The Blood Phoenix (Of Jade and Dragons, Book 2)

 

Rating: 4 stars for a fabulous Chinese-fantasy book 2 that leaves you searching for another read that is up to par.

My Thoughts:

Of Jade and Dragons left me heartbroken at the end. I HAD to read this second book before it came out. Thank you Net Galley for making that happen.  Here is one spoiler, though. The second book starts with heartbreak and also ends with heartbreak. Perhaps that is a trope with C-drama (versus K-drama). 

In a way, this brings me back to watching Kung Fu movies with subtitles (never dubbed) at the local theatre in Chinatown with my mom. The women in these movies were fierce and would sacrifice themselves and go "down with the ship" to protect what was theirs. Ying reminds me of that. Perhaps the idea of riding off into the sunset with your soulmate is so western and so anti Asian. I actually think that is what I love about this new diverse fantasy --drama, heartbreak, ferocity, verve, martydom. So Asian. It is like looking at my matriarchs in my own family. 

If your students are clamoring for more, there is a short list of next reads on the first book in this duology, Of Jade and Dragons.  And if you are an English teacher and you go to an NCTE conference, go to the AAPI get together. It is like a support group for these young Asian American authors and they love talking about their newest books. The giveaways are fabulous and the camaraderie is great to see. 

From the Publisher:

Two years after Ying leaves the Engineer’s Guild and the ghost of her father’s unjust death behind, life seems to regain a semblance of normalcy. But the winds of unrest continue to stir within the Nine Isles, and the aftermath of a horrific pirate attack by the mysterious Blood Phoenix fleet forces Ying back into the tense political world of the new High Commander, Ye-yang. And soon, Ying, Ye-yang and her former friends from the guild must work together to find a way to outsmart the cunning pirates who terrorise the straits—and the elusive mastermind who’s controlling them.  

Meanwhile, Ying’s sister, Nian, now lives in the capital, awaiting the day she will finally marry the High Commander. While her relationship with Ye-yang remains distant, she finds company in her friendship with the fourteenth prince, Ye-kan, and discovers her unexpected affinity for governance and strategy. But the capital is more dangerous than she expects, and when a dark conspiracy arises, Nian and Ye-kan must unravel the mystery in time to prevent the High Command from collapsing from within. 

New dangers arise at every moment, threatening to tear the Nine Isles apart. In order to sail through this storm, Ying and her loved ones must make difficult choices amidst terrible betrayals. With the world on the brink of destruction, will they find a way to defeat their enemies and survive? And will it be worth the cost?

Publication Information:

Author: Amber Chen

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers (June 17, 2025)

Print length: 464 pages

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White (Song of the Last Kingdom, Book 2)

 

Stars: 4 for fighting and sacrificing fantasy

My Thoughts:

I posted about the first book over a year ago. I realize that  sequels happen this way, but when I picked this book up, I did not have to reread my post or at least look at a summary on a book site. In other words, these two characters, Lan and Zen, made an impression. I remembered that things were complicated at the end of Song of Silver, Flame Like Night as well as the fact that whatever "fromance" happened in book 1 was no longer on the table. Jumping into the chaos of this book was seamless because the characters are memorable and their quest is real. I feel like this idea of colonization, even in a fromance, cannot happen in one book. It needs at least a duology to really get to the root of the colonization, which in this case is about power. 

The battles are large, the demons are powerful. Will the heroes lose their souls to the demons? Is there a world where Lan and Zen can ever be together? Read on. 

Side note: "fromance" - meaning fantasy plus romance is a term given to me by one of my teaching alums. He basically used it as a bad word, probably as I was giving him a new "fromance" book. He misses the guts, war, battles of fantasy, LOTR style without the mushy stuff. 

Of Jade and Dragons

 

Stars: 4 

My Thoughts:

I see this Mulan style novel very similar to Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim. Even if Spin is about going to the capitol to be the head tailor and this book is about getting into the Engineers Guild, what makes Of Jade and Dragons so powerful is that it combines the competition aspect with a murder mystery and a political ethics dilemma. Yes, there is a romance. Yes, there is betrayal and intrigue. But the mystery and lies right around the corner are so unexpected. The secret gender may be a secret, but not to the main male character, so that is not a mystery. However, the lies, oh my goodness! The best part is when Aihui realizes that she should have listened to her deceased father and it is too late. She had to see it through, but in the moment, at least she has come to some kind of "aha." 

