The Earthly Blaze is the fantastical sequel to The Heavenly Sword. Immediately, we're thrown back into the action and we get multiple strategy meetings and kung fu battles in the first few chapters. I was immediately sucked back into the story and I thoroughly enjoyed this finale!

Poon really found her stride in this sequel. The plot is tight, the character development is focused and deeper, and the writing flows well. The faster pace helped to push the plot, and the world building was immaculate. I found myself hooked from the first page and I definitely think this is the shining star of the duology.

It really felt like The Heavenly Sword finished at the 50% point of the story, and The Earthly Blaze propels us through to the end. This book is full of history-rich world building, further development of our Immortals and their relationships with those both in the heavenly realm and the mortal, and amazing action scenes and political scheming. The stakes felt higher with the reveal of what happens after the mission is fulfilled. It gave the story some extra punch and really tested the relationships that they all made across this epic journey.

I once again found myself fascinated by the folklore and mythological elements of the story, as well as the deep relationships built throughout Sai'er's mission. The fight scenes were definitely the highlight for me, with each one showing off Poon's writing skills as each scene came alive for me as I read. You can truly see that this is as much as work of art as it is a tribute to the genre.

I will say that this series isn't for everyone. There definitely has to be an understanding for East Asian storytelling, as it differs greatly from what we're generally used to and comfortable with in Western media. I loved how the world came to life, but if you do decide to pick this up, I would recommend gaining a better understanding of wuxia and xianxia stories and their story structure so this isn't such a huge adjustment.

All in all, this epic finale had me on the edge of my seat until the very end and I applaud Poon for taking on such a huge story!

TW: nudity, violence, death, torture, injury detail, murder, kidnapping, manipulation

eARC and finished copy gifted by the author in exchange for an honest review.