YA Fantasy – Everything Is Better With Dragons

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

2 FEBRUARY 2023
HB│EB│EA
Amélie 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.

TBR Audiobook Review: Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao

Audible Audio, Unabridged
Published September 21st 2021 by Penguin Teen

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labelled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

‘Fire Betrayed’ update

Fire Betrayed is out with my beta readers now.

I stayed up until gone one this morning because I got on a roll and got the second edit finished, and added a couple of extra scenes that before had only been summarised in the first draft. It was a case of show don’t tell and I thought it added to the novel to write them out rather than summarised.

Initial feedback is ‘good so far’. I’m waiting for more detailed feedback and constructive criticism from my beta readers.

And now I’m going to have all the naps because I am so tired. My dogs don’t like the sound of rain and wind. All night, and today, there has been rain and wind, so I didn’t get much sleep once I’d finished the editing.

Once I’m human again, I’m going to get on with the second draft of Charley’s War.

‘Tales From Erce’ novella updates

As you know, I’m writing a series of novellas to go with the FIRE Series, called ‘Tales from Erce’. The first draft of Bridas’ Justice is complete and I’m on the second draft of Charley’s War. I’ll be sitting down this evening to work on editing Fire Betrayed and hopefully more of the second draft of Charley’s War.

I have started Letters from Umar. Unfortunately, I need to finish writing Fire Storm before I can go much further with Letters from Umar because I need to work out the time line. And where everyone is. I need my maps, charts and timelines for books three and four.

Author Spotlight: Michelle Conner

A local YA author is releasing her new book on 21st March, which will be free via Kindle Unlimited. Michelle Conner is a published poet and painter, as well as a writer of YA fantasy and she designs e-book covers for other authors. She is married with three children and a dog, and writes around her family life.

Her author Facebook page is: www.facebook.com/Authormichelleconnor.

Her website is: michelleconnorauthor.co.uk

Her cover design page is: www.facebook.com/michelle.ebookcoversonline/

The website for this is: http://ebookcovers.online/

She is also a personal friend; the first time we met, in December 2015, we talked for four hours almost constantly about books. I read some of the early drafts, so naturally I am biased.

Continue reading “Author Spotlight: Michelle Conner”