Infused with magic and romance, this sweeping fantasy adventure inspired by the legend of Mulan follows a young woman determined to choose her own destiny—even if that means going against everyone she loves.
The Three Kingdoms are at war, but Meilin’s father refuses to answer the imperial draft. Trapped by his opium addiction, he plans to sell Meilin for her dowry. But when Meilin discovers her husband-to-be is another violent, ill-tempered man, she realizes that nothing will change for her unless she takes matters into her own hands.
The very next day, she disguises herself as a boy and enlists in her father’s place.
In the army, Meilin's relentless hard work brings her recognition, friendship—and a growing closeness with Sky, a prince turned training partner. But has she simply exchanged one prison for another? As her kingdom barrels toward destruction, Meilin begins to have visions of a sea dragon spirit that offers her true power and freedom, but with a deadly price.
With the future of the Three Kingdoms hanging in the balance, Meilin will need to decide whom to trust—Sky, who inspires her loyalty and love; the sea dragon spirit, who has his own murky agenda; or an infuriating enemy prince who makes her question everything she once knew—about her kingdom and about her own heart.
The Three Kingdoms are at war, but Meilin’s father refuses to answer the imperial draft. Trapped by his opium addiction, he plans to sell Meilin for her dowry. But when Meilin discovers her husband-to-be is another violent, ill-tempered man, she realizes that nothing will change for her unless she takes matters into her own hands.
The very next day, she disguises herself as a boy and enlists in her father’s place.
In the army, Meilin's relentless hard work brings her recognition, friendship—and a growing closeness with Sky, a prince turned training partner. But has she simply exchanged one prison for another? As her kingdom barrels toward destruction, Meilin begins to have visions of a sea dragon spirit that offers her true power and freedom, but with a deadly price.
With the future of the Three Kingdoms hanging in the balance, Meilin will need to decide whom to trust—Sky, who inspires her loyalty and love; the sea dragon spirit, who has his own murky agenda; or an infuriating enemy prince who makes her question everything she once knew—about her kingdom and about her own heart.
Title: The Night Ends With Fire (The Night Ends With Fire #1)
Author: K.X. Song
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group (ACE)
Expected Publication Date: July 2, 2024
Review:
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
The three kingdoms are at war. Meilin decides taking her father's place in the draft will ensure she can become more than just the wife of an abusive husband. Posing as a boy, she joins the army and quickly forms friendships, specifically with the prince. When she begins to have visions, she realizes she may be just like her mother, who went insane with a similar affliction. But through the visions she is offered power beyond her wildest dreams. While fighting to save her kingdom, she needs to decide who to trust.
I'll start by saying right before I read this book, I read another Mulan inspired book, that one YA. I was expecting some similarities between the two books but in all honesty, they were very much the same. As I read through this story, all I could think of was the one I had just finished from another author and how the similarities were almost too much of a coincidence. Yes, I understand the books are based on Mulan, but the characters, the story line, the magic, it all was the same. I'm not very familiar with Asian folklore. While I've seen Mulan, long ago, and know the basis of the story, I was interested to see how this author infused the story with her own ideas. I love the idea of a female role taking her power, I don't love the idea of her having to hide in order to do it. It makes me angry. But, that is the point of this story, is it not? To show how women have been treated over the course of time (they shall be seen not heard).
Meilin is a strong female character. The author does a fabulous job of developing her into someone who is willing to put it all on the line to gain what she wants. And she's not willing to let anything stand in her way of doing so, slashing stereotypes as she goes. She does not rely on anyone to do things for her. She relies only on herself. Her friend/love interest, Sky, wasn't as well developed. Perhaps because we see him only from Meilin's point of view. I felt like I was missing a bit of his personality. I kind of wish the book was dual point of view, or at least third person omniscient for this reason, though I do understand that would have defeated the point of having the female character in the role she was put in. I wanted to see the relationships grown more, as well. The author, for me, only scratched the surface of them.
I'll address the romance a bit more here. I was expecting it. And I knew who it would be and where it would go for the most part but I honestly did not feel the connection or the growth of the romance. Did I see a friendship starting to build, sure. But overall I didn't see how it made the leap over the barrier of friendship to love interest. Especially given the nature of Meilin hiding that she is actually a woman. It was too easy for her to fall back into Sky's good graces given the level of her deceit. Also, there is a sort of love triangle that happens in this book. At first, I was unsure if I was truly seeing it as it was almost a Stockholm Syndrome type of relationship, but then at the end I saw I was right. Not sure where the author might take that in future books of this series.
The story was interesting. I love fantasy and there are some great elements of that here. Magic, dragons, powers beyond understanding. I liked how the author built the world, though I almost felt I needed a bit more background. Since I don't know much about Asian folklore, I would have liked to see a bit of a deeper dive into the world building in order to understand it better. I needed a bit more depth. There were also so many instances where Meilin was just in trouble and then able to get out of it. It happened throughout the book. I had a hard time with the suspension of disbelief in many of these instances. it just seemed to easy for her to escape from the perils in which she was placed. At times it was very repetitive, which made it boring and made me want to skim more than read the story.
The pacing was ok for me, not too fast, not too slow. I wanted to pick the story back up but at the same time, if I let it sit for a bit, it wasn't calling my name. Plus, there was way more telling than showing, which definitely slowed the pace for me.
Overall I did enjoy the story and I'm intrigued to see where it goes in future books. I would recommend this to anyone who likes retellings or reimaginings.
Author:
K. X. Song is a diaspora writer with roots in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Raised between cultures and languages, she enjoys telling stories that touch on collective memory, translation, and the shifting nature of memory and history. She is the author of An Echo in the City and the forthcoming The Night Ends with Fire, her adult fantasy debut. She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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