The Blood Orchid

I really admire Zilan. She can get herself out of every situation by putting that big brain of hers, and some handy alchemy to work. And she really needs it in this book! Because although the empress is dead, she had far reaching plans to keep control of the empire no matter what! Also luckily, Zilan has her brother Wenshu traveling with her, and Durian (that duck has some amazing talents revealed in this book!) on their search to find Penglai Island and bring back the innocents slain by the empress and her minions. And while there is a bit of romance (a bit hard since Hong is waiting by his river, a spirit only) I love that Kylie Lee Baker concentrated again more on familial relationships (mostly Wenshu but Yufei does make an appearance farther in the book). That was just as much fun as a romance because of how strong their love is for each other, in life or death or anything in between. Watching Zilan and the empress go head to head was fantastic because both are ruthless when something upsets their plans though Zilan definitely has a better moral compass and good reasons to go after the power of Penglai. I also liked the travel and seeing new lands and meeting some very interesting, albeit alchemists that hold their own secrets that must be ferreted out. So, in summary, this book is fantastic, full of meaningful sacrifice for love, awesome and finishes up the duology perfectly. Just be warned the ending is full of Yes Yes! Noooooo! Yes! Ahhhh! and then Yes yes yes! And I cannot state how much I love Durian the duck! Thank you very much to NetGalley and the Publisher for giving me a chance to read this absolutely fantastic book!