Rating: ★★★★
Audience: NA Fantasy Romance
Length: 400 pages
Author: Amelie Wen Zhao
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Release Date: March 4th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In a world invaded by demons, one girl will face the ultimate test when she is forced to enter into an ancient, deadly competition for the chance to save her mother’s soul… before she loses her forever. From the New York Times bestselling author of Song of Silver, Flame Like Night comes the beginning of a dark and opulent fantasy duology, perfect for fans of Throne of Glass.

Nine years ago, the war between the Kingdom of Night and the Kingdom of Rivers tore Àn’yīng’s family apart, leaving her mother barely alive and a baby sister to fend for. Now the mortal realm is falling into eternal night, and mó—beautiful, ravenous demons—roam the land, feasting on the flesh of humans and drinking their souls.

Àn’yīng is no longer a helpless child, though. Armed with her crescent blades and trained in the ancient art of practitioning, she has decided to enter the Immortality Trials, which are open to any mortal who can survive the journey to the immortal realm. Those who complete the Trials are granted a pill of eternal life—the one thing Àn’yīng knows can heal her dying mother. But to attain the prize, she must survive the competition.

Death is common in the Trials. Yet oddly, Àn’yīng finds that someone is helping her stay alive. A rival contestant. Powerful and handsome, Yù’chén is as secretive about his past as he is about his motives for protecting Àn’yīng.

The longer she survives the Trials, the clearer it becomes that all is not right in the immortal realm. To save her mother and herself, Àn’yīng will need to figure out whether she can truly trust the stranger she’s falling for or if he’s the most dangerous player of all . . . for herself and for all the realms.

Thank you to PRH Audio for the gifted audiobook and Get Underlined for the gifted copy.

DON’T LET ME DOWN.

Here we are at the ending of another first book from AWZ. I have unfortunately felt let down two times over with the last book in her trilogy and previous duology. SO PLEASE. LET BOOK TWO BE GOOD. I liked this book y’all. I am maintaining hope.

The idea was a concept I’ve read before but I enjoyed the spin and take on the story line. There’s a little bit of a competition which moved the plot well enough. The romantic banter felt a little forced on the audiobook but when I was physically reading I liked it a lot more. It’s a good enemies vibe and there were enough movement and turns in the last few chapters that absolutely have me questioning where this will go.

The characters were well crafted, I do still very much enjoy the writing style and I’m looking forward to the sequel.

Overall audience notes:

• NA Fantasy Romance
• Language: mild
• Romance: one vague open door
• Violence: moderate
• Content warnings: loss of loved ones, war themes, creature attacks

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