The Night Ends with Fire by K.X. Song
(Hodderscape, 2024)
Reviewed by Leanbh Pearson
The Night Ends with Fire is a new epic fantasy by K.X. Song. A bold fantasy combining the legend of Mulan with the Three Kingdoms, this is a fast-paced, vibrant and compelling read with a strong, beautiful and deadly female protagonist who will bring the Three Kingdoms to their knees.
In The Night Ends with Fire, Song invites us into a fantastic reimagining of the Chinese legend of Mulan and the Three Kingdoms with the rebellious female protagonist, Han Meilin. The Three Kingdoms were once united but since the death of the last Emperor, the warlords of Anlai, Ximing and Leyuan, fight for dominance. It is in the Kingdom of Anlai where Han Meilin, her impoverished and debt-plagued household, and her father, the once-powerful noble Han Clan leader is now a disgraced opium addict and gambler. Meilin, the oldest daughter of her father’s first wife who suicided from madness, with her death, Melin’s father descended into grief and disgrace.
When the warlord of Anlai summons all men of fighting age to join the army to defend the Kingdom of Anlai. Meilin has two choices before her: marry an older, cruel merchant, or seize her freedom disguised as a man to go to war in her father’s stead. Meilin, raised as a woman but trained in the arts of swordsmanship, kung fu and magic of the spirit realms, takes the opportunity to escape the social imprisonment of marriage and becomes a warrior.
Song’s reimagining of the Legend of Mulan includes Chinese mythology where spirit seals contain the four gods of the Three Kingdoms. Before Meilin joins the army of Prince Liu, the seventh son of the warlord of Anlai, she receives her deceased mother’s jade necklace which hides a spirit seal for the water god, the azure dragon, Qinglong, After a serious military defeat by an unnatural fire, Meilin and Prince Liu discover the opposing warlord Chancellor Sima shares Meilin’s rare talent of magic over the spirit realm and Sima has fragments of the seal for Zhuque, the Phoenix fire god and enemy of Meilin’s dragon god. The knowledge and training in power over the spirit realm was forbidden by the last Emperor who feared being overthrown by those with powerful magic he could not use. Prince Liu and Meilin must harness the power of the dragon-god before Chancellor Sima can recover all the fragments of his seal and the Phoenix god consumes the Three Kingdoms with fire.
Song reveals the the history and danger of the spirit seals where encounters and battles between Meilin and Sima show the power of the seals comes at a cost: each god has a specific moral power that can enable the weirder of the seal to gain what they want while corrupting their moral integrity. Meilin is an unusual heroine with Song displaying her flaws alongside her qualities which subtly show how Meilin’s rebellious desire to succeed is easily manipulated by the dragon god and yet Meilin feels empathy and compassion for her rival Sima as his own struggle against the vengeful influence of the phoenix god corrupts him.
Song writes with a lyrical beauty harkening back to the era of ancient Chinese legends and mythology where heroes, gods and monsters waged war. Song highlights the dark and light aspects of humanity by subtle commentary on the dangers of secret knowledge can be exploited, misunderstood and weaponised. This is the deeper message throughout The Night Ends with Fire which is a new and bold retelling of the Legend of Mulan and with a strong female protagonist, romance, and high-stakes adventure, in a grand, sweeping fantasy epic.
Review from BSFA Review 25 - Download your copy here.