“With a delightful cast of characters and an explosive plot, fantasy fans won’t want to miss this one!” –Rosiee Thor, author of Tarnished Are The Stars 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 … 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.
“With intricate worldbuilding and a delightful cast of characters, Emily Victoria’s This Golden Flame was a page-turning adventure I thoroughly enjoyed.”
–Audrey Coulthurst, author of Of Fire and Stars
“A slow-burn fantasy about found family, friendship, and the struggles of finding oneself, This Golden Flame is perfect for fans of classic YA fantasies and automatons with hearts of gold.”
–Linsey Miller, author of the Mask of Shadows duology and Belle Révolte
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Golden Flame’
This Golden Flame is a good novel with great LGBTQ representation. Unfortunately, the last 25% leaves the reader wanting more.
Representation Matters
The most exciting part of This Golden Flame was the representation. It was clear early on that Karis is asexual. It is great to see this rise of asexual representation in media. Society is still trying to understand what it means to be asexual, and for Victoria to put herself on the page is incredible.
Karis is such an easy character to connect to because of how the author chose to give her life. Delving into their own experiences, the author brings in much-needed representation and gives readers an insight into what it means to be asexual. For asexual readers out there, this is incredible because they see themselves appropriately represented on the page. So many times, some authors miss the mark on representation. While many of their attempts are commendable, they are not accurate. That is not the case here.
Emily Victoria is a brave author to use her own experiences and give Karis life, and that alone deserves applause.
However, they do not stop there. Victoria is diverse in her characterization, bringing to life more LGBTQ representation through Karis’s brother. It is such an enjoyable novel to read, to see the LGBTQ represented with solid characters.
Storytelling
Despite This Golden Flame having some great representation, some characters fail to drive the plot forward.
One character almost ruins the last 25% of the novel, and that is the villain. The author tried to make them relatable to the heroes, to make him greyer than pure evil. However, he comes off as dull. Nothing is menacing about this guy; he seems generic and unmemorable. Bringing him into the story gave the other characters some tension and moral dilemmas to contend with, but his existence did not serve the story as anything more than a plot device.
Unfortunately, this one fell flat with all the other strong characterization because it did break up the pacing; it did slow it down when it should resonate the tension from those tense moments. The climax may be rising, but listening to this guy do his cliché villain speech just made the last quarter of the novel fall flat.
Final Thoughts
This Golden Flame is not a bad book. With compelling characters and strong representation, the story makes up for the lackluster villain at the end.
‘This Golden Flame,’ the debut novel from Emily Victoria, is a tale of rebellion amongst the almost single-minded determination of the Scriptorium.
Eager to unlock the magic of an ancient automaton army littered throughout the land of Eratia, they’re quick to send away those who may get in their way. For Karis, that means her brother is long gone.. and she’ll do anything to find him.
While seeking her brother.. Matthias’ whereabouts, she awakens a hidden automaton. Seeming to have sentient intelligence, Alix seems to have a moral compass.. but no idea why he was created or why his father once tried to destroy them all.
Suddenly, control isn’t enough for the Scriptorium. They’re on the hunt. Leaving Karis and Alix to find her brother and the secret surrounding the automatons.
I found it interesting that though the lead is just trying to find her brother, for the most part.. she’s kind of outcast.. even by the others like her. Though, Dane is actually really lovely. Karis is a bit of a screw-up, but her heart is in the right place and I love that sense of loyalty within her and it’s nice to see the Aroace rep in a fantasy MC. It feels like little by little our stories are becoming a bit more diverse.. too slowly.. yes.. but I’ll take the forward progress.
Alix has a lot of inner-conflict to deal with, largely due a lack of coherent memories and it doesn’t help that those in power want to leverage him. He’s a darling though.. despite having a lot of baggage and I found myself forgetting that he was really different in the first place, as automaton or not.. he felt so vulnerably human in some ways.
Like many, the magic system was rune based and I always enjoy magic that requires some kind of tangible focal point. What I found interesting was that it wasn’t just about the result either, the process of making the rune mattered.
Though the Scriptorium thing very reminiscent of the Magisterium for me, they were similar.. but still different. The general feeling of oppression was there, though the scribes weren’t just members benefitting from their participation.
Emily does a great job of letting the reader experience the world around them, rather than just telling them everything.. which is something I appreciate. There’s nothing that can ruin immersion faster for me than being given a tour like the story is more of a verbal open house.
It is a fairly simple story that’s easy to read and maybe lacking a little in the complexity department, but not every book has to be an epic 800 page story either. It’s very enjoyable and a good first showing for an author with a promising future.
(I received this title as an ARC. All opinions are mine and freely given.)
I must say this book was so good. As someone who enjoys a book built on fantasy, this hit the spot. We have a wonderfully fantastical world created by the author. Unique characters and a story with alternating POV. IT was one of the best books I’ve read so far in 2021.
The story follows eighteen-year-old Karis as she tries to find out what happened to her brother after the two were separated seven years prior. As she journeys to find him we meet many characters that brought me joy and a few that didn’t. There were several unexpected moments in the book. Things I didn’t anticipate which I loved.
This book is geared towards young adults and rightly so. It is one I know I would share with the younger kids in my family.
There is one bad thing about this sorry I could find and that was it is not the first book in a series. I feel I would love to delve deeper into this fantasy world adn these characters.
With intricate worldbuilding and a delightful cast of characters, Emily Victoria’s This Golden Flame was a page-turning adventure I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved getting lost in Karis and Alix’s world as they uncovered the dark secrets of their country’s past and found strength and purpose in being true to themselves.
A slow-burn fantasy about found family, friendship, and the struggles of finding oneself, This Golden Flame is perfect for fans of classic YA fantasies and automatons with hearts of gold.