Other books to try before or after this one: 

A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin

Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

From the Publisher:

Mulan meets Iron Widow in this thrilling silkpunk fantasy about a girl who must disguise herself as a boy and enter the famed and dangerous Engineer’s Guild trials to unravel the mystery of her father’s murder.

Eighteen-year-old Aihui Ying dreams of becoming a world-class engineer like her father, but after his sudden murder, her life falls apart. Left with only a journal of her father’s engineering secrets and a jade pendant snatched from the assassin, a heartbroken Ying follows the trail to the capital and the prestigious Engineers Guild—a place that harbors her father’s hidden past—determined to discover why anyone would threaten a man who ultimately chose a quiet life over fame and fortune. 

Disguised as her brother, Ying manages to infiltrate the guild’s male-only apprenticeship trial with the help of an unlikely ally—Aogiya Ye-yang, the taciturn eighth prince of the High Command. With her father’s renown placing a target firmly on her back, Ying must stay one step ahead of her fellow competitors, the jealous guild masters, and the killer still hunting for her father’s journal. Complicating everything is her increasingly tangled relationship with the prince, who may have mysterious plans of his own. 

The secrets concealed within the guild can be as deadly as the weapons they build—and with her life and the future of her homeland at stake, Ying doesn’t know who to trust. Can she avenge her father even if it means going against everything he stood for, or will she be next in the mastermind’s line of fire?

Publication Information:

Author: Amber Chen

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers (June 18, 2024)

Print length: 477 pages

Paper Dragons: The Fight for the Hidden Realm

 

My Thoughts:

Zhi Ging enters the middle level fantasy genre as the next spunky 12-year-old heroine in this Hong Kong inspired undersea adventure. What I was NOT paying attention to is that this is a duology. I admit that I did not pay attention to that, so when Zhi Ging must step up to her save the world moment, the book was done! I was not prepared. In other words, know before you start reading this aloud to your upper elementary child or let the tweens know that the next book does not come out until March 2025. 

The appeal of this book is that it takes a plucky girl who is orphaned and bullied as a talentless "no glow," and gives her a chance to shine in this delightful magic-school genre. The world building, or under sea building is new and a solid contribution that makes me want to go to the local aquarium and study jellyfish.  In other words, think Pippi or Anne of Green Gables, but Asian with Cantonese cultural motifs and magic food spoons. I am most obsessed with the spoons and would like to visit the movie set in the sea near Hong Kong so I can bowl with a stone, choose a spoon and eat whatever appears when I pour hot water in the bowl and crack the spoon on the stone. 

In reality, I don't know if there will be a movie, but if you get to the north island of New Zealand, you can visit Hobbiton in Matamata. The tour takes you through the movie set shire, and it ends at the Green Dragon Inn where you get a complimentary beverage. Pay a little more and you can join others for second breakfast or a dinner feast. The food in Paper Dragons would be worth a visit to Hong Kong. 

From the Publishers:

An outsider in her village above the cloud sea, 12-year-old orphan Yeung Zhi Ging’s only hope of escape is to win the single invitation to train as a Silhouette: an apprentice to the immortals. After her ill-fated attempt to impress the Silhouette scout leads to a dragon attack on the jade mountain, Zhi Ging is sure that her chances, and her life, are over. But the scout spots her potential and offers her protection and a second chance. She’s in.

In her lessons in Hok Woh, the underwater realm of the immortals, Zhi Ging must face the challenging trials set by her teachers to prove that she’s worthy of being a Silhouette—despite her rivals' attempts to sabotage her. But as Zhi Ging’s power grows, so do the rumours of the return of the Fui Gwai, an evil spirit that turns people into grey-eyed thralls.

When the impossible happens and the Fui Gwai attack the Silhouettes, can Zhi Ging use her newly uncovered talents to save her friends and the world beyond? Or will the grey-eyed spirit consume them all?

Publication Information:

Author: Siobhan McDermott

Publisher: Delacorte Press (March 5, 2024)

Hardcover: 384 pages

ISBN-13: 978-0593706114

Grade level: 5-6

Master of Iron (Bladesmith #2)

 

Publication date: July 26, 2022

My Thoughts:

This book follows Blade of Secrets which came out in May 2021 and is probably a really good action/adventure/romance/girl power fantasy. I do not say this because I read the first book. I probably missed it when it came out on NetGalley. I have so many books in my queue that the publishers probably hate that I ask for their books, but lucky for me, they give it any way. 

