Wendy H. (donkeycheese) -
A young girl with a heart of gold, on a quest to find her father, finds herself. The path is rocky and troubled, but you must fight for what you believe in with everything you have and are.
Ai Ling has brought shame and dishonor to her family. Born to a former scholar of the Emperer, she should have no problem getting betrothed. However, since her father left the Palace of Fragrant Dreams in dishonor, no one wants to marry Ai Ling. Ai Ling doesn't know the details of the scandal, but is relieved as she wants to be no stranger's subservient bride and quarantined to the inner living quarters. Ai Ling desires her freedom and wants to marry for love.
When Ai Ling turned sixteen, an oddity began to happen to her. With just a touch, she could hear people's thoughts. She never mentions it to anyone because she is confused and unsure of her new power growing within her. A year later, Ai Ling's father suddenly leaves to travel to the palace without explanation, but before he goes,he bestows upon Ai Ling a jade trinket to hang around her neck. The trinket is marked with the word spirit, and is legended to protect her. When Ai Ling's father does not come home after several months, Ai Ling takes matters into her own hands. No one wants her, and staying home is just creating another mouth to feed, so she leaves in the darkest part of night to travel to the palace and find her father.
When a water demon almost kills Ai Ling when she is resting, a young man comes to her aid and pulls her to safety. Chen Yong is also travelling to the Palace to find out information about his birth parents. Ai Ling is drawn to Chen, and soon the two are travelling together. Ai Ling finds comfort in his company, and Chen worries about Ai Ling's safety. As the two travel, strange beings follow and attack them. Ai Ling believes they are there to kill her, and soon her beliefs are confirmed. Ai Ling is on a quest for the Immortals, and only her bravery, intelligence, and quick wit is going to save them all.
An epic quest of fantastic proportions draws you into a world of such surrealism, you won't want to leave. Cindy Pon does an excellent job of depicting just the right amount of details to create this colorful world filled with unforgettable beings and characters. Ai Ling reminded me alot of Disney's Mulan, but with more fiestiness and heart. Fantasy and romance fans alike will adore SILVER PHOENIX: BEYOND THE KINGDOM OF XIA. Young adult is not just for teenagers! I look forward to more of Cindy Pon's work.
Ai Ling has brought shame and dishonor to her family. Born to a former scholar of the Emperer, she should have no problem getting betrothed. However, since her father left the Palace of Fragrant Dreams in dishonor, no one wants to marry Ai Ling. Ai Ling doesn't know the details of the scandal, but is relieved as she wants to be no stranger's subservient bride and quarantined to the inner living quarters. Ai Ling desires her freedom and wants to marry for love.
When Ai Ling turned sixteen, an oddity began to happen to her. With just a touch, she could hear people's thoughts. She never mentions it to anyone because she is confused and unsure of her new power growing within her. A year later, Ai Ling's father suddenly leaves to travel to the palace without explanation, but before he goes,he bestows upon Ai Ling a jade trinket to hang around her neck. The trinket is marked with the word spirit, and is legended to protect her. When Ai Ling's father does not come home after several months, Ai Ling takes matters into her own hands. No one wants her, and staying home is just creating another mouth to feed, so she leaves in the darkest part of night to travel to the palace and find her father.
When a water demon almost kills Ai Ling when she is resting, a young man comes to her aid and pulls her to safety. Chen Yong is also travelling to the Palace to find out information about his birth parents. Ai Ling is drawn to Chen, and soon the two are travelling together. Ai Ling finds comfort in his company, and Chen worries about Ai Ling's safety. As the two travel, strange beings follow and attack them. Ai Ling believes they are there to kill her, and soon her beliefs are confirmed. Ai Ling is on a quest for the Immortals, and only her bravery, intelligence, and quick wit is going to save them all.
An epic quest of fantastic proportions draws you into a world of such surrealism, you won't want to leave. Cindy Pon does an excellent job of depicting just the right amount of details to create this colorful world filled with unforgettable beings and characters. Ai Ling reminded me alot of Disney's Mulan, but with more fiestiness and heart. Fantasy and romance fans alike will adore SILVER PHOENIX: BEYOND THE KINGDOM OF XIA. Young adult is not just for teenagers! I look forward to more of Cindy Pon's work.
Karissa E. (ophelia99) reviewed Silver Phoenix: Beyond the Kingdom of Xia on + 2527 more book reviews
This is the first book in Beyond the Kingdom of Xia duology by Pon. The second book, Fury of the Phoenix, has already been released. I have not heard about any additional books after that one. This was a decent read, but a bit simplistic in writing style.
