50books_poc | Song of the Last Kingdom Duology by Amélie Wen Zhao

In a fallen kingdom, one girl carries the key to discovering the secrets of her nation's past—and unleashing the demons that sleep at its heart. An epic fantasy series inspired by the mythology and folklore of ancient China.

A two-for-one post! I finished the duology this month, but thought it'd be a little weird to only post about the second book. The best thing I can say about this duology is that it reads like the most adventurous TV show! The writing is engaging from beginning to end and the world-building is very well developed. The main POV characters, Lan and Zen, go through a loooot as the story progresses and their character arcs are pretty satisfying in terms of personal growth and what they're willing to do to achieve what they want.

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night read like I was watching a TV show! Amélie Wen Zhao did an excellent job at painting a very interesting picture here in terms of world-building and setting as well as character perspective. The writing was so engaging and I very much appreciated how the main POV characters, Lan and Zen, were introduced and developed.

The banter between those two at the beginning of their relationship was excellent! It added some much needed humor to a story that was surprisingly dark at times. I also didn't mind the romance between them very much? Even more so considering how it eventually progressed and what that meant for the plot.

And speaking of plot, it was also very well done. I will say some of the twists were expected, but the chapter flow here and how Wen Zhao was capable of creating tension and a great sense of danger was amaaaazing. I loved how we moved from one point to the next and learned something new about the world and each of the characters.

The ending did feel a little off to me for some reason? I guess because there were a few things that were very straightforward when I didn't expect them to be--including what's going to be tackled in the sequel. I still am curious about this world and how the story is going to go, so I will be keeping an eye out for the sequel!

There was a big tone shift in the sequel, but I still very much enjoyed the end of this duology! Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White was pretty tense and intense as a read considering Lan and Zen's character journeys and where they left things off previously. Wen Zhao did a fantastic job at developing their relationship further while keeping them as complex and very different characters.

The sense of adventure was heavily mixed with darkness here and I did miss the feeling of going along on a fun quest with the characters. There were clear goals everyone had to follow, though, so it was still an engaging story that kept me hooked throughout. The pace was a little slow, especially in the beginning, but I liked how things picked up towards the third half. There were so many things at stake!

The ending was incredibly satisfying, personally. It was heartbreaking and sad, but still managed to deliver a sense of accomplishment and hope. I loved that Wen Zhao didn't shy away from making difficult decisions in regard to plot and the destiny of some characters here. And the last chapter was such a sweet treat! Overall, this was a great duology and I'm very happy to have read it :D

And I also leave you with this: