A kingdom destroyed by colonizers, a song girl forced to face her powers and a boy with more demons than one, together they will find themselves fighting against those that have taken everything from them... but what are they willing to sacrifice for power? Lan is a song girl... she use to go by a different name but after the Elantian colonizers destroyed her kingdom, killed her mother and outlawed her people’s magic... she is now just trying to survive day by day being forced to be a songgirl by night in a teahouse that holds her contract and spend her days scavenging for something that would help explain the strange marked burned into her arm by her mother in her last act before she died. On one particular day she runs into a boy who appears at her tea house and saves her life... after she kills a man. Said boy is named Zen, he is a practitioner- one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom, whose’s magic was rumored to have been drawn from the demons they summoned. Zen recognizes that Lan is a practitioner with a powerful ability hidden in the mark on her arm, power that he’s never seen the likes of before and knows that she is someone he must take with him deep into the forests of the Last kingdom to the order of practitioning masters who plan to overthrow the Elantian regime. Yet the more time Lan and Zen spend together fighting off Elantian magicians and soliders, unlocking their pasts... and their potential feelings for each other the more they begin to realize they are more alike than either had realized. Both of them are survivors of colonizers who took everything from them, who killed their entire families, and left them powerless, and both are willing to do whatever it takes to get the power to protect those they love and fight back. The more Lan uncovers of her mother’s past and her own connection to the seal in her the more she realizes that she is much stronger than she could have imagined. Zen is hiding a secret of his own, one connected to his childhood... and one that will forever change the way he. Both Lan and Zen will face their destinies, who they are, and what powers they hold. They will have to choose the path they want and how when given the choice of power: what they will sacrifice. This was such a fantastic read, the journey of the characters was so well done and the action was amazing. I found myself completely at the edge of my seat throughout and I can’t wait to see where the second book goes!! Filled with adventure, action, quests, and light romance, this is a fantastic read for anyone who enjoys epic fantasies inspired by mythology and fun quests!

Spoiler

Lan is the daughter of Song Mei, the last muscial playing practitioner. She sealed the Silver Dragon ( one fo the four Demon Gods) into Lan before she died. Lan has now unlocked her seals (well Zen unlocked the last one) and found the musical instrument that helps her focus her powers. Zen’s secret is that as a child *at 7 years old* he made a bargain with a demon : in exchange for 100 souls he will have the power to destroy those who wanted to harm him. After he and Lan are taken by Elantians and tortured, he releases the demon, but that leaves him powerless again. When the Elantians are after them again he makes a bargain with the Black Tortoise ( another Demon God), in exchange for 1000 souls including his own mind, body, and soul, he will have powers to control the Demon... but every soul he takes the more control the Demon has over him. Lan and Zen confess their feelings for one another (Before he made the bargain) and he wants to protect her and the village they were at so he makes the bargain... but in doing so he loses himself. Lan discovers that Zen is the last son of the demon weidling clan for the black tortoise and must find a way to save him. She begins to use the power of Silver Dragon in her own body. There are only two other demon gods now: The Azure Tiger and the Crimson Phoenix. Lan stabs Zen after he kills his mentor (who turns out to be Lan’s father) in order to protect him from the Black Tortoise Demon but that leaves him in a critical state as the knife she uses harms both the demon and the human soul. The Elantian empire attacks them and destroys the school in search of the Demon Gods. Lan is tasked with one mission frmo the final words of their master: she is to find and destroy the Demon Gods. Lan is to become the Godslaayer. The Azure Tiger has been set free and the Crimson Phoenix has yet to be found.They have to journey to the West, to the Forgetten city of the west where the emperer built a hidden palace where he stored his most sacred posessions, aka where the Godslayer item is. Lan discovers that her mother made a bargain with the Silver Dragon: her soul in exchange for the protection of Lan’s life. Lan makes a new bargain: Her soul in exchange for her mother’s but only her soul, not her mind or her body and only once the Silver Dragon has fulfilled its duty in protecting her life and when she is ready to give it up. Zen is still alive and has woken up, he is with shan Jun, the medicine boy, and they both are heading to Zen’s true home (his real name is Xan Temurezen) and he plans for the future, trying to leave whatever he had with Lan behind after she left him.

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Children's, Delacorte Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*