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Silver Phoenix (2009)

by Cindy Pon(Favorite Author)

3.6 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0061730211 (ISBN13: 9780061730214)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Greenwillow Books

series

Kingdom of Xia

review 1: Really enjoyed this - got to see lots of Chinese myths and monsters that I wasn't familiar with, and a great heroine who really comes into her own in the course of the book. There were some fun romance-y elements developing too, although that part was left hanging, which was my only complaint about the book. If my only issue is that I can't wait to find out what happens next though, then that's hardly an issue at all :)
review 2: This is a rather unusual book. I read it because a friend liked it and because I met Cindy Pon at the Diversity in YA presentation and was quite charmed by her, so I bought a copy and had it signed (paperback, darn it, with a fairly boring cover, although it does illustrate part of the story).Overall, I really liked the story. Ai Lin... moreg is determined and resourceful; I enjoyed the journeying aspect of the book; and while she does fall in love with Chen Yong, the attraction is earned and faces genuine complications. Many demons appear and do terrible things, so there is a violent aspect to the tale, but I didn't find it terribly gory or too creepy. I found the writing mostly good and evocative.On the minus side, the mythology of the story didn't quite make sense to me, and I thought too many of the demon vanquishments came a little too easily to Ai Ling. And while I really enjoyed it as I was reading it, I would put it down and not feel a very strong draw to pick it back up, because it felt more like a series of episodes in some ways than a cohesive whole. I should probably also mention that the author originally thought she was writing an adult book, and that shows through quite a bit of it. This is definitely an older YA book, not for the 12-year-old set. They might enjoy it, but there is quite a bit of focus on marriage and sex right from the get-go, and while I think much of it would have gone over my head at that age, some kids might have awkward questions while reading this.Cindy Pon stated that she wrote this as a stand-alone novel, but there is a sequel called Fury of the Phoenix, and I'm definitely on board to read that. less

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