Interesting concept - elements of Ancient Greece mixed with automatons really appealed to me - but I felt the pacing was off. There's enough plot in this book for a series and events and relationships progress too quickly.

Great to have ace representation in a main character but I'd have liked to have seen more fleshing out of Karis.

Karis is an orphan stuck on an island working for the Scriptorium who are determined to find a way to reanimate the automatons (gigantic pieces of machinery controlled by magic) but she’s focused on finding her brother and escape the island. In her quest, she comes across a hidden cave and finds Alix a humanoid automaton that is awake and is conscious. They manage to escape the island with the aid of Dane a soldier orphan that is Karis’ only friend and who may or not have feelings for her. During the course of their they team up with Zara and her pirate crew and then start their quest to free Karis’s brother and break the magistrate’s grip on their nation.

This book is decidedly YA and unfortunately doesn’t have that edge or dark side that I enjoy. I feel like it is written for a really young audience. It actually feels like a child or someone in their early teens wrote it. A lot of the plot is very predictable and a lot of the support cast are very 2-dimensional. I love seeing LGBTQI representation in stories but this felt prescriptive and forced. The only relationship that felt real was Matthias and Rudy and even that felt clumsy. I wish the author had explored the relationship between Alix and Karis more and hadn’t been brave enough to suggest a real relationship between them (even if he’s a machine). I struggled to pick up this book each time and had to force myself to finish reading it hence my low rating.

This book was an absolute delight to read, this is why I read, these are the worlds and words I want to be absorbed in. Emily is an amazing writer, so beautiful is her prose and world building. This is such a wonderful addition to the world of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The characters and their relationships just feel so real and true to me, these characters are diverse and so inclusive, this really is a joy to read. I don’t think my words do this book justice, or can emphasise how good this really is. All I can say is pick it up, you will not regret it . It’s one of my favourites of 2021 and I know will be still at the end of the year. Amazing

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This Golden Flame is a refreshing new fantasy novel told through the perspectives of an aromantic and asexual main character, Karis, and an intelligent automaton, Alix. After a rather slow start of divulging information on the Scriptorium that kept Karis trapped on an island, the story picks up the pace with a life-threatening chase across the seas. The story kept this fast pace for the rest of the novel as our main characters attempt to uncover the mystery of why the automatons stopped working, find Karis's long lost brother and discover Alix's role in history.
I was fascinated by Alix, the automaton and the runes that enabled him to think, feel and move. Alix's history is hidden in his own destroyed memory, and I was as intrigued as the characters of this story in their journey to discover the truth. I don't think I have ever read a novel with the perspective of a character that wasn't human, I thought Alix was a very well written character and I definitely enjoyed his chapters the most.
This Golden Flame is an engaging and brilliant story with a proud aroace main character that is rare to find in fantasy novels. If you also enjoy sword fights, secrets & pirates, then I would recommend making This Golden Flame your next read.

This was a book that I Really enjoyed this read and I would recommend to others easily, I will be looking out for other titles by this author.

*3.5 stars

Set in a Grecian inspired world where a nefarious Scriptorium has been trying to reawaken the sleeping Automatons once used as deadly weapons, This Golden Flame is both an entertaining, hooking read, and slightly underwhelming. The concept itself was strong, with some elements that were very interesting, but the execution didn't quite bring this to its full potential.

I liked the concept of the world - automatons in fantasy are something that I find fascinating, and I thought the addition of runes was a particularly interesting world building choice. Different runes giving automatons different abilities was something I liked a lot, and how the various cultures in this world approached runes differently gave them different powers. The setting was Ancient Greek in inspiration, but this wasn't overwhelming or tired. There was just enough to give the setting a distinct backbone, and while I have seen a large number of fantasy books with similar inspiration, the magic woven in to the world kept it from being too same-y.

Alix was a really interesting character - self determinism and the question of where automatons become living beings with the right to make their own decisions are themes that I really like in fiction. His memory loss and how that reflected in his actions and thoughts in the present really helped give him depth as a character, showing his humanity even when he was supposed to be a tool. Karis was slightly less developed, but her drive was very much tied to trying to find her older brother, who had been sent away several years before. I liked how she was very clearly aroace, as this isn't something common in fantasy, and though she made some not so great decisions, it felt like she grew from them. There's also a cast of great side characters, and I'd love to see a short story of Zara and her crew's adventures.

