Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon Release Date: Buy it Today Harper Teen Ratings Action Romance Characters Overall Purchase on Amazon. Purchase at Powell’s. Find independent bookstores.

Ai Ling was secretly relieved to have her betrothal broken, even with the shame it brought on her family. But when her father disappears and a vile man tries to blackmail her into marriage, Ai Ling decides she must face the dangers of traveling unaccompanied and set off to find her father. Her only tool is the ability to reach into others’ souls and hear their thoughts, which also seems to be making her a target for a number of creatures no one thought existed any more.

She’s soon joined by Chen Yong, whose fate seems entwined with hers as he searches for answers to his past. Together, they will visit the land of the gods and take on the challenges that Ai Ling’s past incarnation was nice enough to volunteer her for.

Silver Phoenix is an exquisite Asian fairytale, something I’ve been hoping for for some time. Of course, my knowledge of ancient China is pretty limited, but it felt very authentic to me, and we can chalk up any problems to the fact that this is fantasy, and not exactly China. I especially loved how Pon stayed true to restrictions and prejudices toward girls, but worked around them in a way that didn’t make me go "But.. but… one girl is not going to change the gender prejudices of a whole nation!!!!!" It was great to see a fairytale style story that is very distinctly set in a non-western country, and one that doesn’t feel like it was just transplanted there without regard for all the little nuanced differences that come between western and eastern societies.

Another element I found well done was the topic of sex. The book opens on Ai Ling pretty much getting a sex ed lesson from her mother, about her duties as a wife, and throughout the book the topic of sex and purity is artfully and realistically woven into the story. Of course that makes me hesitate to say it’s appropriate for kids under 13, without knowing the kid, but I must commend the author on her good usage of the subject. I’m tired of books that use sex as purely a "look, kids, we’ve got smut!" or where girls are constantly threatened with rape ’cause they are girls in a male dominated society. The issues of sex, rape, and purity, though, were of great importance in earlier societies, so I also dislike it when authors glaze over them or pretend "oh, let’s have a medieval society, except everybody is openly promiscuous and the guy totally won’t care if he doesn’t know if he’s the father of the kid." Those kind of social changes take a lot more background history modification. But I’m digressing, and my grand debate about women’s roles in older societies can be left for a different day.

My least favorite thing about the book? The ending. Darn those open endings that need a sequel! It’s always been a pet peeve of mine when I get towards the end of the book and start realizing "wait a sec…. the author wants me to hang around for a sequel before she wraps things up, doesn’t she???" (Un?)fortunately, this was an excellent book and I will be eagerly awaiting the sequel to see how things turn out, especially with the unspoken promise of getting to see some other countries in this world. I’m not sure how to feel about the fact that the author told me on Goodreads that the book would have ended there even if there hadn’t been a sequel coming, but I probably would have felt a tad let down. I like my fiction to have what I consider happy endings. Life has enough ambiguity for me.

Ratings Reasons:
Action 5 - Nicely action packed, Pon did a good job at writing easy to follow and believe in action scenes.

Romance 3 - I wanted more. There are really only hints in this book, though it feels obvious who will eventually get together, but only time will tell.

Characters 5 - The characters lept off the page and felt fully fleshed out, leaving me wanting more and making me care about their outcomes.

Overall 5 - This is a great book for those who want something new to read and, like me, feel that a lot of authors have trouble moving past a very basic medieval society.

Extras:
This is Cindy Pon’s first book, but she’s a very active author who communicates a lot with her readers. Check out her blog and Goodreads page to communicate with her and hopefully she’ll be dropping some hints about the sequel!

Also, check out the cool trailer I previously posted.

The only other non western fairytale I remember enjoying this much was Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale, which is a western fairytale completely transplanted to a Mongolian styled country. Hale did an amazing job building the world and adding in the little details that make a fantasy world feel realistic.

Parents: 13+ Things do a get a little rough in this fight to the death, and the overall concept could be a great discussion topic. Not saying someone under thirteen wouldn’t enjoy the book, I just wouldn’t give it to them without knowing them and knowing they could handle all the emotions it might stir up.

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