I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Since Zilan entered the world of royal alchemists, she has learned firsthand that alchemy comes at a price. She has lost her family and her beloved prince in her search for justice against the evil Empress. All Zilan wants now is to find some way to bring them back. Resurrection is her specialty, after all.

In search of Penglai Island, where the infamous myth says life can be fully restored, Zilan starts a new adventure. But Penglai Island has been kept well hidden by a group of unpredictable, and often dangerous, alchemists. Uncovering the secret means challenging some of the most powerful alchemists to ever live. And when old threats come back to haunt Zilan, she will have to decide just how much she is willing to sacrifice to save her loved ones—and the practice of alchemy that has long defined her and the world around her.

Short and Sweet Review

Zilan thought that being a royal alchemist would be amazing it was her dream after all, but it’s caused her nothing but pain and loss. Now Zilan is traveling with Wenshu (who is in Hong’s body) in search of Penglai Island where legend has it life can be restored. The journey isn’t easy as these two have to uncover secrets and find people that will help them and avoid the people trying to kill them.

The Blood Orchid takes place after all of the events that occurred in the first book (The Scarlet Alchemist). Zilan and Wenshu are looking for Penglai Island in order to bring back Hong and her other friends who died in the palace. During the journey there’s a lot of tribulation and setbacks that our characters face. I think the pacing in this book was a lot slower and at times I got bored. It was also a little weird that Wenshu was in Hong’s body and because of that there isn’t a lot of romance in this book. I was glad that Zilan had Wenshu because he did a good job of keeping her grounded and he was the one using more logic when it came to making decisions whereas Zilan is more impulsive. I will say I didn’t really enjoy Zilan’s character in this book, I thought she would have more character growth but that wasn’t the case. Zilan would do things that would put her and the people traveling with her in more danger or she would just make decisions that could have been avoided, in other words she was selfish. I did enjoy the rivalry between Zilan and the Empress, it’s almost like they’re the same person but one of them is trying to save those around her while the other only cares about themselves. We do get to see other alchemists at work which I enjoyed and it was interesting learning about the history of alchemist and this Penglai Island.

Overall, The Blood Orchid is the finale to this duology and it wasn’t my favorite book. I liked The Scarlet Alchemist better but this book did a good job at wrapping everything up. I wasn’t a fan of Zilan or the pacing in this book but I would still recommend this duology as the first book packs a punch and the second will answer any questions from the first.