In terms of conflict, I think there could have been a lot more development, and this is where I think the story would have benefitted from being longer or perhaps a duology. We don't really see much of the Magistrate, nor are we shown much of why he's bad. This meant that there wasn't really a huge amount of conflict, because we're just told he's bad and is going to do bad things, without actually feel the tension that would be present if he'd been developed more. In terms of plot, the rise and fall of plot points was quite good, but the pacing was quite fast - another thing that would have been helped by a longer overall story.

I definitely wouldn't not recommend This Golden Flame - while reading, I did enjoy it, and there was nothing that I hated. My rating is supposed to be a positive one to reflect this, but while I found it fun, it wasn't everything that I look for in a fantasy book, and I think it could have used more development and refining. That being said, if you're looking for a quick and fun read, this could very well be the right book.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. This review will be posted on my blog on February 16th.

This Golden Flame was an overall brilliant and unique read, full of elements that will appeal to a wide range of readers.

The story is set in the fantasy land of Eratia, with influences from Ancient Greek mixed in with automatons and pirates. We start with one of the two perspectives we have throughout the book – Karis. Karis is an orphan who is being kept on an island basically to do menial tasks such as cleaning the automatons that haven’t moved in around 200 years, but when she was brought there with her brother, Matthius, things happened that meant he was taken away. Karis doesn’t know where he was taken to eight years previous to the start of the book so it starts with her attempting to break into somewhere to find out.

Pretty quickly we’re then introduced to Karis’ only friend on the island, Dane. He was an orphan as she was but adapted to life on the island a lot better, so he’s popular and a promising soldier, whereas Karis kept in mind her goal of being reunited with her brother so never really let anyone in. Dane’s an absolute sweetie though and it’s clear he sees Karis as a sister in a sense, he tries his best to keep her safe and out of trouble.

One day, Karis is carrying out chores and falls off a cliff. She thinks she saw something so later on when no one is around she returns to investigate. What she doesn’t count on finding is our second point of view in the form of Alix, an automaton that can, for some reason, still move. Karis is pretty intelligent so realises she can make use of Alix to find the information about her brother she needs, but this ends in some disturbance and suddenly both her and Alix have to make a run for it as fast as possible… with a fairly reluctant Dane.

Alix is one of the sweetest characters you’ll ever read about, his one aim is to finish off the work of his creator but being a unique automaton everyone is after him. Every other automaton needed to be controlled to do things, but he can talk, walk and do as he wills. Honestly, I’m not sure why but for some reason I pictured him as Vision but with runes the entire time I was reading?

Whilst they’re running away, they end up bumping into some pirates, including another of my favourite characters – Zara (the “Pirate Queen” as she’s regularly referred as). If you’re new here, I have a serious soft spot for sassy, intelligent characters and she ticked all the boxes for me. She’s yet another softie at heart and her love for her crew is plain to see.

Every story needs its villain… and this villain is the Magistrate. He isn’t in the book much, mostly being talked about, but I think that’s partly because of the main message. He might be the bad guy but he’s basically a symbol of everyone after power in the book. His actions are caused from wanting more power and the catalyst for the automatons in the first place is to increase Eratia’s overall power. It’s a power play and our main characters are underdogs trying to balance it out again.

In terms of representation, this book is brimming with it. Karis is aromantic and asexual, with the book being an own voices story with this, there’s a non-binary character and a gay couple. There are relationships within but these aren’t important to the story in any way, which personally I preferred as the emphasis was on the action.

Honestly, I think my absolute favourite part of this story was the friendships created. It was full of family bonds and wholesome moments and I hope we get more books like this in future from Emily Victoria, I’ll definitely be checking them out!

'Don’t ever let them define you on their terms. This is your life to live.'

Will be updating this with a link when I can add it for a blog tour on February 20th :)

So we've had cyber-punk, steam-punk, and more recently silk-punk, but what exactly do you call an ancient Greece inspired world that exists alongside automatons? That I shall leave up to cleverer minds than mine.
Now, while I loved the world building, and I was thrilled by the asexual representation of the main character, and the fight against an oppressive regime, I can't give a completely glowing review.
It took me a few tries to fully immerse myself into the story, and I actually kept forgetting what it was about.
Stars for incredible world building. Stars for a story that was driven by friendship and family instead of chasing romance and love triangles. Oh, and the Pirate Queen!!!!! Stars for her. I mean, who doesn't love a lady pirate Captain.
3 out of 5 stars. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it for Aro/ Ace representation, but maybe to a younger reader.

