I have many issues with this book, both plot wise and historically/culturally accurate wise. 

If you came looking for an authentically Asian-inspired fantasy, this is not the book. Was the inspiration there? Yes, of course, it's speculative fiction based off of a real Chinese historical figure. However, few things about this book actually felt Chinese, from the way the characters behaved to the details about the world, and the lack of care with all these inaccuracies really drew me out of the story's time period and culture. 
 While reading, it felt like this was a story written by an edgy teenaged girl from LA in her secret journal. 

Let's start with the inaccuracies that I noticed. I could have written them down as I ran across them, but I wanted to at least try to enjoy the story, so these are the ones that I remember from memory. 

Let's start with some small stuff:

  Throughout the story, characters are mentioned to be putting things in and out of their pockets. As well as a mention of pickpocketing and how Zilan could have just "burnt a hole in his pocket" so that he'd think his money just fell out.

  When Zilan is having her back checked, her dress was unbuttoned instead of untied.

  Li Hong feeds his ducks "loaves of bread" all the time. Zilan then criticized him for doing so, saying that bread is unhealthy for ducks. While this is true, this is a fact that was only recently discovered/made into common knowledge. People back in the day probably would not have thought about something like that or had even known. 
 Regardless, Li Hong might have feed the ducks flatbreads every once in awhile, but more likely than not, a servant would be the one taking care of them and feeding them. The prince feeding them bread would have been more like a treat rather than their actual diet.

  Actual currency used by the people during the Tang Dynasty, especially commoners, was called kai yuan tong bao, and looked like the classic Chinese coins you might think of with a square hole in the center. These coins were not made of silver or gold, but rather a mixture of copper, lead, tin, and sometimes bronze, brass, or iron. 
 But Life Gold is such a big deal in this book, so why not use gold as this universe's currency? Well to me it still doesn't make sense. There can not possibly be enough gold in a kingdom the size of Ancient China to make a functional economy. That's why less precious materials are used in a lot of currencies around the world. Rare enough/hard enough to reproduce to give it value, but not so rare as to make it pretty much impossible for regular people to actually obtain said currency.  

Being how selfish and tyrannical Wu Zetian is presented in this book, it also doesn't make sense for her to allow gold to just casually be used as currency. She'd want it all for herself.

 Which leads to another point of confusion that I didn't understand about this book. It was mentioned multiple times that the value of gold was decreasing in this book, thus causing inflation. If gold is the main component of Life Gold, gold should be highly sought after, not to mention the literal consumption of gold, thus depleting a non-renewable resource. This all should increase its value and worth. So why in this book is its value decreasing? The value of gold should sky rocket because of how important this mineral is.

 

In terms of malevolence and murder, a hulijing would absorb the life essence from a man during s*x. Not rip a body to shreds like the crime this woman was pinned for. 
 It might not be completely odd to see a hulijing killed, since it depends on the spirit itself rather than the species as a whole. Though maybe it would be more unusual to see this during this time period, but the method used to kill the woman was weird to see in this setting. 
 Death by burning felt very European witch hunt. Executions in Ancient China were often beheadings or strangulation. If the author wanted to keep this woman's death brutal, she could have maybe had the woman tied up while dogs were let going to attack her. Hulijing could be killed by normal methods, and hunting dog parties were not uncommon as dogs were their greatest enemies.

 

Some more major points:

 So getting into some specifics, at the very beginning of the novel, we are introduced to a background character named Gao Youjin 高有金. His first name literally means to have gold (有=to have 金=gold). Right on the nose since this character was rich. However, You 有 is not used for names and is weird to see it here. His name is basically just a direct sentence describing him. If his parents wanted to name him after money, they would have been more creative in doing so. 
 Next is Wenshu 文書. Wen 文 is a character commonly used in names meaning literary/writing/culture/language, so we are fine there. Shu 書(书) on the other hand means book. I can see where the author was coming from, trying to give him a scholar-y name, but Shu 書(书) just isn't used for names and looks weird.
 Zilan 紫蘭(兰).... I have a lot to say about this one. Zilan is not actually a bad name. There is a famous Chinese artist, Guan Zilan (關紫蘭), with the name. I didn't know about her until I tried looking up (in both English and Chinese) what a zilan flower looked like, and she was one of the top results when you looked up the name in pinyin. 
 In the book, zilan is said to be a common flower that you see on the side of the road. This immediately made me pause and question if zilan was the name of an actual flower or not in Chinese. The answer that I found was no. It's quite literally just an orchid that is purple. 
 I honestly question if the author knows what an orchid is. Orchids are not flowers that you can just spot on the side of the road, growing wherever all willy-nilly. They are found in more isolated places, such as high in the mountains or even in trees. The conditions needed for them to grow are very specific from species to species, so you aren't going to just find one on the side of the road or in a field. 
 On a more cultural level, orchids have a deep meaning and significance in Chinese culture. They are said to symbolize feminine beauty, modesty, and refinement. Many varieties of the flower are highly prized. Confucius even highly praised the flower. Orchids have been used to compared the careers of scholars under a just emperor. 
 Lan 蘭 (orchid) is also a very popular character used in the names for girls. For all of this said, I do not understand why Zilan hates her name so much. 
 Now credit where credit is due, I like that the author used traditional Chinese characters in this book instead of simplified ones. Simplified characters were not in use until only the mid-1950s.

 

The way the servant treats Zilan was absolutely INSANE. Zilan would have been in her right to slap that servant in the face because of the blatant disrespect and back talk she gave her.

A concubine's status was not so lowly that a maid could treat her as such without fear of punishment. 
 A concubine was also given eunuchs (not regular guards) to guard them from other men, since they don't have a certain body part down below, so that nobody but the emperor/lord/etc. can impregnate them. Whenever the man did lie with his wife or concubine, it would have been recorded in a document. This way they can make sure that the child is indeed his. There were also some blood tests if there was any doubt, but modern science can disprove their accuracy. 

 Anyways, the men in this book, or just everyone in general, are WAY too hands on. The amount of unnecessary touching is just bizarre. Touching anyone you aren't familiar with can be seen as rude. 
 At one point, some rando tried to lean in and kiss Yanfei on the cheek IN BOARD DAYLIGHT. Were there creeps back then? Yeah, of course, there are creeps everywhere during any time, but now you have to take the culture into context. Touching a women, even just on the shoulder, would have gotten you some nasty looks. It would be so flirtatious. Now a kiss? That had me gasping at how utterly bizarre and not ok that was. Bizarre because no one would have actually done that somewhere where everyone could see because it was such a big societal no-no. Keeping face, or your reputation, was very important both back then and now. Yanfei acted like it was an everyday occurrence. I honestly want to know what the author thought every day life was like for a woman and what men were like. 

 

A more appropriate gift Li Hong could have given her was a hairpin. Hairpins were a common accessory, especially for women with higher status/money. When a woman gets married, her hair is also fully tied up. Only servants, close family, or a lover could touch a someone's hair. Hair was important in ancient Chinese culture, and this was one of them. This could have been a more romantic and earnest gesture if he gave her a hairpin instead of a ring.

 At the beginning, it was said that Zilan and Wenshu were able to translate her father's journals. The text was written in Gaelic, and how did they figure out how to translate it? By knowing a little bit of the Slavic languages used on the silk road because Gaelic has its roots in Slavic.... 
 Excuse me, WHAT???? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Their nearest common ancestor is Proto-Indo-European itself and that's their only relation. There is no way that they would have been able to read Gaelic by knowing, even fluently, any Slavic language. Which also isn't to mention that many Slavic languages use the Cyrillic alphabet, not the Latin one, and even then, Gaelic languages used a variant of Latin. Similar, but not exact to what we use. It would be like saying you could figure out how to read Polish because you know a bit of French. It does not make sense. 

I'm going to give Wu Zetian her own section.... I know the historical note at the beginning says that changes have been made, since it is speculative fiction, but there are some decisions that I don't understand, or maybe the author unconsciously made these choices without looking at the actual history for guidance.

