Fury of the Phoenix – Cindy Pon (Review)

Hardcover, 362 pages
Published March 29th 2011 by Greenwillow Books (first published March 10th 2011)
Source: Library

Synopsis:

The sequel to the epic, romantic, and action-packed fantasy “Silver Phoenix” continues the sweeping quest of Ai Ling, a young woman with astonishing powers granted by the gods.

 

 

 

 

Review:

This book explained why Silver Phoenix did not contain all the details that I so needed. This one was slower in its pace and plot and there were moments when the switch from the present to the past was jarring. However, I appreciated that Pon took the time to return to Zhong Ye and tell his story and let us understand  the man behind the villain.

Even in the first novel, I got the sense that Pon was a lot more sympathetic to Zhong Ye than I felt he was created to be and I wondered why. Fury of the Phoenix tells his story and juxtaposes that story with the present happenings in Ai Ling’s life. The novel reads much more smoothly than the first installment in the duology and the pacing and plotting are tighter. I liked the new characters that were introduced in this installment and I was happy to observe that Pon is becoming much more adept at character development as several of her characters, despite their relative importance in the novel/narrative, are in possession of actual personalities and not cardboard stereotypes.

Pon succeeded in making me see Zhong Ye in a different light and though I cannot deny that he was a villain, I begin to understand and perhaps pity him just a little bit. Pon was most successful in depicting the amount of love Zhong Ye felt for Silver Phoenix and his devastation at her apparent suicide on their wedding night. The novel is a discourse on human greed and addiction. The mythology remains engaging and new and I think I ended up liking the second installment in this duology a whole lot more than the first. I can’t wait to see where Pon takes us next.

 

Incarnate – Jodi Meadows (Review)

Hardcover, 384 pages
Published January 31st 2012 by Katherine Tegen
Source: Library

Synopsis:

New soul

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

No soul

Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

Heart

Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies–human and creature alike–let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

Review:

I quite enjoyed this one. It has a rather refreshing premise and was executed in a manner that mostly did justice to it. One thing I couldn’t fathom, however, was how Ana was treated by her mother. I understand that Ana somehow replaced someone else but it still seemed rather strange that the woman would treat her child in such a reprehensible manner. It certainly intrigued me anyway. Is it because she has lived for such a long time that the basic human-ness has left her? Or is she just an evil character? But then again, how do you define evil? (We had this long conversation in one of my English classes about this very thing.)

Anyway, Ana is an interesting character and I would have loved to read more about how she comes to terms with herself, about her musical skills (I wish these had been further expounded upon but alas). I didn’t particularly like the romance since I felt that there were enough things in the book to push that in also but psht, from a business perspective, books with romance sell better than books without so while I may not like it, I understand its inclusion. Sam, the love interest, didn’t impress me much. I mean, he felt more like a teacher, a big brother (I know, I know) than the boy you swoon for. But again, this is subjective.

The dance scene was breathtaking and unfortunately, heralded the gradual denaturation of the novel (denaturation is what happens to proteins when they unwind and lose their structure). The last quarter of the book was particularly awkward for me. It seemed hasty and patched together, the temple, the elder, the parent, there were too many things happening and none of them were pursued to my satisfaction. However, despite all my complaints, I still enjoyed the novel on a purely superficial level. It entertained me and that’s what it sought out to do. The repercussions of living forever, the consequences of it on human society…I think these are all good questions and could (should?) be answered in the next few installments. Either ways, I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays out.