“This Golden Flame” is an excellent debut novel that blends humanity, machine and magic. Essentially, a group of characters - with slightly different agendas - is thrown together by happenstance. They unite to take down a corrupt leader.

Through Alix, an automaton, Victoria explores what defines a person in a manner that is accessible and interesting. Alix’s existential crisis reflects the human condition and will resonate with the novel’s target YA audience.

Victoria refreshingly avoids romantic entanglements between the narrators, Alix and Karis. The book passes the Bechdel test with top marks! I didn’t pick up that Alix and Karis are depicted as asexual until after I’d completed the book, when I read more about the it. Frankly, it works whichever way the reader interprets the characters. Equally pleasing was Victoria’s matter-of-fact approach to inclusion and representation. Different cultures, faiths (if scriptwork is imagined that way), classes, sexualities and genders are effectively woven together as part of the characterisation and the plot.

The dual narrative was tricky... The voices of Alix and Karis aren’t distinctly different so the split first-person narrative seems unnecessary. Maybe this was deliberate - showing how Karis is different to other people and how similar Alix is to her? But then it feels like the narration often focuses on internalisation and perhaps misses the chance to depict Tallis and Valitia more convincingly. Victoria is clearly a skilled writer and I’d have enjoyed more time with her world building. Moreover, the book feels like it has three protagonists: Alix, Karis and Dane. Despite this, only two narrative perspectives are included.

Really, that’s my only gripe. Unless you count wishing it was longer so I could find out more about Zara and her crew! There was so much to enjoy about “This Golden Flame.” I look forward to Victoria’s future work.

A well written adventure which goes back and forth with two narrators: Karis, an ace+aro young woman searching for her brother, and Alix, and automaton searching for identity. Fast paced and with a diverse cast, this will appeal to middle school and YA readers. I would have wanted a little bit more sensory detail to really ground us in the world, and I found the first person narrative a little grating. Otherwise a lovely read. ARC kindly provided by Hodder & Stoughton.

This was such a unique and fresh story. This Golden Flame has a brilliant and diverse cast of characters and an action and danger filled adventure. Through Karis and Alix’s engaging narrative we are given a mash up of fantasy and sci-fi that grips you from the start.

One of the main reasons I enjoyed this was because Karis is asexual. I found it so refreshing to read a book where the main character doesn’t fall in love and is ok with it. She grows and learns who she is and Victoria handles this so well.

The world building is intricate and I did find it often overwhelming with the fast pace but it is such a unique idea. I would have loved more time and further expansion, however it reminded me so much of the Disney Atlantis film that I LOVE and so really enjoyed this.

The dual view point was really well handled and flowed well with the story. Following Karis and Alix and their rag-band team, we uncover the dark secrets of their country’s past. I loved the secondary characters, especially Zara and would have loved more time for their adventures.

Filled with action, mystery, intrigue and friendship, this is great read!

I found this story engrossing and entertaining, a well written fantasy that I read in an afternoon.
The author delivers a story about friendship, searching for our story and who we are, and very inclusive where there is no “normal” as plenty of characters are non binary or belong to different cultures.
My favorite characters were Alix and Zara. Alix, the automaton who is trying to understand who he is, Zara the strong willed and no-nonsense captains of the pirates.
I can say that I found all the characters interesting even if some more background would have helped.
The world building is well done and I was fascinated by the magical system and this sort of steampunk Ancient Greece.
The plot is well developed, a bit slow at times, and the solution was satisfying.
I think it would be great to read other stories set in this universe as there’s plenty to explore and I’d like to visit other places and learn more about the ancient story.
Even if it’s marketed as YA I think it can be appreciated by fantasy aficionados of any age.
It’s recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thank you Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for providing me with the e-arc of This Golden Flame by Emily Victoria in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Karis is an orphan forced to serve the Scriptorium, who separated her from her brother years earlier. She is focused on finding and reuniting with her brother, whilst the Scriptorium singlemindedly search to unlock their automaton army.

