Fury of the Phoenix
Jul. 11th, 2012 22:56![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starladyPon, Cindy. Fury of the Phoenix. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2011.
Disclaimer: The author is a friend of mine.
I liked the first of Cindy Pon's alt-China YA fantasy books, Silver Phoenix, very much, although it took me eons to get around to reading this book, the direct sequel. Fury of the Phoenix follows Ai Ling and Chen Yong as they journey to Jiang Dao to find his father, as well as Ai Ling's enemy Zhong Ye three hundred years in the past as he meets Ai Ling's past self Silver Phoenix and strives to climb the ladder of court rank in the Emperor's palace.
Silver Phoenix was great because it was such a frenetic, awesome story, and while a lot of what I liked about Ai Ling still shines through in this volume, giving half the story to Zhong Ye takes away from spending time in her perspective and on the whole this book feels a little bit more conventional than the first one. That said, it's still definitively a China-that-never-was fantasy with accurate cultural details, a strong female protagonist and a very frank attitude towards bodily appetites (food and sex) that I found refreshing. I also liked how even the characters of the cod!European country, Jiang Dao, were dealt with fairly while keeping the perspective very much through Ai Ling's Xian eyes.
Cindy tells me that she has just turned in another book set in Xia. I can't wait to read it.
Disclaimer: The author is a friend of mine.
I liked the first of Cindy Pon's alt-China YA fantasy books, Silver Phoenix, very much, although it took me eons to get around to reading this book, the direct sequel. Fury of the Phoenix follows Ai Ling and Chen Yong as they journey to Jiang Dao to find his father, as well as Ai Ling's enemy Zhong Ye three hundred years in the past as he meets Ai Ling's past self Silver Phoenix and strives to climb the ladder of court rank in the Emperor's palace.
Silver Phoenix was great because it was such a frenetic, awesome story, and while a lot of what I liked about Ai Ling still shines through in this volume, giving half the story to Zhong Ye takes away from spending time in her perspective and on the whole this book feels a little bit more conventional than the first one. That said, it's still definitively a China-that-never-was fantasy with accurate cultural details, a strong female protagonist and a very frank attitude towards bodily appetites (food and sex) that I found refreshing. I also liked how even the characters of the cod!European country, Jiang Dao, were dealt with fairly while keeping the perspective very much through Ai Ling's Xian eyes.
Cindy tells me that she has just turned in another book set in Xia. I can't wait to read it.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-07-12 04:23 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-07-15 16:45 (UTC)I liked the book more than I was expecting from things I'd heard about it from other people. But, yeah.