Song of Silver, Flame Like Night

Hardcover, 480 pages

English language

Published 2023 by Random House Publishing Group, Ember.

ISBN:
978-0-593-48753-2
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3 stars (1 review)

Once, Lan had a different name. Now, she goes by the one the Elantian colonizers gave her when they invaded her kingdom, killed her mother, and outlawed her people’s magic. She spends her nights as a songgirl in Haak’gong, a city transformed by the conquerors, and spends her days scavenging for remnants of the past. For anything that might help her understand the strange mark burned into her arm by her mother, in her last act before she died.

No one can see the mysterious mark—an untranslatable Hin character—except Lan. Until the night a boy appears at the teahouse and saves her life.

Zen is a practitioner—one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom, whose abilities were rumored to be drawn from the demons they communed with. Magic believed to be long lost. Magic to be hidden from the Elantians at all costs.

When Zen comes across Lan’s unusual …

10 editions

Meh

3 stars

This was my book club's pick for May. We follow this year's Illumicrate calendar which shows a fan created illustration of a different book each month. That and the good reviews elsewhere mean that it (or the trilogy it's the first book of) has its fans. I find that slightly puzzling because the content of the book doesn't live up to the great cover and is middling at best. Things are treated as great reveals even though they were telegraphed from a mile away or even explained in an earlier chapter. For the advancement of the plot the protagonists sometimes have to act out-of-character or foolishly and there are a lot of clicheś. The search for Lan Mom's legacy is captivating. Some of the magic is quite interesting and the question of whether it's necessary to destroy something that gives great power to have peace is intriguing. However, the author …

Subjects

  • Children's fiction