Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix

This is the sequel to Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, and where Forest was about the rise of the Empress - or the evil stepmother from Snow White - this book is solidly about Snow White. Or Jade, in this case. I enjoyed Forest, but Kingdom is spectacular! It's hard to like Xifeng in Forest, where she continually makes the decisions that drag her deeper into the evil god's clutches. Jade, however, is sweet and determined and loyal and good. She is easy to love, and worthy of it. We see a few characters from the first book coming back to help Jade in her quest, and I loved seeing how they had grown in the intervening years.

I do feel like the romantic storyline was kind of shoehorned in. Jade falls in love with no real reason for it. We don't see what's so fantastic about her love interest, he isn't shown as doing anything outstanding, he's just kind of there and the first male person she's spent time with. I get why he fell in love with Jade, Jade is amazing. He's just so bland. So that felt a little odd.

I did enjoy the magic cloak and the quest and the final battle. The scene between Ming and Xifeng at the end was absolutely heartbreaking and made me love Ming even more. He might be my favorite character from both books.

Bottom line, this is an excellent sequel to Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, and I think it's better than the first book. You could probably read it without reading Forest, but some of the reveals won't mean nearly as much, and you'll miss all the background that makes Xifeng so interesting.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

What a terrific ending.

Going into this, I knew what to expect: this was a Vietnamese-inspired take on the faerie tale of Snow White, and so, I knew how it was going to end, the direction in which it was going. But what Ms. Dao did with the tale — honestly, one of the best experiences I've ever read. I've seen complaints in some reviews for a “lack of character development” in the main protagonist's arc. But Jade, to me, did not have to have something astounding or “villainously” captivating like Xifeng in the first novel. She had her own arc, we went through her strong emotions, succumbing to temptation, rising above it. And it was so powerful to me, see her remain pure and not surrendering stories nor initial beliefs ( doing my best to not use spoilers! ) Seeing returning characters from the first novel was also a joy.

What I enjoyed is that you could really read either of the novels in this duology first, and then, read the other for supplement. The very wuxia type ending was wild, and enjoyable to read, and honestly, I liked how Ms. Dao wrapped up all of the plot elements started in Forest. For me, some of the dialogue fell a little flat, and there were places I wish we had lingered more, or had more of an emotional impact written in there to experience — but not everything can be engaging or quote-worthy, there's bound to be some filler and even when it was filler, or seemed a bit flat, it still — fit? So, a minor complaint.

I can't wait to continue diving into Ms. Dao's writing and take on tales!