The Girl with No Reflection Readalong: Day 5!

Gorgeous photo by @_spiritbound_

Happy Friday, fairies!

We have almost finished this week! Do you have any exciting plans for the weekend?

I have a feeling that a lot is going to happen in today’s final reading session, are we all ready?

Today we are reading from Chapter 41 – to the end of the book. Let’s jump back in!

Once you’ve finished this final section, join me in the comments for all your final thoughts. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this book as much as I have!

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Please be warned, the following section will include spoilers for The Girl with No Reflection by Keshe Chow from chapter 41 – to the end of the book. Please only read on if you have finished reading this section!

–!SPOILERS!–

Today we are reading our final section and things are becoming very tense! War is fast approaching and the prince and Ying are closer than ever!

In the day Ying is studying books to see if she can figure out what the three treasures are, but stumbles upon some information that tells her the Emperor might be being poisoned by lead. 

She debates for a while about whether to tell the prince but worries it’ll distract him during a crucial time but that she also doesn’t have any evidence… Oh dear that would explain a lot!

The prince and Ying are in love and so decide to complete The Crossed Cup ceremony that they never completed due to her reflection taking her place. They are now properly husband and wife. Aw I am so happy for them!

After such a sweet moment, War is finally taking place. While they are waiting for the mirror people to appear, Ying commands her dragons to cover the sun with their breath that forms clouds. 

The mirror people appear shortly afterwards! The mirror prince is of course among them and he heads straight after Ying on her dragon, and transforms into an eagle! 

They engage in a fierce fight atop the black dragon. This scene has me stressed, is anyone else worried for Ying?? 

Ying thinks she’s finally rid of the mirror prince only to be pushed violently off the dragon! She hovers briefly before she crashes hard into the ground and faints! 

Ying survives but both princes are fighting. The prince overpowers the mirror prince when reflection Ying appears. It’s then that Ying realises that humans can be monsters too, so instead of ordering their deaths, she requests for them to be taken to the dungeon… oh nooo that’s not a good idea!

Suddenly fire crows appear and it gives energy back to the mirror people!! Ying and her people are losing as the fire crows are viciously attacking them. 

Mei Po suddenly appears and buys Ying and the prince time to escape, but ends up dying in the process. Poor Mei Po, I do think she didn’t mean any harm in the end.

As they are flying away, Ying and the prince realise that he can also see the mirror people are glowing… hmm that’s strange, why now?

Before they can fly further away the prince tells them that they need to go back, the dragon listens and turns back, the white banners are up which means the Emperor is dying. 

Ying was right and the Emperor has been poisoned over a long period of time. Ying tells them that Master Chen has been poisoning him. The empress admits to being the one behind it all!! I didn’t really see that coming!

The prince arrests her for treason and shortly after the Emperor dies. 

Ying runs into Li Ming, who has been helping the wounded on the battlefield. With Li Ming’s help they realise that the peasant song that gave them clues about the three treasures originally, has had its meaning changed overtime. Shān, Lín and Jiang were their surnames but Ying still isn’t sure of the entire meaning.  

Ying and the prince were meant to be together exactly like Mei Po had said. Ying is the water princess and chosen for the prince, Shan Zhang Lin’s names translate to mean mountain and archer of the forest. The missing piece of the puzzle is the fire which Ying figures out to mean lightning. 

Ying has to be struck by lightning to be reborn and potentially transform into a phoenix! 

The prince tries to stop her but Ying knows the risk must be taken even if she might die! 

As Ying and her dragon fly, the final fire crow greatly injures the dragon and Ying and her dragon tumble through the sky. The dragon is falling towards the tower that the prince is on and Ying is hopeless to stop it. 

At the last moment she jumps from her dragon, is struck by lightning and blacks out. 

Ying comes to surrounded by ashes. She survived but unfortunately her dragon didn’t and the prince’s body is missing… noooo! 

Ying and her people think they are safe in the palace grounds, able to barricade the mirror people out but then the final fire crow appears and starts attacking! 

Ying becomes enraged and feels her hands grow hot. When the sunlight hits them they burst into flames and hit the fire crow!

It turns out Ying can harness the power of the sun and knowing what needs to be done she takes flight on a crimson dragon. 

First she sets out to take out the mirror people who have managed to break down the doors and are now attacking again. Once that is done she now knows how she can seal the gateway for good. 

As well as being able to harness the sun she also has the ability to absorb the heat into herself. She draws out every particle of heat from the lake until no more heat remains and the lake is frozen solid! The remaining magic scatters into the air, the particles flying off to seal every other reflective surface remaining in the world. 

After finally sealing the mirror world, Ying is being led back to the palace by the soldiers. She sees the prince’s horse. The soldiers help her lift the debris where the horse is and they find the prince’s lifeless body. 

Ying is distraught and sobbing over his body and suddenly the prince takes a breath! Ying is extremely confused but the prince tells her it’s love. That the answer all along was love and that they are two halves of one whole.

When the prince and Ying reach the throne room, the nobles inside bow using the bow reserved only for the Emperor! Prince Zhang Lin is now the Emperor! 

Zhang Lin addresses the crowd – reminding them to remember who they are and to help rebuild a better world. 

He then tells everyone that due to Ying’s courageousness the battle was won and that Ying should be empress! 

Everyone agrees and Ying and Zhang Lin kiss. They are finally getting their much deserved happy ending and getting to rule together!

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I can’t believe the time has come to leave this world behind, I shall certainly miss a lot of these characters, the magic and the dragons! 

What did you all think of that final section?
Did you have a favourite moment in The Girl With No Reflection? 

Thank you so much for joining us for another FairyLoot readalong! I hope you had a good time and we’ll see you soon for the next one! 

Love,
Isla