’t know how much of the story to share. Sorry, I’m writing this moments after finishing the book. Where do I start? Ah, I know, with Lan, or Song Lian!

Lan, a talented singer in a tea house, with terrible memories of her mother’s murder when the Elantians invaded. The we have Zen, who has his own demons. The two meet when Zen rescues Lan from an Elantian general with nefarious intentions and the magician who murdered her mother. They go to Skies’ End, a mountain to the west, where the School of the White Pines hides. It’s the last stronghold of the Hin practitioners, who manipulate qi to effect the world. Here Lan learns some important lessons before she and Zen are forced to flee and make some difficult decisions. The Elantians arrive and the final battle is fought. Demons make their presence felt and decisions are made. Lan has a plan to save The Last Kingdom.

That’s the absolute bare bones of the plot, leaving out various massacres and adventures in the wild.

It’s a wild ride. We see Lan and Zen learn to trust each other, and the revelation of their true names and histories. The slow building of trust and cracking of walls as they realise this is a person they can love and be loved by is gorgeous, and the consequences are heart-breaking.

Someone give Lan a break!

The Alloy Magician is a creepy bastard! He’s so hung up on losing a fight with Lan’s mother that he hunts her for 13 years! The other Elantian magicians are ignorant bores.

The world is based strongly on Chinese history and mythology; it is a rich and deep well to draw on. The invading Elantians could be from any number of European and European-colonised countries, but they’re probably based on the British occupation of Hong Kong. Haak’gong, the author has already stated on Instagram, is based on the Chinese for Hong Kong. They have their own beliefs and traditions, which are only touched on. The clash of civilisations is represented in the architecture of the southern port city of Haak’gong where the story opens; the rounded, flowing lines of the Hin architecture and the straight lines, metal, glass and stone of Elantian architecture. We see the callous and ignorant attitudes of the Elantians towards the Hin, and later learn of the prejudices of the Hin for different cultures within the Kingdom. Ignorance of each others’ cultures is mutual, with both sides believing themselves superior. It truly reflects some of the history of interaction between China and European and European-colonial states.

If you crack open this novel, settle in and be prepared to read every word in one go. Seriously, I’m in pain from not moving about enough and it’s about 1am right now. I need to tell you about this book or I’d be heading to bed like a sensible person. I can’t wait for the next book.

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Amélie (yes, like the movie!) has adored putting pen to paper since she was in kindergarten.

Born in Paris and raised in a multicultural community
in Beijing, Amélie has a bone-deep love for traveling and immersing
herself in new worlds and cultures. She lives in New York City, working as a full-time financial professional by day, and writer at night.

She hopes to empower young readers with messages of acceptance,
strength, and courage through her works, and to continue to push the
boundaries of young adult literature by exploring new, cross-cultural
themes.