 Now my first question is, why is she called Wu Zetian in the book? The story to supposed to take place before she became emperor, (Yes emperor, the Chinese words for emperor and empress are not gendered terms like they are in English, but rather a name of a position), so why is she called Wu Zetian? 
 Wu Zetian is the name that she gives herself after ascending to the throne. Before that, her name was Wu Zhao. She should have been referred to as Empress Wu in this book.
 If the Emperor has been ill for 100 years, and Li Hong has only been eating life gold for about a year, does that mean that Wu Zetian had s*x with the emperor while he was bedridden? And multiple times considering that she gave birth to multiple children, and the children from the other concubines as well? 
 Li Hong's sisters, the children of Consort Xiao, were much older than Li Hong in history, while in this book they are very young. The two sisters were born before Wu Zhao became empress. So were they being given life gold this entire time so that they could stay young? But why? Why would Wu Zetian keep them alive for that long? 
 I feel like a lot of these problems would have been fixed if this time skip didn't happen. But without the time skip, other parts of this world, like alchemy being a part of people's lives, wouldn't make sense. I feel like there should have been more care and research put into this point before writing the plot and details of this story. With 100 years of time,

why hasn't Empress Wu taken the throne yet? Why wait this long?

 The story might have been more interesting if the ML wasn't Li Hong at all, but rather his younger brother Li Xian, Empress Wu's 3rd son, also known as Emperor Zhongzong. During his first reign, he pretty much had no power at all and Empress Wu made all of the decisions. Making him basically just a puppet. Eventually she just exiled him and named herself Emperor Wu Zetian. 
 The story could have started with Li Xian being the one to approach Zilan, and eventually over time she helped him gain his confidence and self-esteem, and then they over through Wu Zetian, placing Li Xian back on the throne. That could have been interesting and fixed some of these plotholes.
 In terms of actual history, during Wu Zetian's reign, the standards of living were high, economy stable, and people were very content with her rule. She took many suggestions from the public, and offered relief to the lower class in many ways. 
 You can debate whether or not she was a good person, but it's hard to deny that she was a good ruler. Her name was often tarnished throughout history because of misogyny. Some claims are probably valid, while others maybe aren't. We will never truly know what the real Wu Zetian was like. 
 The author could have been going for

Wu Zetian was the tyrannical person that ancient historians claim her to be, while the Yanfei Wu Zetian is her more generous leader side.

But who knows because at this point I have lost faith in the amount of research that the author actually put into this. 

At the end of the book, she listed a works cited, which honestly shocked me. It almost gives me the feeling of when you're in school and the teacher requires you to have at least X-number of sources, so you just look up stuff up to meet the requirement even if you didn't exactly read or use that source. If she did use all these sources for her research, it clearly either wasn't enough, or she didn't take the information in very well. There was also just a lot of information that she missed because if looked like she didn't even research them in the first place. 
 So many of these things could have been avoided. If you are writing any historical work, you need to ask yourself a TON of questions throughout the process. No matter how small or stupid you think they are. Like, "Did tomatoes exist in Spain? In not, when were they imported?". Either way, you will learn a lot of new things!! 

Ok, let's FINALLY talk about the plot and characters of this book... 

Pretty much none of the character in this book are lovable except maybe Li Hong. Li Hong is this cinnamon roll-like character, but maybe one made with too much sugar so you don't really want to eat it. 
 Zilan is the embodiment of anger and self-hatred. She's pretty much annoyed at someone at any given moment of the story, and wallows in her own self-pity. She is also very violent, instinctively thinking that she needs to harm or kill people when they became an inconvenience. 
 Yanfei's entire personality is "I hate men", and Wenshu is just kinda there? Is he supposed to be the calm one between these two overly angry girls? Props to him for putting up with it his whole life.
 Wu Zetian herself is literally

just pure evil, with no undertones or flavor to her character. One of the charming things about Chinese media is that the villains, especially the females ones, are cunning, charming, always scheming, and have the perfect front but hold a dagger behind their back. But Wu Zetian kinda just has her evil front up the entire time, which makes her a bland character in my opinion.

