I liked this one! The three main (so far) characters are really endearing, which is super impressive to pull off in such a short passage. The irreverence that the protagonist has for death also rings very true--work in any field for long enough and it won't hold much gravity. I admittedly only have minor knowledge of historical alchemy or the Tang dynasty era more generally, so I can't comment on the history in this one. It's admittedly a very broad time period, in a very large country, and with the fantasy elements thrown in on top of that the author has a LOT of wiggle room with the truth. There is one thing that I can and will nitpick, though, because it touches on a pet peeve of mine.
The use of the word "Gaelic" for a language is...not great. "Gaelic" is a language sub-family, not a language itself. Generally when (particularly American) people say this, they're actually referring to Scots, Scottish, or Irish, which are not called "Gaelic" by anyone who lives in an area where they are spoken, but are frequently called "Gaelic" by people who don't know what they're talking about (and don't try to say "oh but Wikipedia says XYZ". Wikipedia's entire selection of pages in ""Scots"" was originally written by kid mocking the language--that site has a VERY problematic history with these languages).
It is unclear which of these languages the author is referring to, because we don't know where we are within the nearly 300 year Tang dynasty, and the meaning of the Latin name "Scotia" meant Ireland or Scotland or both at different times in that period. Either way, all of these languages have faced extinction at the hands of English colonization, and erasing them further via incorrect terminology is pretty insensitive. It's also very common and easy to do just based on "oh but I heard other people call it that", which is why I'm only taking minor points off for it.
Rant aside, it's a fun book and I will be reading it (and cringing every time I see "Gaelic") and probably recommending it to some of our teens here.
The use of the word "Gaelic" for a language is...not great. "Gaelic" is a language sub-family, not a language itself. Generally when (particularly American) people say this, they're actually referring to Scots, Scottish, or Irish, which are not called "Gaelic" by anyone who lives in an area where they are spoken, but are frequently called "Gaelic" by people who don't know what they're talking about (and don't try to say "oh but Wikipedia says XYZ". Wikipedia's entire selection of pages in ""Scots"" was originally written by kid mocking the language--that site has a VERY problematic history with these languages).
It is unclear which of these languages the author is referring to, because we don't know where we are within the nearly 300 year Tang dynasty, and the meaning of the Latin name "Scotia" meant Ireland or Scotland or both at different times in that period. Either way, all of these languages have faced extinction at the hands of English colonization, and erasing them further via incorrect terminology is pretty insensitive. It's also very common and easy to do just based on "oh but I heard other people call it that", which is why I'm only taking minor points off for it.
Rant aside, it's a fun book and I will be reading it (and cringing every time I see "Gaelic") and probably recommending it to some of our teens here.