Review – The Blood Orchid (The Scarlet Alchemist, Book 2) by Kylie Lee Baker (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 398 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: October 22, 2024
ASIN: B0CVQLTRBT
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in The Scarlet Alchemist Duology
Source: Borrowed ebook from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Since Zilan entered the world of royal alchemists, she has learned firsthand that alchemy comes at a price. She has lost her family and her beloved prince in her search for justice against the evil Empress. All Zilan wants now is to find some way to bring them back. Resurrection is her specialty, after all.
In search of Penglai Island, where the infamous myth says life can be fully restored, Zilan starts a new adventure. But Penglai Island has been kept well hidden by a group of unpredictable, and often dangerous, alchemists. Uncovering the secret means challenging some of the most powerful alchemists to ever live. And when old threats come back to haunt Zilan, she will have to decide just how much she is willing to sacrifice to save her loved ones—and the practice of alchemy that has long defined her and the world around her.”
Series Info/Source: This is 2nd book in The Scarlet Alchemistr duology. I borrowed this on ebook from the library.
Thoughts: This book does a good job of wrapping up The Scarlet Alchemist series. However, it feels more like a playing out of events than anything brand-new and exciting. I absolutely loved The Scarlet Alchemist with all the creative alchemy and Zilan’s insane drive to get what she wanted. The Blood Orchid feels more watered down. Zilan is running around trying to save everyone, and the details of alchemy are assumed rather than discussed.
Zilan is determined to set things right. She wants to bring back her family and her beloved prince but understands the cost. To do this, she decides to try and find the mythical Penglai Island, the source of eternal life. However, when Zilan killed the Empress, she didn’t accomplish exactly what she thought she accomplished, and that is coming back to haunt her in a big way.
This was good, but not great. It felt like Zilan spent a lot of time running back and forth trying to find things. The focus in the story is heavily on Zilan and her brother, and I missed spending time with all the fantastic side characters from the first book. I find Zilan’s brother to mostly just be whiny and unhelpful, and this book didn’t change my opinion of him. I wish Zilan’s sister had been in the story more. I also feel like Zilan had lost a lot of her vicious edge. This story just didn’t have the same bite as the first one in the duology and fell into a lot of typical YA fantasy patterns.
I did enjoy the demon duck and a lot of the complications around resurrections and souls being in different bodies. I love this world as well. I really engaged with Zilan and enjoyed her as a character; she just seemed tired in this book.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this but not as much as the first book. This book just didn’t have the edge of the first book and felt more like the events from the first book just playing out to completion. I missed spending time with a lot of the awesome side characters from the first book, and Zilan felt a bit tired in this book to me. However, I still really enjoyed this world, the alchemy, and the afterward on history. I thought this wrapped up the series decently and look forward to reading future books by Baker.
