Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: This Golden Flame

Author: Emily Victoria

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4/5

Recommended For...: sci-fi readers, fantasy readers, ya readers

Publication Date: February 2, 2021

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 15+ (slight violence and gore, death)

Publisher: Inkyard Press

Pages: 384

Synopsis: Orphaned and forced to serve her country’s ruling group of scribes, Karis wants nothing more than to find her brother, long ago shipped away. But family bonds don’t matter to the Scriptorium, whose sole focus is unlocking the magic of an ancient automaton army.

In her search for her brother, Karis does the seemingly impossible—she awakens a hidden automaton. Intelligent, with a conscience of his own, Alix has no idea why he was made. Or why his father—their nation’s greatest traitor—once tried to destroy the automatons.

Suddenly, the Scriptorium isn’t just trying to control Karis; it’s hunting her. Together with Alix, Karis must find her brother…and the secret that’s held her country in its power for centuries.

Review: Overall, I really liked this book. I do want to remark that the book was really good. The book is diverse, having aro/ace characters, gay, and other lgbt+ characters and also showing and writing disabled characters. I really liked how the story flowed and for a debut novel this was really well done. The characters were well developed and, from what I could tell, wrote with care in who they are. The world building was also well done.

However, I did have issues connecting to some of the characters, specifically Zara, and the pacing in some places was really too slow for my liking.

Verdict: It’s pretty good!