I almost left this on a shelf to die… i… oh my god I don’t even have words!!! READ IT OR ELSE

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 

holy shit…the author really got me in the end there with

zilan resurrecting her siblings in the royal bodies, i was flabbergasted sitting there it was so fucking metal. but really the entire climax was so insane, we were rly coming down to the wire there and i so respect that the author went with zilan choosing to become the monster that was SO hardcore. her being adopted and being “reborn” into her new identity with her new family coming back in the end to save her was fucking wild too she cheated death TWICE!!! WHAT A LEGEND

this book did have a more predictable general hero storyline for the entire middle section, so most of the journey (while still enjoyable!!) wasn’t anything new, but the third act i think is where it all takes off and the story really gripped me. it also had a lot more graphic body horror than i expected, but the alchemy magic system was so interesting and i loved the intricate visuals that the author painted when they were describing zilan using her alchemy. my one gripe was that zilan was so ridiculous with how she

legit just went around openly speaking treason out loud thinking she was safe bc she assumed no one else around the entire palace could understand her dialect

to the point where i wanted to yell through the book, but in all i can look past it bc shes supposed to be young and what i enjoyed about the book far outweighed it. i will say though—the romance aspect of the book, although present, was not the stand out part of the story for me; it was a very sweet loveline, but the theme of family was stronger and i think what brings this book to a high point.

I loved the first half of the book, but it took me longer to enjoy the second half of the book

Very good start to a great story. FMA vibes. 

This book was wild and the ending was a batshit gory blood bath. I appreciated how chaotic it was and how it isn't your typical fantasy story about magic and resurrection. I loved the mixed race representation. The "lessons learned" here are very different than your typical story. The plot twists felt so unbelievable and hard to follow though.  Read like gory indulgent violent fantasy, which I guess isn't my thing. 

Zilan is an orphan living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in the southern region of China in an alternate history where Chinese alchemists were successful in finding an elixir of immortality.

Only the rich have access, and while they don’t age, they can die through other means. 

Zilan is an alchemist, and she and her cousins, Wenshu and Yufei, perform illegal life alchemy that brings the recently deceased back to life to earn the money they need for their family to survive. 

Their dream is to move to the capital, Chang’an, for Zilan to become a royal alchemist, and her cousins to become civil servants; but to become a royal alchemist, Zilan has to pass the entrance exams, and the odds seemed stacked against her. 

Can she pass, when it seems like almost everyone is against her? And is being a royal alchemist really everything she thought it would be?

This book was amazing! The plot is creative, and the twists are so well done. I was hooked from the first chapter, and I can’t wait for the next book in the series.