Karis in her determination to escape the island she is held on, unwittingly awakens an automaton called Alix who unlike the other automatons that remain sleeping, has a mind and conscience of his own. Alix and Karis are launched into an adventure of discovery and danger as they seek to find memories and family.

Set in what appears to be a Greek/Roman background this is a story of adventure on the high seas, a voyage of discovery, personal, global and political.

The story is written from the alternating perspectives of Karis and Alix, and this requires acceptance that Alix is more than just an automaton or an Android, but a being with spirit and conscience. Yep, there’s magic in the script ink that makes Alix more than just an automaton.

The book calls on a few tropes, including the gang of friends, hints of enemies to lovers and LBTQ aspects that aren’t overplayed, just another accepted (as they should be,) aspect of society and Alix’s asexual character is written well.

The relationships are well written, although I would loved to have had expansion of other characters beyond the core group...but, it would likely have extended the story beyond the one book, bloating it unnecessarily.

I really enjoyed the book, the story carried me along and there were few of any major info dumps. Overall a great read that I would recommend for escapism and adventure.

When I initially started Emily Victoria’s ‘This Golden Flame’, I wasn’t convinced whether it’d be a book for me, and while I think it’s probably better for a little younger audience, on the overall I had enjoyed the story.

Karis, having been separated from her brother years ago, is trying for a way out of the Scriptorium and discovering where he’s held. Only that she accidentally awakens an automaton, something that the Scholars have been trying to unsuccessfully for years. But Alix is not like any of the other automatons on the island Karis is held. For once, he doesn’t look like a huge machine. And he speaks, thinks and feels. And suddenly, everything Karis has ever been taught, may not be true. Soon, they’re both on the run along with Karis’ friend, who has been rising in the ranks of soldiers, but still remained loyal to their friendship. What follows, is a quest in the search for Karis’ brother, answers for Alix, and ultimately a fight against what the Scriptorium stands for.

What I enjoyed the most from ‘This Golden Flame’ is definitely Alix’s perspective. Emily Victoria’s debut uses interchanged POV and the reader follows the story narrated by Karis and Alix. For me, Alix’s narrative has been a more interesting one. Alix is struggling a lot in ‘This Golden Flame’, trying to figure out what or who he is. Despite being an automaton, Alix is painfully human, and it has been an interesting perspective to see.

A wonderful YA novel, that is a true high fantasy but still with elements of sci-fi.

The story centres round an ace MC (yeyy for representation) and an android I really want to adopt!

There is no signed of the usual YA troupes in the this master piece, we've left behind the love triangle, the Insta love, and Mary Sue heroine. Instead we have something refreshing, fast paced with breath taking world building.

Get ready to find a new chosen family!

This Golden Flame tells the story of an orphan asexual and aromantic girl named Karis who finds and awakens an automaton, Alix. Alix is an intelligent and thinking machine that feels human, and he shows this internal conflict throughout the story. I enjoyed Alix’s point of view, not only because I thought it was easy to relate to him and his emotions, but also because I loved Aidan (from The Illuminae Files) and was anxious to read again about another intelligent AI. Karis is in constant search for her brother who was separated from her when taken by the Scriptorium. Now she serves them as one of their acolyte’s, who are desperately trying to reanimate an ancient humanoid army.

I went into This Golden Flame blindly, not knowing that the book had very little romance in it. My favorite elements that I love while reading are romantic tropes (enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, arranged marriage, forbidden marriage, fake dating, etc…) therefore I felt like this novel was not an ideal type for readers like me, that enjoy deeply some romance and chemistry in a book. This is probably the reason why it seemed somewhat like a middle grade read to me instead of YA. Even so, I still enjoyed the novel a lot, it was a fun and adventurous read that was able to keep me completely intrigued while reading.

With an Ancient Greece-inspired setting, This Golden Flame, is quite a unique character-driven story following a whole array of characters as they fight to defeat the villain of the story. We have separated siblings, pirates and even robot Automatons.

The story is told from the POV of two of the main characters - Karis and Alix.
After the death of their parents, Karis and her brother have no choice but to live on the streets. It’s a hard life but they’re surviving together until one day they are captured and separated. From that day forward Karis has one goal only.. to get free and find her brother.
One day, she accidentally stumbles upon Alix the Automaton in a cave and wakes him up. She thinks he’s her key to finally being free until she realises he’s not like the rest.. he’s more human than automaton.