 We don't get to know any of the royal alchemists, besides maybe the Moon Alchemist, but even then we don't get to really know her that much.

Were we supposed to care and feel something when they all died? Cause I didn't feel or believe the connection and emotion that Zilan was feeling.

It would have been really nice to see what life as a royal alchemist was like, but we got maybe two short scenes surrounding it? The relationship between all these characters were never really developed in the slightest. 

There was too much death in this novel. And I don't mean that death is bad, but there was so much of it that when someone died it was like, "Oh, that person died? RIP I guess. Seen it before, let's move on."

And why were SO many people resurrected? What's the point of killing off a character if you're just going to bring them back? If it was one character, then cool, no problem, but it happened five times. Zilan once, and her cousins twice. Twice! Maybe even six times if you count Zilan half-dying at the end and pulling herself together.
 Which I also thought that the twist of Zilan being undead this entire time was stupid. Why did she have to die in the first place? Why couldn't she just be a normal human with talent? Her parents die/leave for normal reasons? Like maybe her mom got sick, and her dad went to go look for a cure but never came back. With all this death and resurrection, it really desensitizes the meaning and importance behind death in the first place.

Now the men in this book... I briefly talked about it above, but my GOD it was so bad in this book. Every single man in this book, besides Li Hong and Wenshu, are absolutely terrible people. I seriously got the feeling that the author just hates men and believes that they are all perverts, brutes, and misogynistic. Seriously, pretty much all of them either made a sexual comment, sexual touch, or were straight up violent. A bunch of men literally

ripped off Zilan's clothing while she was in a cage for no reason!!

 And the amount of times men commented on buying Yanfei. Was that seriously necessary? Yeah, arranged marriage was a thing back then, but it wasn't some kind of "Mmm *slurp* yummy woman, come be my wife so I can do delicious things to you kekeke." The parents would have to approve of the pairing, a dowry (which wasn't just money) would have to be paid to prove that the man/man's family was serious about the marraige, and if the family had the money, they would hire a matchmaker to read if the pairing would work or not and to then choose an auspicious date for the wedding. There was a lot more to it then just "*grunt grunt* pretty woman buy." The way it was depicted in this book was just gross. 

Also, what the heck was with Zilan and Li Hong's relationship?

The entire time Zilan made it very clear that she was just barely tolerating Li Hong. But then out of no where, she freaking kisses him? HUH??? Where on earth did that even come from??? And then they almost have s*x??? When did her feeling for Li Hong change? When did they become romantic? It was almost as if the author was like "Oh wait. That's right. So many books in this genre have a romantic subplot. Welp, guess they love each other now." Why, just, why. I'm fine with romance, but it came out of literally nowhere and I do not understand.

The ending of this book was SO stupid.

Everyone dies, and in her state of panic, instead of, you know, reviving the person who LITERALLY JUST DIED, who was supposedly the person whom she LOVED, nah, let's bring back Yanfei into the empress's body. Huh? Excuse me? Why is that your first reaction? Shouldn't she have brought Li Hong back into his own body first? And THEN maybe try to bring Yanfei back into Wu Zetian's body? And it's not that hard to find a body for Wenshu after that if she was so determined! Tons of servants die all the time. Maybe one of the alchemist bodies were still usable. Hell, go out and dig up a commoners grave. It's a big city, there's gotta be a fresh corpse somewhere. 
 I don't understand. It just makes me even more confused on what Zilan's feelings towards Li Hong even are.

I'm tired, I'm done writing this rant review. This book was a train wreck. Unfortunately I have the habit of continuing to read these kinds of things instead of DNFing just to see what kind of glorious explosion is going to happen in the end. I will be reading the sequel when it comes out.

