Amélie Wen Zhao – författare

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The stunning first edition of The Scorpion and the Night Blossom will feature a beautiful flower design stenciled on the ombre sprayed edges, exclusive printed endpapers, and a foil-stamped case!

In a world at war with demons, one girl will face the ultimate test when she is forced to enter into an ancient, deadly competition for the chance to save her mother's soul before she loses her forever. From the author of Song of Silver, Flame Like Night comes the beginning of a dark and opulent fantasy duology, perfect for fans of Throne of Glass.

Nine years ago, the war between the Kingdom of Night and the Kingdom of Rivers tore Àn'ying's family apart, leaving her mother barely alive and a baby sister to fend for. Now the mortal realm is falling into eternal night, and mó-beautiful, ravenous demons-roam the land, feasting on the flesh of humans and drinking their souls.

Àn'ying is no longer a helpless child, though. Armed with her crescent blades and trained in the ancient art of practitioning, she has decided to enter the Immortality Trials, which are open to any mortal who can survive the journey to the immortal realm. Those who complete the Trials are granted a pill of eternal life-the one thing Àn'ying knows can heal her dying mother. But to attain the prize, she must survive the competition.

Death is common in the Trials. Yet oddly, Àn'ying finds that someone is helping her stay alive. A rival contestant. Powerful and handsome, Yù'chén is as secretive about his past as he is about his motives for protecting Àn'ying.

The longer she survives the Trials, the clearer it becomes that all is not right in the immortal realm. To save her mother and herself, Àn'ying will need to figure out whether she can truly trust the stranger she's falling for or if he's the most dangerous player of all . . . for herself and for all the realms.

Once, Lan had a different name. Now she goes by the one the Elantian colonizers gave her when they invaded her kingdom, killed her mother, and outlawed her people's magic. She spends her nights as a songgirl in Haak'gong, a city transformed by the conquerors, and her days scavenging for what she can find of the past. Anything to understand the strange mark burned into her arm by her mother in her last act before she died. The mark is mysterious-an untranslatable Hin character-and no one but Lan can see it. Until the night a boy appears at her teahouse and saves her life. Zen is a practitioner-one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom. Their magic was rumored to have been drawn from the demons they communed with. Magic believed to be long lost. Now it must be hidden from the Elantians at all costs. When Zen comes across Lan, he recognizes what she is: a practitioner with a powerful ability hidden in the mark on her arm. He's never seen anything like it-but he knows that if there are answers, they lie deep in the pine forests and misty mountains of the Last Kingdom, with an order of practitioning masters planning to overthrow the Elantian regime. Both Lan and Zen have secrets buried deep within-secrets they must hide from others, and secrets that they themselves have yet to discover. Fate has connected them, but their destiny remains unwritten. Both hold the power to liberate their land. And both hold the power to destroy the world. Now the battle for the Last Kingdom begins.