Book Review: The Night Ends with Fire

               welcome to my blog •••

      hello, hello! two reviews in one day? wtf.

      in my defence i actually finished this book

      last week, and was too desperate to start

      a dark and drowning tide that i put off writing

      this review. but alas, here it is!

               the book •••

       the book this time is The Night Ends with Fire

        by K. X. Song; a mulan retelling that i think

       has some twists? ive never actually seen

       mulan but i don’t think she went crazy?

        anyways… enjoy!

               trigger warnings for this book •••

       not a lot of trigger warnings here. honestly

       for a war book it was pretty tame but ill

        see what i can do:

       • war/death

       • blood/gore

       • lots of misogyny

       • kidnapping/non-graphic torture

       • arranged marriage

       • drug/alcohol usage

       • alluded to sexual content? kinda?

               my review •••

          They would never let a woman get away

          with something like this.

           What a ride this book was. Holy shit. I love

          a pretty book, and I’m a sucker for sprayed

          edges. When Amazon put this one on 15%

          off I figured I’d take my chances. Having

          never actually watched the Disney Mulan I

          figured it would be a refreshing story, and i

          know enough of the basics to know it would

          be an adventure.

          Let’s start with Meilin, our main character. I

          love her— I always love when our main

          characters are flawed, or better yet when

          their most important trait is a flaw in itself. In

          this case that trait is greed.

          Meilin grew up with an opioid addict father,

          doomed to an arranged marriage with a

          man equally as bad. Left with little options,

          she chooses to enlist in the ongoing wars

          army as her father’s bastard son, and

          hopefully live a few extra months. She’s not

          looking to escape, she’s greedy for more

          time.

           Meilin’s got a dark inheritance, as the

          pendant of her drowned mother is in fact a

          connection to a desperate spirit, one that

          feeds on her greed and whose powers

          slowly corrupt her.

          Spoilers ahead from here on out.

           One of the things i like best about this book

          is the fact that Meilin is actually shown to

          fall into the influence of the dragons

          powers, and it doesn’t end with her

          defeating him. I love a book that doesn’t

          end how people expect it to, and this hit

          that mark. Meilin is going crazy and the

          book didn’t change that. That being said

          we’ve got a whole second book to come

          yet.

          Meilin’s greed is a central part of the story;

          it’s why the sea dragon is attached to her

          instead of somebody else. It feeds on her

          supposed greed. I found it ironic because

          the characters only really greedy for

          freedom. She wants the same liberties and

          control as the men do. As the story

          progresses and she becomes “corrupted”

          by the power, she starts to crave respect

          and fear, and power, but at its centre her

          greed is really only for equality.

           Now let’s talk men.

          This book is marketed as a romantasy, but

          it’s really more of a fantasy with mild

          romantic subplots. And thank god for that;

          if this book had more romantic storylines

          between her and the “love interest” i

          probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it so much.

          As someone who’s not into men, I tend to

          hold male love interests to a higher

          standard, and a different opinion.

           So, Prince Sky. This is the character we’re

          all supposed to be rooting for, the “good

          guy” who loves her. Honestly, not a fan. I

          see so many reviews where people swoon

          for this character and i just, I don’t get it.

          When Meilin is a man he has 0 problem

          being her friend, respecting her, training

          her. As soon as it’s revealed that she’s a

          woman, he immediately jumps to treating

          her like a possession, making demands and

          spontaneously ends up in love with her?

          Was he in love with male her? Or are we

          meant to assume he fell for her after?

          Cause what I read was basically him

          treating her like shit from the moment it’s

          revealed until the end of the book. Hell she

          gets captured and he just lets it happen!!

          Sorry to the Sky lovers but this character

          was a no for me.

          Now let’s talk about Lei. We’re meant to

          hate this character, he captured her, he

          almost kills her. And yet I find myself rooting

          for him anyways. He respects her as a

          warrior, even offers her a place as a general

          in his kingdom. He’s the “enemy” and yet

          he’s working against the bigger enemy the

          whole time. He even warns her that her

          friends will betray her in the end. Is he a red

          flag? Huge one. But honestly, he’s far more

          compatible with Meilin than Sky is, there’s

          more in common, more respect, and more

          chemistry in my opinion.

           Tao and Sparrow; no comment necessary.

           Fuck you.

           Honestly, I read the description for the

           sequel before I even read this book, and

           even with that I was not expecting that

           ending. Holy shit. I was fully expecting a

           happy ever after and to end the way it did?

           I was not ready for that at all.

           This book was feminine rage and I loved it.

           The biggest downside is that the main love

            interest is really a misogynist at his core.

           The story tries to make him seem like he’s

           only hesitant, and that he’s accepting but

           he’s really not— it’s bad when her

           supposed enemy is more accepting and

           respectful then her love interest.

            The next book sets up the aftermath of this

           story, and id really like to see it move her

           away from Sky, and really embrace the

           feminine rage and lust for freedom. I love

           for non-traditional endings, and I would

           love to see Meilin go full-dictator on the

           whole world. Or at the very least give her

           the acotar treatment and send her along

           with Lei instead.

          They would never let a woman hold onto power.