Ai Lang is the daughter of a couple of parents who married for love; her father is a well learned professor. He is forced to go on a journey to the palace and leaves Ai Lang a special necklace that is supposed to protect her. When her father doesnt return for many months Ai Lang decides to leave her mother and journey on her own to the palace. Along the road she meets Chen Yong and finds that the road is plagued by many demons.
I enjoyed the story but found the writing to be a bit simplistic and the dialogue between characters a bit clunky and awkward sounding. This made it very hard to engage with the characters because they just come off as awkward and simplistic.
Ai Lang comes off as too timid and naive but occasionally, uncharacteristically, she does something brash and bold. The main hero of the story, Chen Yong, comes off as a colossal jerk...he constantly has boyish fits of anger and is at best dismissive to Ai Lang. Needless to say I had a lot of trouble connecting and engaging with these characters.
--------------SPOILER START--------------------------
When Ai Lang is nearly raped Chen Yong stomps off in a boyish fit and blames her for causing a scene. Ugh...really...it was the epitome of what is wrong with the society portrayed in this novel.
--------------SPOILER START--------------------------
There is a lot of emphasis put on women as male property and as sexual objects to males. Not my favorite type of society to read about, in fact I was a bit surprised by the emphasis on sex in this book. There arent any explicit sex acts described, but there is a lot of discussion about it.
The book is an okay read, but I just found everything about it to be okay. Nothing really blew me away. The story was fairly predictable. The magic system not all that well explained. Some parts of the story where the characters journey beyond Xia are fairly ambiguous as well.
On a side note Pon evidently likes her food a lot because there are a lot of detailed descriptions about what the characters eat in this book. Seriously they stop to eat a lot and by the end of the book I felt like I knew more about what food the characters liked to eat than the characters themselves.
Overall an okay read but not great. The writing style was too simplistic, the characters hard to engage with, and the story predictable. I usually love these type of adventure fantasy stories, but this one left me feeling cold. Looking back at this review there just wasnt a lot I actually enjoyed about this book. At this point I dont plan on reading Fury of the Phoenix...I have the book but will just pass it on to someone who wants to read it more than I do.
Ai Lang is the daughter of a couple of parents who married for love; her father is a well learned professor. He is forced to go on a journey to the palace and leaves Ai Lang a special necklace that is supposed to protect her. When her father doesnt return for many months Ai Lang decides to leave her mother and journey on her own to the palace. Along the road she meets Chen Yong and finds that the road is plagued by many demons.
I enjoyed the story but found the writing to be a bit simplistic and the dialogue between characters a bit clunky and awkward sounding. This made it very hard to engage with the characters because they just come off as awkward and simplistic.
Ai Lang comes off as too timid and naive but occasionally, uncharacteristically, she does something brash and bold. The main hero of the story, Chen Yong, comes off as a colossal jerk...he constantly has boyish fits of anger and is at best dismissive to Ai Lang. Needless to say I had a lot of trouble connecting and engaging with these characters.
--------------SPOILER START--------------------------
When Ai Lang is nearly raped Chen Yong stomps off in a boyish fit and blames her for causing a scene. Ugh...really...it was the epitome of what is wrong with the society portrayed in this novel.
--------------SPOILER START--------------------------
There is a lot of emphasis put on women as male property and as sexual objects to males. Not my favorite type of society to read about, in fact I was a bit surprised by the emphasis on sex in this book. There arent any explicit sex acts described, but there is a lot of discussion about it.
The book is an okay read, but I just found everything about it to be okay. Nothing really blew me away. The story was fairly predictable. The magic system not all that well explained. Some parts of the story where the characters journey beyond Xia are fairly ambiguous as well.
On a side note Pon evidently likes her food a lot because there are a lot of detailed descriptions about what the characters eat in this book. Seriously they stop to eat a lot and by the end of the book I felt like I knew more about what food the characters liked to eat than the characters themselves.
Overall an okay read but not great. The writing style was too simplistic, the characters hard to engage with, and the story predictable. I usually love these type of adventure fantasy stories, but this one left me feeling cold. Looking back at this review there just wasnt a lot I actually enjoyed about this book. At this point I dont plan on reading Fury of the Phoenix...I have the book but will just pass it on to someone who wants to read it more than I do.
To be honest, I bought this book due to the huge "white-washing" controversy and not on the storyline itself. I got lucky, bc it was such a great story! If you liked/loved "Graceling" or "Fire" by Kristine Cashore, you'll also enjoy this one.
I loved this book, but I will warn you: the author goes into detail about food ALL the time...made my stomach growl a lot! I had no idea what 99% of it was, tasted like, etc, and still it made me want to try them all.
I loved this book, but I will warn you: the author goes into detail about food ALL the time...made my stomach growl a lot! I had no idea what 99% of it was, tasted like, etc, and still it made me want to try them all.
