Kylie Lee Baker

Living an impoverished life, Zilan performs illegal alchemy to raise the dead in order to keep her family fed. When the chance arises for exams to become a royal alchemist, she travels to the capital. After hearing rumors of Zilan’s abilities, the Crown Prince seeks her help as he believes there will be an assassination attempt. As Zilan’s success with alchemy progresses, so does the danger of political games.

I absolutely loved THE SCARLET ALCHEMIST. The vivid writing was captivating from the first page and quickly swept me into a fascinating world of fantasy and political intrigue. Zilan was a wonderful character and I enjoyed watching her story unfold as she navigated challenges with such strength. The pacing of the book was perfect. Twists came at the right moments to always keep me on my toes. I was eagerly turning pages to find out what would happen next and then disappointed at the end for the simple fact that it was over. I wanted more. I can’t wait for the sequel.

THE SCARLET ALCHEMIST was an immersive YA historical fantasy read that I’d highly recommend. This is the first book I’ve read by Kylie Lee Baker. I’m definitely interested in reading her other works.

Thank you to Inkyard Press for the gifted copy.… (more)

Half British Reaper, half Japanese Shinigami Ren Scarborough is no longer the girl who was chased out of England—she is the Goddess of Death ruling Japan’s underworld. But her problems have never been greater. Her Shinigami see her as a foreigner on the throne. Her brother, Neven, is gone, lost in the deep darkness. And her fiancé, Hiro, has been killed by her own hand.

Then Ren receives the most troubling news yet—Reapers have been spotted in Japan, and it’s only a matter of time before Ivy, now Britain’s Death Goddess, comes to claim her revenge.

Ren’s last hope is to appeal to the god of storms and seas, who can turn the tides to send Ivy’s ship away from Japan’s shores. But he’ll help Ren only if she finds a sword lost thousands of years ago—an impossible demand.

Together with the moon god Tsukuyomi, who shares an uncanny resemblance to his brother Hiro, Ren ventures across the country in a race against time. As her journey thrusts her into the middle of scheming gods and dangerous Yokai demons, Ren will have to learn who she can truly trust—and the fate of Japan hangs in the balance… (more)

The Keeper of Night was quite good! My favorite parts were those where we meet and there were interactions with different Yokai, each of which are actual yokai from Japanese folklore like Yuki Onna (Snow Woman), Iso Onna (Sea Vampire), Tomamo No Mae (Nine Tailed Fox/Kitsune), and Jorōgumo (Spider Woman). The descriptions were really cool and the interactions were fun. It was also neat to see how Ren would use her Reaper’s clock to freeze time. Really the whole idea of half British reaper and half Japanese Shinagami was a cool concept.

Ren’s character gave me some Adelina Amateru vibes from The Young Elites, and she is one of my favorite characters. Although I did find her choices to be a little more single minded and short sighted. Towards the end of the book her decisions seemed to make a little less sense and the ending seemed a little rushed and sudden but before that point I was enjoying her character growth and changes. The ending is what really had this book go from a 5 star to 4 star.

Though not fully satisfying, this book had a very interesting ending that opens the door wide for what could happen in the next book so I look forward to reading where the story goes from here. I hope Ren’s character has some more growth and we get to see some new Yokai!… (more)

The Scarlet Alchemist is a fast paced, dark ya fantasy, that I would recommend over and over again. This book was beautifully written and I never found a dull moment or felt bored. I loved the take they had on alchemy it was very different then any other fantasy’s book I have read in the past that was about the subject. I love retellings and imaginings of past Chinese and Chinese customs and this book did not disappoint. I would reread this book that’s how much I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the tests and trials the main character went through to prove herself. She proved herself to her enemies and naysayers and also her self. The story was also gory which I was not expecting but it was a nice surprise I enjoyed very much.I also liked how the author brought in realism to the story like racism, classism and of course the infamous sexism. I also enjoyed the Cantonese and mandarin words that were sprinkled in throughout the story . I like seeing that in Chinese inspired novels. I loved this book it was interesting til the end and I highly recommend it to everyone.… (more)