Publication Date: Out now!!!
Formats: Hardback & Ebook
Price: Hb £14.99/ Ebook £7.99
Publisher: HarperVoyager
I would like to say a huge thank you to Random Things Tours (Anne Cater) for organising such a magical and enchanting tour for this ethereal book. I would like to say a huge thank you to HarperVoyager for allowing me to read and review a physical copy of this book and I am extremely grateful. I would also like to say a huge thank you to the creative talent, Amèlie Wen Zhao, for creating an enchanting tale of courage, magic, myths, legends and of course heartache, betrayal and a kingdom in need of saving. Intrigued? Let’s head over to the blurb and find out more.
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 one the Elantian colonisers 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 her she died.
No one can see the mysterious mark – until the night Zen appears at the tea house 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 destinies remains unwritten. Both hold the power to liberate their land. And both hold the power to destroy the world.
As soon as I picked up this book and read the first page I was enchanted and hooked. The story enthralled me with its wonderful cast of characters and gorgeous, descriptions of an old land and a land that has also been conquered by new rulers leaving the remnants of a lost kingdom in tatters and with its people subjugated. We follow a young girl, who’s mysterious mark leads her searching to uncover what it means and why her mother burnt it into her arm, Lan is one of those characters you just instantly bond with, her fighting spirit and tenacity against all the odds means you are willing her to get out of scrapes which she manages to fall into.
We also meet Zen, a mysterious and enigmatic boy who’s abilities are like those of the practitioners of old, magicians who gained powers through dealings with a demon, one that was supposedly forbidden and been lost to time… until now. We watch as these two meet and travel together to find a way to get rid of their enemy and heal their land, but dangers and betrayals lie in wait for these two.
I loved all the other characters too, especially what would be described as a mystic or guru, and some rather tough talking fighters and some grumpy scholars. I loved the sense of being led down paths which the author does magnificently well and where every page there is a surprise or a twist you never really saw coming.
I would highly recommend this stunning and beautiful book that is both heartbreaking and yet also heartwarming. I would urge you to buy this book asap!!!
Rating: 5 🌟s with a large ☕️ and a large 🍰.
Author’s Blurb:
Amèlie Wen Zhao (赵雯）is the New York Times bestselling author of the Chinese xiānxiá fantasy Song of Silver, Flame Like Night and the Blood Heir trilogy. She was born in Paris and grew up in Beijing, where she spent her days reenacting tales of legendary heroes, ancient kingdoms, and lost magic at her grandmother’s courtyard house. She attended college in the United States and now resides in New York City, working as a finance professional by day and fantasy author by night. In her spare time, she loves to travel with her family in China, where she’s determined to walk the rivers and lakes of old just like the practitioners in her novels do.
I hope you have enjoyed this journey into a land filled with mysticism, magic, myths and legends past and present. This modern fusion of Chinese Myths and legends is one that will stay with you in your heart. If you are wanting a copy for yourself, you can find this in Waterstones any independent store and of course on Amazon. I will leave you now to say Happy Reading and see you all soon!!!
Zoe's Book Nook 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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