Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix is just that: a blazing phoenix of grit, loyalty, love, and altruism wrapped in a masterful tapestry of oriental inspired storytelling and tragic determination that will leave you spellbound until the final words.
This book is the second by Julie Dao and a sequel to Forest of a Thousand Lanterns. I would highly recommend if you haven’t read this first book in this series to pick it up and read it first. While you could probably gather most of the background needed from this book, the reading of this second installment will be so much the sweeter by having a solid understanding of the character backgrounds and proclivities.
One of the things that makes this book such a well-crafted piece of art is the interweaving of stories within the story. The author not only has the creativity to marry a Snow-White type story with an action-packed adventure, but she also weaves folk tales that outline morals (almost Aesop fable-like) into the underlying plot. What results is a beautifully rich narrative that will transport you to the great forest effortlessly.
The language of this novel is straight forward and clear. Special attention is given to the scenery which makes the setting so realistic at times I felt as though oriental music was playing right off the pages. The words used suck you in to the story so completely that during harrowing scenes I found my heart starting to race and my breathing quickening. The book is devoid of complex words and is written in simple language that readers will quickly understand and makes for ease of reading.
This second novel is a tour-de-force and I know I will be watching with bated breath for more by this author to hit the shelves soon!
Review of an Advance Reading Copy
This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Philomel
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 4 religious exclamations.
Violence and Gore: Verbal threats; story of man being killed with no detail; corpses are strung up outside city gate; depiction of corpses in various states of decay; 4-page nightmare of woman eating hearts and girl imagines being stabbed; two instances of girl slapping another girl; poisoned air comb drips with blood; woman is kidnapped twice with depiction of being bound and threatened at sword point in one instance; dead maid is covered in blood and kicked by killer; ghoulish scene of dead bodies floating in pool; river is composed of dead bodies and body parts; 1 page hand to hand combat battle resulting in death of 2; short first fight; woman kick’s out man’s teeth and threatens another; bloody stab wound; man recounts killing another with no detail; woman talks about how she ate other’s hearts; man kills dragon; fierce sand storm beats and threatens girl; snakes are magically set on fire; 2 chapter fight with swords and bows with copious amounts of blood, injury, beheading and death; 5 page battle between dragons.
Sex and Nudity: Hand-holding; hand on leg; 6 instances of kissing.
Mature Subject Matter:
Death of parent or friend, abandonment, murder, poverty, socioeconomic conflict, child labor, slavery, civil unrest, cannibalism.
Alcohol / Drug Use:
None
