A review by beachbagbooks
The Night Ends With Fire by K.X. Song

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

The Night Ends with Fire is a darker, more adult Mulan retelling that follows Meilin as she enlists in the army to avoid her violent fiance and opium-addicted father. Under the alias of Ren, Meilin proves her worth as a soldier and befriends Sky, the seventh son of the ruling warlord. All Meilin wants to do is experience a taste of freedom before returning to a confined life as a wife, but a dragon-spirit who has chosen her as his host makes that difficult. Soon, Meilin is drawn deeper into the politics of war than she anticipated. 

Readers who enjoyed She Who Became the Sun will probably also really enjoy this book. Meilin's grit in posing as a man and becoming a soldier was so impressive and I loved following the twists on the tale of Mulan. This book ended up being darker than I expected and the characters are very complicated. All of the main characters, including Meilin, are flawed and interesting to read about, although I found that I wasn't very emotionally connected to them. I am interested in what will happen in the sequel and I hope we get to see Meilin finally accept all of her power.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book. All opinions are my own.