The Scarlet Alchemist

 

Rating: 4 for cool old science (alchemy) and bad ass bitches

My Thoughts:

I believe I succinctly wrote my thoughts in the rating, but here is more.  But I will write more because I devoured the book AND the audiobook. I have been doing that because I cannot read fast enough, or horrors of horrors, I have to actually sleep, or rather get up in the morning, so I have been doing both. I read when I can read, then audiobook the next part while I'm driving, working, eating, then skip ahead in the book to read on. 

This book must be eaten whole. Perhaps because I was a chemistry major in college, and now a social justice advocate, the two parts of my life, past and present, converged in this book. My favorite quote, and there were many:

I realized nothing in life is a promise, that everything good can simply stop existing one day, that the sun might not rise and the tides may lay still and the sky will go cold and dark. The world owed me nothing, and everything that I thought was mine could always be taken back. 

I think I really liked this quote because I am reading so many Asian American books by female authors that my definition of what romance is has skewed to the Asian stoicism and martydom. For Zilan, things work and do not work in equal measure. That is what makes this book so frustratingly tasty. 

Finally, shout out to the cover artist. The cover is so badass! Truly. It is like those dowager empresses in the old kung fu movies and I am here for it.

From the Publisher:

Zilan dreams of becoming a royal alchemist, of providing for her family by making alchemical gold and gems for the wealthy to eat in order to stay young forever. But for now, she’s trapped in her impoverished village in southern China, practicing an illegal form of alchemy to keep food on the table—resurrecting the dead, for a price.

When Zilan finally has the chance to complete her imperial exams, she ventures to the capital to compete against the best alchemists in the country in tasks she’ll be lucky to survive, let alone pass. On top of that, her reputation for raising the dead has followed her to the capital, and the Crown Prince himself seeks out her help, suspecting a coming assassination attempt.

The more Zilan succeeds in her alchemy, the more she gets caught in the dangerous political games of the royal family. There are monsters lurking within the palace walls, and it’s only a matter of time before they—and secrets of Zilan’s past—catch up with her.

Publication Information:

Author: Kylie Lee Baker

Publisher: Inkyard Press (October 3, 2023)

Print length: 417 pages

Narrator: Natalie Naudus (Harlequin Audio)