Title: The Scarlet Alchemist

Series: The Scarlet Alchemist #1

Author: Kylie Lee Baker

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.

Zilan dreams of becoming a royal alchemist and leaves her impoverished village with her cousins, Wenshu and Yufei, to take the trials. But Zilan has a (not well kept) secret, she can resurrect the dead! 

Zilan draws the attention of the Crown Prince Li Hong and, much worse, the attentions of the Empress. She was so cunning and just vile! She  reminded me of the stories I’d heard about the roman emperor, Nero.

Hong, however, was my hero in this story, yes he’s sweet and yes he won’t stand up to the empress but he knows what he wants and he wants Zilan. I LIVED FOR THAT!

I absolutely loved this book, it was fast paced, had so much action and drama and also a sweet romance blossoming. There was also power struggles, an evil alchemy duck (!) and I was hooked!

I do love a historical fantasy that’s on the darker side!

That little twist near the end, that ending! Book 2 please because I need to know what happens! (I can’t say what I want to here because of spoilers but I really want souls to be sorted out – vague enough?!)