The Scarlet Alchemist
A dazzling enemies-to-lovers dark fantasy!
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- 45,00 kr
Publisher Description
You cannot create good without also creating evil.
'DAZZLING' Chloe Gong
Zilan dreams of becoming a royal alchemist. But for now, she's trapped practising an illegal form of alchemy - resurrecting the dead for a price.
When Zilan finally has the chance to complete her imperial exams, she ventures to the capital to compete against the best alchemists. But her reputation for raising the dead has followed her, and caught the attention of the Crown Prince himself.
Embroiled in a dangerous game of politics, it's only a matter of time before Zilan's past catches up to her - whilst something more sinister lurks behind the gilded walls.
A dark YA fantasy duology set in an alternate Tang Dynasty China!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Though the practice is punishable by death, 17-year-old Fan Zilan supplements her family's meager income by resurrecting the dead through life alchemy. As a hùnxieˇ—a half Hàn Chinese, "half foreigner"—whose mother died and father disappeared, she lives with her sickly aunt and uncle as well as two cousins, Yufei and Wenshu, in the small southern town of Guangzhou. Bold Yufei and ever-cautious Wenshu are studying to take the civil service exams, which, if passed, will help them cultivate more comfortable lives; Zilan, meanwhile, is competing with other gifted youth to become a royal court alchemist, like the famed ones who developed a gold immortality elixir that halts aging once consumed. After passing the first exam, the three make their way to the city of Chang'an for the second, where Zilan finds herself embroiled in a royal conspiracy with an Empress who's determined to rid her court of any threats to her crown. In this deeply immersive historical fantasy, a grisly duology opener, Baker (The Empress of Time) expertly navigates the societal constraints and pains of marginalization via visceral prose. A developing romance between Zilan and the Crown Prince offers lighthearted joy amid the narrative's ruthless and gruesome happenings. A historical note concludes. Ages 14–up.
