★★★★☆ The Scarlet Alchemist, by Kylie Lee Baker
A choice inside a puzzle box inside a puzzle box
The Scarlet Alchemist
Kylie Lee Baker
A choice inside a puzzle box inside a puzzle box
I had an odd feeling while reading Kylie Lee Baker's The Scarlet Alchemist. For most of the book, I felt like nothing was happening. Now, this impression was objectively false. There is always a lot going on in The Scarlet Alchemist, people fighting and getting killed (and sometimes resurrected). But somehow it didn't seem real, because of this game of spot-the-plot I found myself engaged in. What was all this in aid of? Were we going somewhere?
Well, we were, but it took me a while to figure out where. Our goal was not to accomplish specific things. Or at least not the things that Zilan thought she was trying to accomplish. When we start Zilan has one goal: to become a Royal Alchemist. She accomplishes that at about the halfway point. (Oh, I'm sorry, was that a spoiler? No, seriously, was there ever any doubt in your mind that Zilan would make Royal Alchemist?) But then we immediately find that she has new goals.
What's really going on all this time is that Zilan, who is bottomlessly clueless when we begin, is discovering things and figuring stuff out. That's the plot -- the discovery of the keys to the empire Zilan lives in.
I really liked the ending. At the end Zilan finds herself compelled to make a hard choice.
You know that there’s a price for change, and the people who have the most power never want to pay it, I’d said to the Moon Alchemist.
That's the choice that finally confronts Zilan. It is really not obvious what the right choice is, or how she will choose. It was a good ending.
The Scarlet Alchemist is a challenging China alt history fantasy that demands but rewards patience. I look forward to the sequel.