Book Review: Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by Amélie Wen Zhao

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White
by Amélie Wen Zhao

Book title: Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White
Author: Amélie Wen Zhao
Genre: YA fantasy
Published: January 2, 2024
345 pages
My rating: 4/5

I am Sòng Lián, survivor of the Sòng clan and heir to the Order of Ten Thousand Flowers. I will bring an end to the Four Demon Gods and the vicious cycle of power, war, and bloodshed they have wrought upon this land and its peoples.

Eighteen-year-old Lan must find an ancient weapon to destroy the demon gods and to rid her land of the occupying, cruel Elantians. At the same time, Zen seeks to harness the dark powers of the demon gods. Both will find what they are seeking in the desert city of Salakhira, but once they find the hidden city, they uncover dangerous secrets.

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White is the second book in Amélie Wen Zhao’s young adult fantasy duology Song of the Last Kingdom. I read the first book, Song of Silver, Flame Like Night, last year. Unfortunately, over the year, I had forgotten a lot about what had happened in the first book, and Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White didn’t do a very good job of reminding me of all the things I had forgotten. I wish more fantasy series did something like what Saara El-Arifi’s The Ending Fire trilogy did with the second and the third book beginning with a recap of the events of the previous books.

Let’s start with the good: I still love the magic system and the worldbuilding, and this time, I was less bothered about the connections between the real historical China and the fantasy Hin culture. I also loved the character arcs, and Zen got the redemption arc I was hoping for.

Still, the problems I had with the first book continued in this book, but to a slightly different degree. The info-dumpy writing bothered me less in this book, as it did help me remember some of the events I had forgotten. Lan’s character still felt very flat, and since I had forgotten most of the first book, I felt I never got to fall in love with her again – she was less of the feisty and sharp-tongued girl I vaguely remember from the first book. I also wasn’t a huge fan of how much the book focused on Zen. I wanted more Lan.

What bothered me the most in this book was that the main characters seemed to have two goals: getting rid of the Elantians and destroying the demon gods. For the majority of the story, those two goals appeared separate, and I didn’t understand how destroying the demon gods would help them to get rid of the Elantians. The threat the Elantians posed to the main characters seemed forgotten for most of the book. The two plot lines were brought together only toward the end, and the fall of the Elantians was ultimately rather anticlimactic.

I do think I would have enjoyed Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White a lot more if I had read the two books back-to-back. It offered a mostly satisfactory conclusion to the story. If you’re interested in young adult fantasy inspired by Chinese folklore and mythology, check out this duology, and if you loved Song of Silver, Flame Like Night, I would definitely recommend Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White as well. I gave the book four stars.