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Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix book review featured image
Published On: September 7, 2019Categories: ReviewsTags: 6 Comments
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[scroll-box] This fairy tale retelling lives in a mystical world inspired by the Far East, where the Dragon Lord and the Serpent God battle for control of the earthly realm; it is here that the flawed heroine of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns finally meets her match. An epic fantasy finale to the Rise of the Empress novels.

Princess Jade has grown up in exile, hidden away in a monastery while her stepmother, the ruthless Xifeng, rules as empress of Feng Lu. But the empire is in distress and its people are sinking into poverty and despair. Even though Jade doesn’t want the crown, she knows she is the only one who can dethrone the empress and set the world right. Ready to reclaim her place as rightful heir, Jade embarks on a quest to raise the Dragon Lords and defeat Xifeng and the Serpent God once and for all. But will the same darkness that took Xifeng take Jade, too? Or will she find the strength within to save herself, her friends, and her empire?

Set in an East Asian-inspired fantasy world filled with breathtaking pain and beauty, Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix is filled with dazzling magic, powerful prose, and characters readers won’t soon forget.
[toggle title=”CLICK HERE FOR CONTENT+TRIGGER WARNINGS”] Murder, violence, blood, death, and death of a loved one.[/toggle] [/scroll-box]

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  • AN ASIAN-INSPIRED SNOW WHITE RETELLING – I will never not read a fairy tale retelling, and Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix was no exception. In this rendition of the ever-popular Snow White tale, our favorite poisoned-apple-eating princess is an exiled-monk-in-training named Jade, and together with her ragtag group of friends, she must set out on a…*drumroll please* HERO’S JOURNEY. Gosh, how I love this trope. Much travel. Many quest. Adventure everywhere!
Basically me every time I get my hands on a book where the characters go on an epic quest.
  • A STORY RICH WITH FOLKLORE – Dao incorporates many folk tales into her narrative, which not only adds a new layer of richness to the fantasy world of Feng Lu, but also plays a vital part in the plot. These various stories-within-a-story were a delight to read and I especially enjoyed the one about the Crane Wife, since it’s one I’m already familiar with from Japanese culture.
  • A COTTON-CANDY SWEET ROMANCE – The romance in this book IS TOO PURE FOR THIS WORLD. Seriously, Jade and [REDACTED] are such cinnamon rolls and their romance was so innocent, so soft, that I think I got a cavity from overexposure to their sweetness (but in a good way? Can getting a cavity be a good thing?). Anyway, they were definitely a major highlight.
  • THE CHARACTERS FELT AS FLAT AS PAPER MARIO – Jade is your typical Snow White incarnation; she is kind, she is loving, she is the sweetest thing since red bean paste, and if I met her in real life, I’m sure I would love her as much as I do that sticky filling. BUT. She is also kind of bland to read about. Her choices were predictable, and overall she felt very…dare I say it…Mary Sue-ish.
In other words…the characters felt REALLLLY flat for me.
  • THERE IS NO URGENCY – Okay, so you know that “one more chapter” lie you tell yourself over and over again until it’s three in the morning and you’re suddenly regretting all of your life choices (everything from “Maybe staying up late to finish this book was a bad idea,” to “Why did I get those horrible bangs back in the seventh grade?”). Well, I never felt that with this book. The need to stay up until the butt-crack of dawn in order to know what would happen next wasn’t there. Why? Because I already knew what was going to happen. Evil would be vanquished, love would triumph, Jade would prevail. End of story. Now don’t get me wrong – I like a perfect Happily Ever After as much as the next person, but I want it to be a bit touch-and-go along the way. Is our heroine going to come out on top, or isn’t she? Is she going to succeed, or isn’t she? And I just didn’t feel that sort of suspense with Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix.
  • AN ANTI-CLIMATIC ENDING {WARNING!! WARNING!! HERE THERE BE SPOILERS !!!!!!} – In the final, climactic battle, the Dragon Lords beam down from heaven to duke it out with the Serpent God, and in effect, they boot all the mortals {AKA: our heroine and her friends} right out of the fight. All of the other characters stand back to watch how things unfold between the immortals, and this really pulled me out of the scene. Instead of being in the middle of all the action, I had the nosebleed seats for what was supposed to be the most suspenseful part of the entire book.
How connected I felt during the final battle scene.

Although I thought I would adore Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix (it’s an Asian-Inspired Snow White retelling, for goodness sake!!!), the predictability of the story and the one-dimensional characters didn’t work for me as well as I would have liked.

My Rating: MEH

Another Opinion

Because sometimes people prefer pancakes, and that’s okay!

Just because I didn’t absolutely love Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix doesn’t mean you won’t! It also doesn’t mean that it’s a bad book; it just didn’t work for me. CW over at The Quiet Pond wrote a wonderful review for Kingdom where she recommended it to all her readers. You should go check it out!

Book Aesthetic

kingdom of the blazing phoenix book graphic

What is your favorite Snow White retelling?

Do you like books that include the Hero’s Journey / Epic Quest trope? What are some of your favorites?

Have you read this book? What did you think?

6 Comments

  1. tasya @ the literary huntress September 7, 2019 at 11:20 pm - Reply

    Great review, Kat! I enjoyed this one, but I agree that the ending felt so predictable that we didn’t feel the urgency to keep reading. And while I still enjoyed Jade as a character, after reading about Xi Feng in the first book, Jade felt like underdeveloped in comparison.

    I hope your next read will be better!

    • Hunida September 14, 2019 at 12:09 pm - Reply

      Aw sorry this one didn’t work out so well for you. An Asian Snow White does sound amazing though. Awesome review of the book, Kat! I absolutely love how you have the “Another Opinon” section & the “Book Aesthetics” are so fun.

  2. evelynreads1 September 8, 2019 at 1:54 am - Reply

    Great review! Sad to see that it wasn’t as great as you hoped! I do still want to pick up book one, because it does sound interesting!

    (www.evelynreads.com)

  3. Kelly | Another Book in the Wall September 11, 2019 at 2:06 pm - Reply

    Oh no, I’m so sorry to see that this one had such paper-thin characters, no urgency, and an anticlimatic conclusion! I love retellings SO MUCH, but it’s a real bummer whenever the outcomes are almost exactly what we see coming. *sighs* I really enjoyed the first book, but I’m not sure if this one will quite be my cup of tea! Great review, Kat! <3

  4. Alex September 13, 2019 at 11:07 pm - Reply

    I enjoyed book one of this duology but never got round to picking up this sequel. Your review makes me think I’m not missing out on much!

  5. Kal @ Reader Voracious October 6, 2019 at 2:45 am - Reply

    Great review Kat, and I am sorry that this one wasn’t a better read for you. Flat characters make it really hard for me to care about the plot, and then pairing it with no sense of urgency leads me to believe I’d struggle as well. Which sucks because I am a ho for fairy tale retellings.

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