About book Fury Of The Phoenix (Kingdom Of Xia, #2) ARC (2000)
This book explained why Silver Phoenix did not contain all the details that I so needed. This one was slower in its pace and plot and there were moments when the switch from the present to the past was jarring. However, I appreciated that Pon took the time to return to Zhong Ye and tell his story and let us understand the man behind the villain.Even in the first novel, I got the sense that Pon was a lot more sympathetic to Zhong Ye than I felt he was created to be and I wondered why. Fury of the Phoenix tells his story and juxtaposes that story with the present happenings in Ai Ling’s life. The novel reads much more smoothly than the first installment in the duology and the pacing and plotting are tighter. I liked the new characters that were introduced in this installment and I was happy to observe that Pon is becoming much more adept at character development as several of her characters, despite their relative importance in the novel/narrative, are in possession of actual personalities and not cardboard stereotypes.Pon succeeded in making me see Zhong Ye in a different light and though I cannot deny that he was a villain, I begin to understand and perhaps pity him just a little bit. Pon was most successful in depicting the amount of love Zhong Ye felt for Silver Phoenix and his devastation at her apparent suicide on their wedding night. The novel is a discourse on human greed and addiction. The mythology remains engaging and new and I think I ended up liking the second installment in this duology a whole lot more than the first. I can’t wait to see where Pon takes us next. Bad Point :The plot is rather too predictable. It lacks the action, adventure and novelty in the Silver Phoenix. Main characters lack depth and sometimes hard to understand, a bit Mary Sue-ish, I guess.Good Point :Beautifully written prose. Silver Phoenix and Zhong Ye took most of my interest. They are interesting, mature characters who are not sheltered but rather had been weathered by experience, but still have that innocence and love in them. it does not erase one's wrong doing, but help the reader to emphatize to the character. Cindy Pon does not hesitate to torture her characters. Her writing is very real: the intrigue within the palace, the socio-economic condition of the people, the complex mind of the characters in such situations.
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This was a very confusing sequel. It was mostly dealing with past.
—sissy77
