I was so excited for the next book in this duology and the patience of waiting for the Illumicrate edition had driven me insane. I did debate buying a standard edition, but I really couldn’t bring myself to do it! The only reason I have two editions of the first book was because I didn’t realise Illumicrate had picked it for their box!
After a very stressful Illumicrate sale, the stunning copy was mine and it was everything I wanted in a sequel- Apart from the ending! I am mad at that!
Lan has inherited the power of the Silver Dragon, and she believes the Demon Gods to be the cause of war, conflicts and turmoil. To save her kingdom and her people, Lan will need to find the only mythical weapon capable of destroying the Demon Gods; the Godslayer.
Zen is sure that the only way to free the Last Kingdom is to use the power of the Demon Gods. When he bound the Black Tortoise, he paid the ultimate price; to inherit its strength, he will forfeit his body, mind and soul.
At the centre of both Lan’s and Zen’s journeys us one city; Shaklahira, a former stronghold of the Imperial Court that vanished without a trace when the Elantians invaded. Its location is a mystery, and both are sure that it holds the answers they need.
I really loved how much Lan came into her own in this book. You see her tale charge a lot more and making plans. Not immediately trusting everyone she comes across. Even when Zen re-enters her life, she’s incredibly cautious.
She prioritises herself over him as well, knowing that the Black Tortoise could take over him at any point.
Seeing the bond that has formed between Lan and Dilaya was nice too. It was more frenemy than the outright hatred they had for each other in the first book, and seeing her become somewhat protective of Lan after Zen’s betrayal from the first book was heartwarming.
Zen goes through some huge developments within this book, which makes the ending so much harder to read. Unfortunately, the nature of these are very spoiler filled, but it made for such an interesting read!
Dilaya becoming more of a group player overall was enjoyable to watch, you can see she cares about the people she’s with, but doesn’t really want to show it, or shows it in her own way by masking it with mild irritation!
Spoiler Section
Zen has returned briefly to his home, the palace he lived in when he was heir to his tribe, to find that the legends of the 44 soldiers were true, and their bodies lay frozen in time waiting for Zen to summon them. He also finds part of a book, that will give him the means to do so. Zen also finds about The Seeds of Clarity, which will delay the powers of a Demon God taking over a body, he begins his search for these seeds, finding one and realising that in order to continue living free of the Black Tortoises control, he will be eating the souls of others.
As we know from the blurb, Lan is searching for a way to find the Godslayer, it leads her, Dilaya and Cho Tai on an adventure through a desert, finding the ghosts of the hidden Yue tribe, and eventually in Shaklahira, where they meet the last Emperor, Hong Yi, a young boy around her age. He welcomes the group, wanting to make an alliance to take but the empire from the Elantians, offering to train Lan in the ability to search through minds. Eventually Hong Yi proposes to Lan and she accepts, hoping to find out more about the Crimson Phoenix and the Godslayer.
It turns out Hong Yi is in possession of both and was about to cast a spell binding Lan to him in life and death, before Zen bursts through a spring defeating Hong Yi’s demon gatekeeper. A battle ensues, where Lan uses her newfound ability to see a distracted Hong Yi’s memories for the Godslayer. Hong Yi flees semi defeated, whilst Zen and Lan come to terms with everything sharing a magical night of passion and making plans to go to war.
Zen realises that he wants to save the world and doesn’t want to give himself over to the power, but will need to in order to save everyone. Lan realises this to, which is why she doesn’t inform Dilaya of the whole plan.
In a shocking twist that could surprise no one, Erascius found the Azure Tiger and bound it to himself. I’m not sure what Lan and Zen are so shocked by this, seeing as Lan was forced to reveal the location to Erascius. But a full scale plan is launched against the capital. Zen arrives with his army of 44 to defeat the Elantian army, whilst Dilaya and some other survivors of the Pines hold the governor hostage to negotiate the return of the Kingdom. Unfortunately Hong Yi comes and gets in the way. Hong Yi gains the power of the Azure Tiger, and lands agrees to give Zen the Silver Dragon. This leaves her free to cast the Godslayer song, returning all four Gods back to their realm and killing Hong Yi and Zen.
The book ends with a slight time skip where the survivors are running the Pines again, and Lan it turned out, had fallen pregnant after that one evening with Zen and has a son.
I know there was no other way for this book to end. But I was really rooting for them both to survive and get a happily ever after.
Especially after finding out she had been pregnant that entire time. It would have been so nice to see them as a happy family. I suppose in a way it was nice seeing what everyone was doing after the 12 year time skip, but it took me a minute to realise that Zen didn’t survive and that she had fallen pregnant from that one night before the fight. I was given such false hope, until the epilogue talked about how Zen’s sacrifice is covered in history classes!
A fantastic continuation and conclusion of the duology. If you loved Song of Silver, Flame Like Night, you will not be disappointed. My only wish is that the book could have been longer- mostly because I loved the characters and the world.
If you haven’t read Song of Silver, Flame Like Night, I 100% recommend you go and pick it and this up, it’s a great set of books, and one that I struggled to put down on both volumes!
Izzy Reads 
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