Welcome friend! Ariel and I read Kylie Lee Baker’s The Scarlet Alchemist. We are thrilled to return to this doulogy. Like all of Kylie’s books, this one was action packed and hard to put down. Take a look at what the book is about and read our discussion:
The Scarlet Alchemist
Kylie Lee Baker | Goodreads | The Scarlet Alchemist #2
Since Zilan entered the world of royal alchemists, she has learned that alchemy comes at a price. She has lost loved ones in her search for broader justice against the evil Empress and all she wants now is to find some way to bring them back. Resurrection is her specialty, after all.
In search of the myth of Penglai Island, where it’s rumored life can be fully restored, Zilan starts a new adventure. But when old threats come back to haunt her and the path to Penglai Island means facing down unpredictable, sometimes dangerous, alchemists, she wonders just how high of a price she may be willing to pay.
The Blood Orchid – Discussion
Ariel: This book was a highly anticipated read for us! Ever since our discussion about The Scarlet Alchemist, we were looking forward to completing the tale. Heads up for some spoilers of the first book!
Our book starts off almost immediately after the events of the first installement, and there’s very helpful summaries of the big events in the palace that occurred that helped refresh my memory. In this book, we mainly see Zilan and her cousin (who is occupying her love interest’s body) on a quest to find a way to resurrect all of the state alchemists who died at the end of the first book. The plot started off strong and we were caught up in the excitement of everything and the twists and turns kept coming!
Kriti: It was relentless. Every chapter had something!
A cool thing about The Blood Orchid was that we got to see more of the countryside around the main city and palace, and learned more about how the world outside of the palace sees alchemy and the politics that seemed so central in the first book.
Yes, that was great! Zilan has always been an advocate for the poor and to see their conditions during their travels due to the unrest in the capital was very insightful to me. The empress is a formidable foe and I absolutely loved how she challenges Zilan every step of the way. Her mentorship with the moon alchemist was another favourite thing for me in this story!
A major theme of this book is death, and how permanent death is/isn’t when the main character has immense power over helping bring individual souls back from the brink. The idea of grief and accepting loss is challenged often, and many times the characters find themselves in denial when a character “dies.”
As a resurrection alchemist who has helped multiple people, Zilan knows the cost and inevitably of death. She fears it since she has come so close to it a number of times, for herself and her loved ones. Her cousins offer a good contrast to trust in her powers to bring them back when she herself has a lot of self-doubt. That’s something I appreciated about her character – she feels responsible for her actions and will go to great lengths to make things right, even when she feels incapable.
Zilan had been curious about her father in the first book and I love how that tied to her powers and the overall storyline. This again connects to the theme of death and loss, being able to understand why things unfolded the way they did.
Overall, I really enjoyed this duology as a whole; and The Blood Orchid satisfactorily brings everything to a conclusion. The magic alchemy system was great, and I loved the historical note at the end.
I have loved the historical grounding of this series!
Zilan was forced to accept help from an alchemist she hated and it was fun to see their friendship evolve. The light moments around the duck were so fun! I found this series more heartwarming than The Keeper of the Night.
Yes, agreed! Unlikely friends and a cute animal companion helped create more brevity in the story around some serious themes and topics, and helped bring depth and personality to the character.
Kylee Lee Baker is one of our go-to authors and we are excited to dive into her latest novel, Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng. Stay tuned for that discussion!
Have you read The Keeper of Night series? It was fun to chat with Kylie about it in this interview. Check out the discussion for The Keeper of Night and The Empress of Time.
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