Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao

Book Blurb

In a fallen kingdom, one girl carries the key to its forgotten past – and the demons that sleep at its heart…

Once, Lan had a different name. Now, she goes by the one the Elantian colonizers gave her. She 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 – until the night Zen 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 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
Song of Silver, Flame Like Night is the new book from Amélie Wen Zhao, best known for her Blood Heir Trilogy. Since starting to read the Fantasy genre a few years ago I have gravitated to books that have a background in the mythology and folklore of different cultures, and it is the setting in Chinese history, and their mythology that drew me to this book. The myth and folkore in his book is complex in parts but Amélie Wen Zhao’s writing makes this fascinating subject easier to understand and I liked that at the beginning of the book there are details of the history timeline and the belief systems so you can check if you get lost.

Lan is the central character of the book, a young woman of eighteen, an orphan who is working in a Teahouse. I found Lan to be a complex character, but one I really liked. She is a juxtaposition of vulnerability and a hardness brought on by her position in life, where she has had to learn to take care of herself. She is someone that readers of all ages will identify with in some way, her journey of self discovery, the need to understand the death of her mother and thus understand who she is and why she has a symbol scarred into her wrist. We know she is special from the start, and it is her meeting with Zen, a practitioner of the ancient ways, that sets her on her journey of discovery.

Amélie Wen Zhao’s world building is masterful, the attention to detail and the full historical background set out at the beginning is fantastic. She sets the old ways of magic from the earth, the synergy of yin and yang from nature against the new ways of metals, a forged magic that seeks destruction rather that peace and balance. There is no doubt that the story of the Elantian’s conquering the Hin culture and the era of The Last Kingdom is representive of colonisation of the East by Western cultures. The Elantins have western names and make the Hin’s take one syllable names to erase their identity, they try to destroy the local customs and beliefs crushing their culture. There is also the discussion of the repressing and rewriting of history to suit themselves, to stop the young from learning of their heritage.

Song of Silver, Flame of Night was a brilliant read with it’s mix of adventure, history, myth, love and identity in it’s different guises. The writing and world building are fascinating and totally believable, drawing you in to Lan’s world and making you believe you are there with her. This book maybe classed as Young Adult but I think anyone can read this book and get a lot out of it; a compelling story, relatable characters and the historical context. This is the first book in a new series by Amélie Wen Zhao, and I’m really excited to spend more time in Lan’s world and continue on her journey with her. Cativating, intriguing and hugely enjoyable, this is fabulous fantasy.

I would like to thank Anne Cater and Harper Voyager for the invite to take part in this blog tour in return for my honest review.