I actually really enjoyed this book, which is quite surprising because I generally don’t love stories that mix fantasy and sci-fi. The writing flowed really well, it was so easy to read and immerse myself in the story. I loved the characters Emily Victoria created, particularly Zara the pirate captain. It was also quite refreshing to read a book that focused on friendships rather than romance.

The only slight negative in my opinion was the ending, I felt like it was a bit too easy and happened too fast.

Overall, I found This Golden Flame to be a good, easy read and would definitely recommend.

3.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

That was intense! I loved the world created, the characters and the fact that there's no romance in this book and instead the author focused on friendship and fighting for what we believe. The villain is a bit generic we just know he's evil but we are never showed why he's evil. Alix is so sweet and he needs to be protected. The author doesn't touch any heavy topics so I believe it can be read by younger readers.

This Golden Flame is a stunning young adult standalone fantasy with such a tempting premise and richly woven world that I devoured it all in a single gulp. Flee across the sun-and-shadow islands of Eratia, where runes have the power to unleash monsters. The story follows protagonist Karis who seven years ago was forced to become an acolyte for the Scriptorium, the rune scholars who rule Eratia. For centuries, these Scriptmasters have sought the key to reanimating the country's fearsome automaton army, and anyone they deem unable to help them achieve their goal is sent away including Karis's brother, Matthias. Then Karis discovers a unique human-sized automaton and unintentionally wakes him up. Intelligent, with a conscience of his own, Alix has no idea why he was created. Or why his father-Eratia's greatest traitor-once tried to destroy the automatons. Upon learning Matthias is being held by the Scriptorium's sinister leader, Alix and Karis set out to rescue him and uncover the truth about Alix's past. But when Karis is faced with an unthinkable choice, betraying everyone she cares about may be her only desperate chance to save their world.

This is a captivating and compulsive fantasy rich in both danger and magic and written a seamlessly flowing style that dares you to try putting it down before coming to the realisation that putting it down for any length of time without knowing the fate of the characters you've become so invested in, is not about to happen. Its intricate and subtly nuanced worldbuilding shows other YA fantasy novels exactly how sword and sorcery should be done and it takes barely a chapter to become completely immersed in the world which the characters inhabit. There is enough drama, intensity, mythology and action that you fail to recognise the twists in the tale and the unexpected shift of the narrative until it hits you right there and then and you realise you've been had; that Emily Victoria has played a good game! The flawed cast is the icing on the cake for me and most of the characters are so intriguing and engaging that they soon become alive on the page before you - making the transition from paper into your heart. An entertaining, thoroughly gripping and exciting read. Highly recommended.

I always get a bit nervous when starting highly anticipated release in case it doesn't live up to it, but THIS GOLDEN FLAME was an absolute delight to read. I had intended to read this over a few evenings, but I need a distraction one afternoon, and this book was the perfect thing for that.

The magic was what really captured me in this book. It's not a power people carry in them and can use as they wish. Instead, it's a very hard, psuedo-scientific magic based on runes that control the automatons. I loved the rules and the elegance of the gold runes - plus anything that feels vaguely science-y and doesn't blatantly contradict the law of physics is a win for my nerdy heart! It was a lot of fun, and made the world more egalitarian in terms of who could use magic - until the politics of the powerful Scriptorium came in.

The book is certainly fantasy, and it's not steampunk at all. Instead, the world is inspired by Ancient Greece. Maybe it's just the gorgeous UK cover, but the book did feel very turquoise and gold to be - coolly stylish, the world both very advanced but also old at the same time.

There was such a sense of history. With the strong mystery thread about why Alix's father acted as he did, the world of two hundred years ago was present throughout Alix's memories. It hung over them, filling out the world so it had some depth.

The main character is ace-sexual! It's not something focused on at all by the story, just part of Karis' character that's raised by a few lines. However, seeing a main character in YA who has no inclination towards finding a romantic partner was so nice. There always seems to be romance in YA, so to have a character be as completely uninterested in it, and not quite understanding the romantic attractions around her, felt like seeing teenage me in the pages.

I cannot wait to see what Emily Victoria writes next!