Reviews with content warning for Death - The Scarlet Alchemist

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker

45 reviews

clem9's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Loved it, the plot was so interesting and adventurous.
I loved all the characters without exceptions.
Zilan was such a great main character, I love how driven she was for alchemy (which she probably truly was the best) and for her family. I loved her personality and her relationships with her family and the Prince. I really liked that she was the « strong » one in the relationship while the Prince was the « sensible »one.
And the Empress was an amazing villain who was a villain just for power and not cause of a trauma which I found to be a change and very cool. She was very charismatic and offered lots of shocks for the twists she gave.
I’m still very shocked that at the moment the Prince is still dead ? Even if she’ll bring him back next book, I wasn’t expecting him to die or her not to bring him back immediately but props to her for thinking about her family first. I’m just really wondering what next book will be about cause there doesn’t seem to be a plot for it right now. Like apart from bringing back everyone I can’t see what it’ll be about.

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lochanreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A morbidly dark young adult fantasy about the mysterious world of alchemy, set during an acient Chinese empire. Fan Zilan is a merchant girl from the poor South, who performs illegal resurrection alchemy, with the help of her cousins, so her family can afford to live. She has an unwavering desire to climb the ranks and become a royal alchemist, despite the bigoted hostility she faces because of her mixed heritage. But the more she pursues her dream, the more she discovers bone-chilling secrets about the royal court and herself.

Lee Baker's writing is graphically vivid and full of suspense as we read about Zilan constantly having to surmount the next obstacle that comes her way and deal with the many twists and turns that are thrown at her.

I believed in the close sibling-like yet fraught relationship between Zilan and her cousins, Wenshu and Yufei, who were both endearing characters to read about. And the shy romance that started to surface was an embracing relief from the relentless depictions of death and decay and rotting corpses, which became very stale the more I read.

I thought the ending was both strange in a way that didn't sit well with me, but also clever in it's unexpectedness. However, it did diminish the feeling of high stakes that the novel would've otherwise had. Overall, I liked the intensity of the story and how well it sets up the next book in the duology.

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kirstenf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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ezz1234's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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frantically's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

While this book is incredibly engaging and well-written, I struggled to connect with the MC. Baker tries very hard to make her a morally grey character, in the vein of "The Poppy War" but I found it hard to root for her. I loved the way the author incorporated actual Chinese history and how she adapted. Unsure if I'll continue with the sequel, though.

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