Book Review: Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon

Silver Phoenix: Beyond the Kingdom of Xiais the story of Ai Ling, rejected by a potential husband (much to her relief) and suddenly finding herself likely to become a fourth wife to a much older man, decides to reject that fate and follow her father. The only problem is that her father has disappeared. She embarks on this journey and is immediately beset on all sides with demons and other terrors. Can she, with the help of Chen Yong, a man who saved her life, find her father or will she fall prey to something worse than the demons?

Things I Liked:
I thought the setting and the history of Xia was absolutely beautiful. The Chinese lore and stories about the other kingdoms were gorgeous and very well-written. I also thought that the very last parts of the ending were pretty exciting.

Things I Didn't Like:
That being said, I didn't much like the story before it got to the ending. It seemed almost like a series of random events that felt disconnected. I was not drawn into the characters of the story because it seemed more like weird experiences followed by even weirder experiences. I just couldn't get interested in either the story or the characters. The only person I really liked was Li Rong. Part of the problem might be me, because I started reading this and put it aside for a pretty long time and then picked it up again later. I also found the ending, while exciting, was just the strangest part of all.

Read-alikes:
It felt a bit like Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
not a lot

mrg-factor: XX
some situations and innuendo

v-factor: ->->->
they fight a lot with swords and daggers

Overall rating: **

What is your all-time favorite setting from a book? (Place, time, fantasy location, whatever!)

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