No, the reason why I know that Blade was a good book is that I trust this author, Tricia Levenseller. I have her review of Warrior of the Wild here and it was a fabulous one and done read. She is another of the female fantasy writers that write from a female "bad ass" perspective for YA readers. I gobble this stuff up. Also, in Master, the author gives enough hints about the first book to know that it was a good read. Unfortunately, since I know that the characters made it out of the first book (because they are in the second book), I do not want to read it. However, if you have not read Blade of Secrets, please do before July 26, 2022 when this book comes out. Readers who do not want to commit to the three or more fantasy series like Sarah J. Maas' fabulous Throne of Glass series will enjoy these new one and dones or duology fantasy books. I appreciate that these authors are also pushing the envelope in diversity such that white, heteronormative is not the automatic go to in YA fantasy. There is a shift coming, yes? 

In this duology, although the 4 main characters are cisgender whites, there are LGBTQIA side characters and the society of this book does not balk. The main character also suffers from social anxiety, but a lot of this book is about Ziva, the main character, gathering the mental health tools she needs amidst war, trauma, romance and magic-ing. Her love interest, the mercenary Kellyn, also is able to help her prioritize love, family and hope, which is a nice shift. 

I was going to put more ladders (next books to give voracious readers) here, but I read a lot of fantasy, so just look here for recommendations. This book followed a book that I had to abandon because I just could not accept the premise, so I was looking for a devour worthy fantasy to recenter myself. Despite not reading the first book, these characters grabbed me and I could read this book without reading the first one. Consider me re-centered and ready to go. 

From the Publisher:

In Master of Iron, the conclusion to Tricia Levenseller’s exciting Bladesmith YA fantasy duology, a magically gifted blacksmith with social anxiety must race against the clock to save her beloved sister and stop a devastating war.

Eighteen-year-old Ziva may have defeated a deadly warlord, but the price was almost too much. Ziva is forced into a breakneck race to a nearby city with the handsome mercenary, Kellyn, and the young scholar, Petrik, to find a powerful magical healer who can save her sister’s life.

When the events that follow lead to Ziva and Kellyn’s capture by an ambitious prince, Ziva is forced into the very situation she’s been dreading: magicking dangerous weapons meant for world domination.

The forge has always been Ziva’s safe space, a place to avoid society and the anxiety it causes her, but now it is her prison, and she’s not sure just how much of herself she’ll have to sacrifice to save Kellyn and take center stage in the very war she’s been trying to stop.

Unravel the Dusk

 

From the Publisher:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Six Crimson Cranes comes a fantasy filled with courtly intrigue, deceitful demons, and breathtaking gowns ... the stakes are higher than ever in this thrilling sequel to Spin the Dawn!

Maia Tamarin's journey to sew the dresses of the sun, the moon, and the stars has taken a grievous toll. She returns to a kingdom on the brink of war. Edan, the boy she loves, is gone--perhaps forever--and no sooner does she set foot in the Autumn Palace than she is forced to don the dress of the sun and assume the place of the emperor's bride-to-be to keep the peace. When the emperor's rivals learn of her deception, there is hell to pay, but the war raging around Maia is nothing compared to the battle within.
 
Ever since she was touched by the demon Bandur, she has been changing . . . glancing in the mirror to see her own eyes glowing red; losing control of her magic, her body, her mind. It's only a matter of time before Maia loses herself completely, and in the meantime she will stop at nothing to find Edan, protect her family, and bring lasting peace to her country.

My Thoughts:

Elizabeth Lim offers up two duologies, The Blood of Stars books starting with Spin the Dawn and ending with this book and Six Crimson Cranes books ending with The Dragon's Promise coming out in August 2022.  Although the publication order is different, the world that these four stories occupy is the same world, just that the Cranes duology happens much earlier than the Blood duology. 

Edan in the end says that he saw Shiori from Cranes but the stories are centuries apart. It is only possible because as the Enchanter, he is very old.  What the two sets of stories  have in common, though is the demon Bandura. He is still a major psychological kill joy.

These two sets are definitely girl power fantasies. They may also be listed as romances, but this is no Disney romance as I feel like no one really gets the happy ending. Perhaps I need to be more Asian stoic. Either way, all of Ms. Lim's books are fast reads for reluctant readers who want fast action and divine intervention.

Author: Elizabeth Lim

Publisher:  Ember

Publication date: June 1, 2021