Fury of the Phoenix by Cindy Pon

Title: Fury of the Phoenix

Author: Cindy Pon

Type: Novel
Genre: Fantasy

Series: Yes second first is Silver Phoenix

Copyright: 2011
Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Summary: from Good Reads
The Gods have abandoned Ai Ling.

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?

In this sequel to the acclaimed novel "Silver Phoenix," four lives are woven together and four destinies become one, now and forever.

Feelings:
I should say that I did read Silver Phoenix but I didn't really remember any of it. I originally thought that I did, I think I remembered the end of the book but not anything that happened in it. That being said I don't think this book depended on the first book as much as I would have expected. Everything was well explained and the parallel stories, Ai Ling and Chen Yong, and Zhong Ye and Silver Phoenix were interesting. (this might be a bit of a spoiler but not really, skip to the next paragraph if you want to be sure) Yes they take place 300 years or so apart, and Zhong Ye and Silver Phoenix's story is taking place in Ai Ling's mind as she lives their memories.

What I liked about the story was that Ai Ling is strong. 

Ai Ling glanced up and gasped. "How do I climb on?" ... The old man nodded to a thick length of rope coiled on the bottom, the tip ending in a sharp four-pronged grapple hook. "Throw that." ... "Walk your feet up the side!" ... Unable to breathe, she squatted like a bruised toad against the ship as it slammed down, and the water surged up to meet her. Focus. One hand over the other, then shuffling with her feet. The rough rope bit into her slick palms. The crew would disperse soon. She would get on board this ship or die trying. (p. 10-11)

It is nice to have a strong  female character. It is also nice to read a fantasy book that is about another culture, Chinese in this case even though it is a fictional land.

On the ship Ai Ling and Chen Yong avoid talking about their feelings for each other as well as dealing with the past they have. The captain of the ship Peng knows there is more than what they say. As the journey from Xia to Jiang where Chen Yong expects to find his birth father progresses they must begin to deal with what happened in the past while learning Jiang and confronting the future.

Having this book set between to different lands and cultures (Asian and Western) is very interesting.

On the negative side the book was predictable and frustrating at times because their had to be a confrontation between the past and the present but the way it happened seemed questionable to me. I had a hard time believing that it was real. I really did enjoy reading the book but I found the ending to be slightly unsatisfying. There were many good things about this book and I enjoyed reading it but it isn't one I expect to remember for long.