Fury of the Phoenix by Cindy Pon

Fury of the Phoenix by Cindy Pon
"Her mysterious power haunts her day and night, and she leaves home—with just the moon as her guide—overwhelmed by her memories and visions and an unbearable sense of dread. For Ai Ling knows that Chen Yong is vulnerable to corrupt enchantments from the under-world. How can she do nothing when she has the skill and power to fight at his side? A dream has told her where he is, the name of the ship he is traveling on, his destination. So she steals off and stows away on board.

The ocean voyage brings with it brutal danger, haunting revelations, and new friendships, but also the premonition of a very real and terrifying threat. Zhong Ye—the powerful sorcerer whom Ai Ling believed she had vanquished in the Palace of Fragrant Dreams—is trapped in Hell, neither alive nor dead. Can he reach from beyond the grave to reunite with Silver Phoenix and destroy Chen Yong? And destroy whatever chance Ai Ling has at happiness, at love?"- summary from Amazon

OK, so be aware that there are two storylines here- Ai Ling's journey with Chen Yong and Zhong Ye's origin before he started taking souls as well as his romance with Silver Phoenix. It takes place 300 years before Ai Ling's storyline. I missed that clue so for a hundred pages I was completely confused because I thought both storylines were happening at the same time. I also couldn't remember who Zhong Ye was so Cindy helped me out and caught me up to speed because I read Silver Phoenix two years ago. So my word of advice is to refresh yourself a bit before going into Fury of the Phoenix if it's been a while, though Pon does a fairly good job of catching the reader up.

Anyway, moving on, I really enjoyed Fury of the Phoenix and missed Pon's poetic prose and I hope she comes out with something else soon. I liked seeing the two storylines back and forth (once I figured out what was going on) and it was nice to see Zhong Ye before he became a monster and like a real person. I enjoyed his courtship of Silver Phoenix and seeing their relationship bloom.

Of course, that was nothing compared to Ai Ling and Chen Yong's sexual tension and seeing their relationship grow over the course of the novel. There are of course stumbles and obstacles to go through, but I loved their scenes together. Their journey across the sea too was really interesting to read and I liked the little adventures that happened along the way. Pon's really good at the action scenes too, making them edge-of-your-seat thrilling. The ending also is so sweet.

Overall, I loved this book to bits and I really want to recommend it to everyone. It's amazing, addicting, and just all-around awesome.

FTC: Borrowed ARC from my awesome friend Meaghan. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.