Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publishing Date: March 4, 2025
Synopsis:
In a world invaded by demons, one girl will face the ultimate test when she is forced to enter into an ancient, deadly competition for the chance to save her mother’s soul… before she loses her forever. From the New York Times bestselling author of Song of Silver, Flame Like Night comes the beginning of a dark and opulent fantasy duology, perfect for fans of Throne of Glass.
Nine years ago, the war between the Kingdom of Night and the Kingdom of Rivers tore Àn’yīng’s family apart, leaving her mother barely alive and a baby sister to fend for. Now the mortal realm is falling into eternal night, and mó—beautiful, ravenous demons—roam the land, feasting on the flesh of humans and drinking their souls.
Àn’yīng is no longer a helpless child, though. Armed with her crescent blades and trained in the ancient art of practitioning, she has decided to enter the Immortality Trials, which are open to any mortal who can survive the journey to the immortal realm. Those who complete the Trials are granted a pill of eternal life—the one thing Àn’yīng knows can heal her dying mother. But to attain the prize, she must survive the competition.
Death is common in the Trials. Yet oddly, Àn’yīng finds that someone is helping her stay alive. A rival contestant. Powerful and handsome, Yù’chén is as secretive about his past as he is about his motives for protecting Àn’yīng.
The longer she survives the Trials, the clearer it becomes that all is not right in the immortal realm. To save her mother and herself, Àn’yīng will need to figure out whether she can truly trust the stranger she’s falling for or if he’s the most dangerous player of all . . . for herself and for all the realms.
My Review:
I can still enjoy a book with a weak plot, but poor character development really bothers me. Àn’yīng is the most unlikable female character I have ever read. Actually, she was portrayed good at first. One tragic night, at just 10 years old, she witnessed her father’s death and found her mother barely alive.
After 9 years of taking care of her bedridden mother and her little sister, she was set on a mission to acquire an immortality pill to save her dying mother. To get that immortality pill, she has to survive a few “trials” and make it through a deadly forest packed with hellbeasts and whatnot. Now, this seems like a very promising plot, and it actually is, if the character were portrayed well enough. I understand Àn’yīng was traumatized and self-taught to fight. I get it; one cannot just go and kill beasts without actual practice.
But at least at some point she has to fight, right? That’s the whole point of the plot, to fight for her dying mother and her little sister. Armed with six blades, all she did was tease the male protagonist, Yù’chén. Seriously, for the first half of the book, every time she was in danger, Yù’chén saved her and she wasn’t even grateful. Instead, she insulted him every single time. Later in the book, Hào’yáng (another love interest) ended up saving her. And the other character keeps saying that she is strong, like how? She was like, “I will fight with you, Hào’yáng,” while she can’t even save herself.
While the plot focuses on completing the Immortal trials and learning to fight, most of the story revolves around the tragic love story and the tension between Àn’yīng and Yù’chén. That frustrated me even more than Àn’yīng herself. Even in her training sessions, there was more talking than actual training. The trials were portrayed as insignificant. She did practically nothing and winning them all with the help of others.
If there was no trial and no one was on the edge of dying to be saved by Àn’yīng, I would have loved the book, imagining her to be more grateful and less awful to others. I did love the twists nearing the climax. There were so many unexpected twists; even though they had nothing to do with the plot, they were all great. Considering the twists, the writing style, and the tragic love story, I’m giving this book 3 stars, because, for me, 2 stars means a bad read, and this one doesn’t fall into that category.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐ / 5
Thank you TBR and Beyond Tours for providing me with the arc of this book.
Click here for Tour schedule to see more reviews.
Book links:
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
Favourite Quotes:
The brightest and most beautiful flowers are the most poisonous.
Why is it in our natures to want that which we cannot have?
But meeting the right person at the wrong time , the right love in the wrong life, is a tragedy written from the start.
About the author:
Amélie Wen Zhao（赵雯）was born in Paris and grew up in Beijing, where she spent her days reenacting tales of legendary heroes, ancient kingdoms, and lost magic at her grandmother’s courtyard house. She attended college in the United States and now resides in New York City, working as a finance professional by day and fantasy author by night. In her spare time, she loves to travel with her family in China, where she’s determined to walk the rivers and lakes of old just like the practitioners in her novels do.
Amélie is the author of the Blood Heir trilogy and the upcoming Song of Silver, Flame Like Night duology.
Deepireads 
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