“Onmyouji meets Ip Man.”
Steeped in deep lore inspired by Chinese cosmology, Song of Silver, Flame Like Night infuses wonder and excitement into the common tropes of forbidden magic, lost heirs, and clash of cultures. The first book in the second series by Amelie Wen Zhao, takes place in a second world China, which has been conquered by the historical equivalent of the British Empire. But whereas in our history, England overwhelmed China with guns, the Elantian Empire uses the magic of metals. Having suppressed its own native magic, the Last Kingdom was easy prey.
Now defeated, the Hin people eek out livings under the thumbs of the Elantians. Life is cheap, and feels reminiscent of the oppression in the Tomi Adeyemi’s Orisha setting of Children of Blood and Bone, or the Japanese occupation of Foshan depicted in the smash hit movie, Ip Man.
Orphaned in the fall of the Last Kingdom’s capital twelve years before, main character Lan now works as a courtesan-in-training in the port city of Haak’gang. Her sass and wit shine through both in narration and dialog. And given her circumstances living under oppressive Elantian rule, she’s easy to connect and root for. A scar on her arm hides the secrets to a past that she can’t remember.
When her virginity is sold to an Elantian general, and she devises an escape from her fate, we learn there’s much more to the scar. She’s aided by Zen, a boy whose own past scars make him both reluctant and motivated to help her. Their chemistry, in part shown through her sassy banter and his understated acts of kindness, make them the obvious ship.
Zen practices their people’s lost magic, which is the crown jewel of Song of Silver’s worldbuilding. Without giving away too much, it’s a mix of Chinese mythology and Wuxia, akin to Onmyouji (the Japanese pronunciation of Yin-Yang Master) with interwoven threads of demons, magic scripts, and superhuman martial arts. Thus, the resulting brocade feels both familiar and fresh.
Equally fascinating is the Elantian metal magic. Mages use different metals to channel mundane to deadly magic, and only the best of them can use multiple types of magic to devastating effect. Hopefully, Zhao will show us more about the magic system in the sequel.
While the characters and worldbuilding are top notch, where Song of Silver, Flame Like Night shines the brightest is the beautiful writing. It evokes imagery through whimsical prose and keeps us on the edge of our seat through intense word wizardry. Like Sanderson and GRRM, Zhao writes in distinct narrative voices with Lan and Zen. Whereas Lan’s combines an interesting amalgam of sarcasm, indignation, and wonderment, Zen’s is contemplative. If I stopped reading partway through a chapter and came back, it was always easy to reorient myself to the viewpoint.
Although the book is considered YA, I would say it straddles the line of adult fantasy. With the fascinating worldbuilding, compelling characters, and masterful wordsmithing, the story kept me engrossed from beginning to end. I rate it 9 stars out of 10.
Reviewer’s Note: As with much of my “reading” these days, I listened to Song of Silver, Flame Like Night on audiobook. It’s brilliantly performed by Annie Q. Unlike many narrators, she changes the pitch of her voice depending on if she’s reading Lan or Zen’s voice.
Jennie Ivins
This sounds like a fascinating read. When you mentioned the metal magic, I thought of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series. It was the first I read with a unique metal magic system.