Set in Eratia, a fantasy country inspired by ancient Greece, This Golden Flame is a secondary world fantasy novel from debut author Emily Victoria. The book is quite fast paced, and Victoria’s simple and unadorned writing style lets you effortlessly breeze through the story.
This Golden Flame is centred around Karis, an orphan girl made to serve the Scriptorium – the country’s ruling group of scholars. The scribes of the Scriptorium have only one goal in mind: unlocking the magic to reawaken the ancient automaton army deactivated two hundred years before. However, despite being forced to work for the Scriptorium, Karis wants nothing more than to look for her older brother Matthias, separated from her seven years ago.
One day, Karis accidentally discovers a cave where she comes across a hidden automaton, and somehow manages to reanimate it. Sentient and intelligent, Alix wakes to find himself in a world entirely new to him, and the only family he remembers, his father, long gone. As he talks to Karis, Alix realises he has no idea why he was made, why he is more human-like than any of his fellow automatons, and why exactly his father tried to destroy all automatons two hundred years prior.
In search of Karis’s brother, as Alix and Karis break out of the Scriptorium and confront a pirate crew, the Scriptorium sends soldiers after them both. Meanwhile, the search for Matthias leads the duo to some troubling discoveries about Alix’s past.
The ancient Greece influenced setup of the story felt quite fresh and unique. Victoria’s worldbuilding is pretty straightforward and detailed, and yet never at any point does her writing feel info-dumpy, which was a relief to me. The magic system involving runes was also pretty fascinating, and I had so much fun seeing it in action! Alix and Karis are the two POV characters in This Golden Flame, and the narrative ping pongs between them as the brisk pace keeps the story flowing smoothly right up to an ending that, while not exactly being as strong as I’d expected from a standalone novel – was satisfying nonetheless.
At the heart of the story is the deep friendship Alix and Karis develop throughout their journey, and it remains the most remarkable and beautiful thing about The Golden Flame. To me, Karis as a protagonist was not as well developed as I’d have liked to see, and she felt very bland and one-dimensional especially next to Alix. However, with her heroine, Victoria brings some much needed aroace rep to YA fantasy, and I absolutely loved that particular aspect of the story!
As for Alix, he is questioning whether he really is as human as he feels, or if he is just a tool made to serve someone else’s purpose, and his journey to find his place in a world entirely new to him was simultaneously aching and sweet to witness. Zara, the captain of the pirate crew, was an absolute badass, and aside from Alix, she was probably my favourite character in this book. There’s also a lot of causal LGBTQ+ representation in this book with most of the secondary characters being queer, and that felt more validating to me than anything.
With all that being said, This Golden Flame did leave a lot to be desired in terms of characterisation, and if you’re a seasoned YA fantasy reader, the plotline is something you might find familiar to the point of being lacklustre. Moreover, the book leaves you with quite a few unanswered questions, and I couldn’t help feeling like the writing style was too simplistic at times.
To sum it up, This Golden Flame is a not-too-complex, fun YA fantasy that I feel would resonate particularly well with younger teens and truly make a lot of them feel seen, especially with an aromatic and asexual protagonist like Karis, and Alix’s relentless effort to truly belong in a world where most of the people seem to be intent on denying his very existence. If you are a fan of books like Nina Varela’s Crier’s War and like your fantasy with a dash of science fiction, you’d definitely want to give This Golden Flame a read!
This Golden Flame is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of February 2nd 2021.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
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.
