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4.08 AVERAGE

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
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
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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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 

4.5 stars rounded up.
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.