Zilan has a lot of quirky/sassy and downright rude people around her. Zilan herself is training to be an alchemist in spite of her father, whom she believes betrayed her and her mother. The story is good enough to keep you moving forward but there is some downright GORE in this book that I was not expecting or ready for when I started the book. The breaking and changing of monologues and internal thoughts really needed some help and I winded up having to re-read things several times to understand when the change happened. I would have rather had some break on the page or even just a new chapter to show there was a break. At one point you loose an entire day or two (I'm still not sure) and just pick up in the next timeframe with no warning.
 Once Zilan learns everything she can about her past, present and possible future for this book, it kinda of ends on a cliff hanger and.. I'm still not sure if I'll read the second at this point.

A morbidly dark young adult fantasy about the mysterious world of alchemy, set during an acient Chinese empire. Fan Zilan is a merchant girl from the poor South, who performs illegal resurrection alchemy, with the help of her cousins, so her family can afford to live. She has an unwavering desire to climb the ranks and become a royal alchemist, despite the bigoted hostility she faces because of her mixed heritage. But the more she pursues her dream, the more she discovers bone-chilling secrets about the royal court and herself.

Lee Baker's writing is graphically vivid and full of suspense as we read about Zilan constantly having to surmount the next obstacle that comes her way and deal with the many twists and turns that are thrown at her.

I believed in the close sibling-like yet fraught relationship between Zilan and her cousins, Wenshu and Yufei, who were both endearing characters to read about. And the shy romance that started to surface was an embracing relief from the relentless depictions of death and decay and rotting corpses, which became very stale the more I read.

I thought the ending was both strange in a way that didn't sit well with me, but also clever in it's unexpectedness. However, it did diminish the feeling of high stakes that the novel would've otherwise had. Overall, I liked the intensity of the story and how well it sets up the next book in the duology.

While this book is incredibly engaging and well-written, I struggled to connect with the MC. Baker tries very hard to make her a morally grey character, in the vein of "The Poppy War" but I found it hard to root for her. I loved the way the author incorporated actual Chinese history and how she adapted. Unsure if I'll continue with the sequel, though.

I haven’t read a book this quickly in a while I was gripped the whole time. It’s a very sad story but written extremely well.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED this book!

Literally from the first page I was hooked with the story, characters and historical and fantastical world building. From the first few pages I immediately knew The Scarlet Alchemist could become a new favourite book of mine.

The Scarlet Alchemist follows Zilan, a girl who dreams of becoming a royal alchemist. Joining her cousins on their quest to become royal scholars, Zilan finds herself among the royal court uncovering political plots and schemes. When the Prince appears, knowing of Zilan's ability to resurrect the dead, she discovers things are not as they seem.

I absolutely loved the world-building in this book. Zilan's home town? The royal palace? I could imagine every place and I felt transported into the story. I loved seeing the home life and relations between Zilan and her cousins and their secret resurrection business. The resurrections brought another element to the book including a rock based alchemy system that I really enjoyed reading about. 

The characters made this book. Wenshu and Yufei's banter with Zilan made me laugh out loud. Each character has their distinct personality and there was never a dull moment with them. Two other characters I loved was the Prince and the duck, Durian. The entire scene at the pond with the ducks made me cackle out loud. 

The only criticism I have is with the side characters, the alchemists. They clearly were a big part of Zilan's life and yet we never learned more about them than their titles (the moon alchemist being an exception here). The ending would've hit harder if we got to know the alchemists a little better. 

Speaking of endings though, this book was plot twist after plot twist after plot twist. My mouth hung open wide at some points with the thought: "That did not just happen??" at the forefront. I cannot wait for book two, I desperately need to talk over this ending with someone!

ACTUAL RATING: 4.8 STARS