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Reviewed by Ruffina Oserio for Readers' Favorite
Jasmine Kah Yan Loo’s Reigning Fire follows Yan Xun, the sixteen-year-old miracle child and sole heir of the Prince Regent. In her world, nobles bond with animal spirits called Emberkin during their Binding Rites, a ceremony Xun sees less as sacred and more as a leash. She has survived by staying invisible under the guidance of her father and strict mother. She hides Mo, the “broken” phoenix Emberkin that has bonded with her eighteen moons prior, and secretly trains with a masked figure in white in the Dream Realm, while facing a court that looks at her as unbound, illegitimate, and expendable. Then the Concordance Trial pits student factions against each other in a game of espionage, alliances, and ritual combat. Yan Xun picks unlikely allies, recruiting two overlooked classmates and a kind-hearted commoner General called Jin Yang. But her nemesis, Fu Kai, returns to the palace and tension builds. With secrets simmering and knowing that exposing Mo could cost her everything, Yan Xun is drawn into a slow-burning fuse toward an explosive climax.
Jasmine Kah Yan Loo’s Reigning Fire immerses readers in an elaborately drawn cultural setting with compelling hints of Chinese mythology and magic. The ceremonies reveal the Emberkin lore, the Smokeveil, and glyph magic, which are intricately woven into the story. I enjoyed how the author transforms apparent villains into fellow products of the same crushing system. Yan Xun is a well-developed heroine whose triumph over trauma is remarkable, and it comes with understanding the way of the court, which keeps her prickly and guarded as she slowly learns to trust. The chapters about academics require reader patience, but action ignites with the Trial's duels, intrigue, and a cathartic finale. The prose is lyrical in a gripping fantasy that cleverly examines institutional control, abuse, found family, and the power of naming oneself.
