Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao
I would like to thank Anne from Random Things Tours and Harper Voyager for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Harper Voyager
Published – Out Now
Price – £14.99 hardcover £7.99 eBook
In a fallen kingdom, one girl carries the key to its forgotten past – and the demons that sleep at its heart…
Once, Lan had a different name. Now, she goes by the one the Elantian colonizers gave her. She 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 – until the night Zen appears at the teahouse and saves her life.
Zen is a practitioner, one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom, whose abilities were rumoured to be drawn from the demons they communed with. Magic believed to be long lost. Magic to be hidden at all costs.
Both Lan and Zen have secrets buried deep within. Fate has connected them, but their destiny remains unwritten. Both hold the power to liberate their land. And both hold the power to destroy the world.
The concept of learning to have control over your life is one we all respond to do the right things for the right reasons and helping others. It’s a key part of fantasy that we want our heroes to do the right thing. In the past it has been perhaps a bit too easy for our typical farmboy to suddenly learn all the ropes and be a shining example of chivalry. Fortunately, in Amelie Wen Zhao’s exhilarating fantasy Song of Silver, Flame Like Night we have a great story of two lead characters in a dangerous world struggling with their desire to help but also the risk that they can wield very dangerous magic that could corrupt them entirely.
The Last Kingdom is no more. The Elantians are invaders from over the sea who arrived offering gifts and instead using their magic made powerful by strange metals they destroyed the Imperial court and have now outlawed language, dress, culture, and their soldiers arrogantly patrol and can do what they want. Lan is a songgirl in a town hiding a secret she doesn’t herself understand. A mysterious scar on her wrist and aa desire to find magic. An incident at the song house ends in a bloody massacre that as well as meaning Lan confronts her mother’s murderer who has once again found her means she meets Zen who was not a merchant but is working for a hidden magical school of practitioners who believes Lan may hold some knowledge of vital importance to a fledgling rebellion. But Zen constantly struggles with darker magic and now aiding Lan may him too at risk of destruction.
What pulls you into this story is the core duo of Lan and Zen the characters for whom the plot constantly centres on. Linked to a wider theme of duality and balance that runs through the novel Zhao cleverly sets up our perceptions of them and subverts them. Lan is initially the rogue not above stealing, lying and being a little too sure of themselves. Zen is the sombre, law abiding and almost teacher-like character that Lan meets who is quick to explain magic and also the variety of demons. Initially in the book’s opening I was getting a slight sense of déjà vu as I’ve met these characters many times before but this novel constantly shifts our thoughts on the characters; which when I realised it soon gave myself a kick for being stupid!
We find Zen is over-compensating for a past misdeed where he turned out to be wielding dangerous magic that can kill just as much as it can save people. With Lan while they re initially the rogue but we also get to explore her own childhood backstory and realise she has been deliberately hidden from her own memories and that her family holds a bigger purpose to help the Hin people beat their occupiers. We have a central core duo that complement each other; keep their secrets from one another initially (neither uses their actual names which adds to the duality of the characters) and organically they also start to develop beyond an initial quasi-teacher/pupil dynamic into friends and then something more; which of course the threatens their lives as the darker magics in the tale are revealed.
The other key component of the story is setting. Zhao in many ways brings traditional elements of eastern storytelling. We have magical schools; imperial courts and a really interesting playing with mythology. Here the magic links to the idea of natural energy known as qi itself aided by the four elements. I was a little underwhelmed by the initial level of exposition explaining this I the early sections of the novel but I think for the YA audience this book is targeting this would possibly be the first time many will have met these concepts. But what really works for me is the core threat in the form of the Elantrians. I really liked how Zhao makes us experience the feeling of being colonised. Everything from Hin culture is outlawed from language; myth and even the way time was measured. While this is a secondary world there are many real world analogues for the white western invading force who seeks to control and exploit a population and for readers it’s a subtle reminder that European countries have done this a lot and seeing them as the villains will be a sobering but thought-provoking experience. The Elantrians are also smart villains – they have laid traps for Lan and Zen; they have devastating magics of their own and a key figure that Lan names the Winter Magician is a suitably menacing figure who whenever he appears we fear this what he will do. All of which makes the various face offs between the two forces never feel too predictable – these are villains to actually fear.
The plot once all the key players are understood is fast paced and ever changing. We meet demons, ghosts, and even demonic gods. While we get a traditional magic school there are lots of subtle unusual elements. Many of the key pupils are carrying a form of disability; all are hiding secrets and a key plot-point is that sometimes we all need to use dangerous magic to do things – the key is not letting it control us. We get a series of set pieces allowing Lan and Zen to gain more knowledge and power but also to understand the history of thr world and how they have a part t play in is future. The final sequences of this volume are dramatic; filled with noble sacrifices and powerful revelations that manage to set up the next book and also alter our view of several key characters by which point I am reading far too late and still have no regrets. It was that kind of a read – the best kind.
Song of Silver, Flame Like Night surprised me by how I got fully engaged into these character’s lives and the wider story that they’re a key part of. Zhao has a wonderful way of expressing who a character is and the emotional journeys that they are on and is more than happy to throw obstacles in their way for them to battle. Rather than people who just instinctively do the right thing all the time we have flawed characters who sometimes for good reasons do the wrong thing that may hurt them and others and importantly we understand why they made those choices. This adds complexity just as much as a unusual world where readers will explore the pain of being conquered by people who do not respect your culture and freedom which itself is a very impressive storytelling choice. A very entertaining read well worth a look!