Diving into "The Scarlet Alchemist" felt like stepping into a world where every page crackled with intrigue and possibility. From the get-go, I was hooked on Zilan's journey – from practicing illegal alchemy to navigating the treacherous waters of the royal court is nothing short of spellbinding.I was drawn into a world filled with political intrigue, magical secrets, and unexpected romance.

Baker masterfully weaves together themes of identity and self-discovery as Zilan grapples with her aspirations to become a royal alchemist. Her quest for acceptance and recognition mirrors our own search for purpose and meaning in a complex world. Baker's characters are as real as they come, grappling with love, loyalty, and the complexities of human connection. 

The dynamics of power and politics play out against the backdrop of a society steeped in tradition and hierarchy. As Zilan navigates these murky waters, she must confront moral dilemmas and ethical choices that challenge her sense of right and wrong. Yet amidst the political machinations and alchemical intrigue, there beats a heart of romance.

"The Scarlet Alchemist" isn't just a fantasy novel – it's a journey of the soul. It challenges us to question our own values and beliefs, urging us to find strength in the bonds we forge and the choices we make.

So if you're in the mood for a tale that will transport you to another world and leave you pondering life's deeper truths, look no further than "The Scarlet Alchemist." It's a literary adventure you won't want to miss. 📖💫

 Also on Snow White Hates Apples.

A captivating and vivid reimagining of Chinese history during which the only (regarded as) legitimate female Emperor Wu Zetian ruled, The Scarlet Alchemist is a new addition to a growing and much-loved subgenre that needs to be read.

Here, we have Zilan, half-Chinese and half-wailao who’s without a mother and father, but much loved by her aunt, uncle and two cousins — so much so that they’re practically immediate family. Together, they run a mingqi business, which despite death being a daily occurrence, isn’t doing well. The poor are too poor to buy mingqi for their deceased loved ones while the rich are too scared of death to die so they resort to eating life gold which gives them longevity.

Nevertheless, an extended life doesn’t mean that one can’t die so what do the rich do when one of their own dies? When they’re desperate enough to pay any price to bring back the deceased? Why, they go to a backwater village, walk through the part of the neighbourhood even the villagers themselves turn their noses up at, and find Zilan who has that exact ability they’re looking for.

It’s breaking all sorts of laws — in fact, anything related to the necromantic/blood alchemy Zilan does defies the balance and can have severe consequences or less-than-ideal results, But, for Zilan, it’s a means of survival for her family because the gold the rich pays to stay alive can bring rice to their table, can improve the health of her ailing aunt and uncle, can allow Zilan and her cousins to travel to the capital for the imperial exams that can better their lives should they pass both the exams and the political games that are undoubtedly there.

So, Zilan’s willingness to go against everything for her and her loved ones’ sake? That’s admirable. I really like how she braves her fears and how she takes on the challenges that come her way with cleverness and viciousness. Zilan may come off as rude or selfish to some, but I think it makes her complex and more relatable.

Other than that, I like that Prince Li Hong is a more lighthearted character in contrast to Zilan. He isn’t as strong, as smart or as brave, but he’s sweet, loves his ducks dearly and provides the story with seamlessly integrated touches of humour. Though, I must admit the romance between him and Zilan felt unbalanced. It’s clear that Li Hong likes Zilan more than she likes him, so this makes all the romantic parts feel out of the blue. Still, I think that this simply means more opportunity for Zilan’s feelings to develop and strengthen in the next book.

(Also, idk about you but that moment when Zilan had to choose between the two in her life? Amazing. 10/10 the perfect choice. I bawled at that scene.)

Anyway, if a BAMF female lead who can resurrect people and a gentle male lead who loves his pet ducks caught up in the typical political games of the upper class isn’t enough of a win for you, consider the following plusses: undead made of gems, stunning twists and turns, and fast-paced action. (Yes, you need to read The Scarlet Alchemist ASAP!)

 

This was such a fun book to read!! It's very dark at times, but it also has very heart warming moments. I'm
Not sure how I feel about the ending, not the decisions the lead character makes, but the way in which everything gets resolved, but it's ok and it sets us up perfectly fine for a sequel.