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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a Frankensteinian tale set in an alternate Tang China, where Empress Wu Zetian has in fact discovered immortality, and runs a tight ship of alchemists keeping her empire afloat.
Fan Zilan, a biracial orphan whose Scotia father left her, has a particular knack with resurrecting the dead. She is a calculative, heartless merchant hardened by a world of haves and have nots, against the entitled rich who have their immortality and health through ingesting gold.
Even before Zilan goes to the capital for her alchemy exams, she is sought after by Hong Li, prince and heir, who fears for his own life and needs her help.
Kylie Lee Baker builds such a fantastical arc, leading to a final showdown with elements of horror, death, and twists.
You will lose sleep over this 🫣
📚: @definitelybooks
Fan Zilan, a biracial orphan whose Scotia father left her, has a particular knack with resurrecting the dead. She is a calculative, heartless merchant hardened by a world of haves and have nots, against the entitled rich who have their immortality and health through ingesting gold.
Even before Zilan goes to the capital for her alchemy exams, she is sought after by Hong Li, prince and heir, who fears for his own life and needs her help.
Kylie Lee Baker builds such a fantastical arc, leading to a final showdown with elements of horror, death, and twists.
You will lose sleep over this 🫣
📚: @definitelybooks
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
World building was superb~ The ending felt too loose and rushed.
The Scarlet Alchemist was amazing and the only thing that kept me from rating it 5 stars was Zilan. I did not like her for most of the book due to her personality. She was overly brash and uncaring towards others and had a habit of doing things without considering the repercussions. Though she improves and shows some humanity by the end of the book, she was the ultimate downfall. Since I was so invested in the plot, I could easily ignore Zilan's attitude to focus on the reveals that kept popping up every few chapters. I cannot wait to read the next in the series to see where the story goes. Thank you Edelweiss for an ARC.
I feel like I say this about every book but yeah… this one started out promising but then quickly declined. I liked the writing, the prose, cool power system, initially thought the resurrection plot was so interesting. I liked the idea of the MC a lot more than how she was executed, because she was headstrong to the point of annoying and defiant to the point of stupidity. Every interaction with the prince ended in her exploding in anger that it was almost comical.
Speaking of the prince, he was a loser, so much so that I had trouble believing his moments of intelligence. I get what the author was going for but I did not find him endearing in the slightest and the romance was icky.
The cousins annoyed me to hell, but the ending was interesting. If I liked the cousins I think the ending would have set up a really cool premise that I would be interested in exploring. As it stands, I will not be continuing the series. Finally, yeah, there is no way they solved all of china’s problems in like an hour. THAT was unrealistic and ridiculous.
Speaking of the prince, he was a loser, so much so that I had trouble believing his moments of intelligence. I get what the author was going for but I did not find him endearing in the slightest and the romance was icky.
The cousins annoyed me to hell, but the ending was interesting. If I liked the cousins I think the ending would have set up a really cool premise that I would be interested in exploring. As it stands, I will not be continuing the series. Finally, yeah, there is no way they solved all of china’s problems in like an hour. THAT was unrealistic and ridiculous.
adventurous
dark
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