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A review by charlotekerstenauthor
Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon
You judge the gods by who bows down at their altars?" Ai Ling asked.”
Spoilers and a discussion of sexual violence follow.
So What's It About?
"On the day of her first betrothal meeting–and rejection–Ai Ling discovers a power welling deep within her. She can reach into other people’s spirits, hear their thoughts, see their dreams…and that’s just the beginning.
Ai Ling has been marked by the immortals; her destiny lies in the emperor’s palace, where a terrible evil has lived, stealing souls, for centuries. She must conquer this enemy and rescue her captive father, while mythical demons track her every step. And then she meets Chen Yong, a young man with a quest of his own, whose fate is intertwined with hers. Here is a heart-stopping, breathtaking tale for fans of action, fantasy, and romance–of anything with the making of legend."
What I Thought
This is, ultimately, something of a big old "ehhh" for me. Nothing about it caused me to despise it, but nothing about it caused me to adore it either. This book and I exist in a neutral, awkward liminal space together, making stilted small talk.
The best that I have to say about it is that Cindy Pon clearly possesses a vivid imagination and a great capacity for translating that imagination to the paper. Silver Phoenix is positively crawling with hordes of grotesque and fascinating creatures, some of which genuinely disgusted me:
"She realized then that it was composed of corpses—arms and legs jutted from the top of its head instead of hair. Its naked mass was formed of human torsos, more limbs, and worse, heads and sagging faces. Some of the eyes were so decomposed only empty sockets peered from a putrefied skull."
But it's not all body horror! Over the course of the book Ai Ling treks through many marvelous and mystical locales, which are lushly and beautifully described as well. My favorite is the palace of the Immortals, where there are a number of magical trees:
"There was the tree with leaves that were giant eyes blinking in the wind. The irises were of every shade imaginable, pink, green, scarlet, and orange. The pupils were all shaped differently, from circles to squares and diamonds, swirls and stars. The eye leaves rustled under the gentle breeze of the heavenly mountain, all blinking, and all-seeing. THE OBSERVANT TREE."
Another plus is that, contrary to all the YA protagonist waifs who can barely manage to choke down a granola bar, Ai Ling positively revels in food and eating. This is great to see for mental/physical health reasons, but also just because all the food sounds so tasty:
"'A plate of roast duck, steamed dumplings, spicy noodles with beef gravy, pickled cucumbers, stewed tongue and eggs if you have them, cold please, and sticky rice pearls, too,' Ai Ling said, before the server girl could open her mouth. 'I don't know what he wants.' Ai Ling nodded toward Chen Yong.
'I'm not sure I have enough coins to order anything more,' he said, laughing.”
As a final positive note, I'd also add that Ai Ling's ultimate decision not to resurrect her dead friend is handled appropriately as a demanding ethical dilemma, and I was quite pleased with the way in which she arrives at her final decision.
My concerns about Silver Phoenix, however, arise when we consider the fact that none of the characters are especially strong or interesting outside of the main antagonist. Ai Ling's love for food is the main thing about her that endears her to me at all, and I'll discuss the other main character, Chen Yong, a little bit later. In addition, I'd like to discuss the mixed bag of this book's feminism.
YA has come a long way in the 10 years since Silver Phoenix was published, and as far as I can remember, this book's willingness to grapple with questions of gender and race is something that wasn't all too common back then. Generally speaking, there are some good basic messages in this book for early teen readers who might be just figuring out feminism:
"Why were women always seen as things to be possessed by men in these tales, never worth more than their physical beauty?"
It's nothing ground-shattering for an adult, but I think it's just the right level for a young reader to sink their teeth into. In addition to matters of gender, I'd like to address the matter of race in Silver Phoenix. Cindy Pon is the co-founder of Diversity in YA, and an advisory board member for We Need Diverse Books. It's clearly something that she is passionate about, and that is apparent in her debut novel. Silver Phoenix's ancient Chinese-inspired setting is populated entirely by people of color, and is fundamentally built upon the extensive and rich knowledge that stems from Pon's background in Chinese studies. I especially appreciated the examination of difficulties arising from biracial identity that occurs as a part of Chen Yong's story.
At the same time, I think the positive messages get a little lost when the book starts to delve into the intersection of sexism and sexual violence. I really had no idea that I'd be spending so much time talking about this topic when I started this blog, but here we are, kids! The problem is that Ai Ling is subjected to numerous instances of sexual harassment and sexual assault over the course of the book, but I never felt that she had a realistic psychological response to anything that happened. People may be numb after an assault; they may suppress their feelings - but these are still VERY clearly different things from simply having no emotional reaction at all and more or less carrying on with one's adventure like nothing out of the ordinary has happened. The latter is what happens in Silver Phoenix.
Finally, the sort-of-love-interest Chen Yong is a big dumb idiot who repeatedly talks about how "traditional" he is, and when a dude describes himself as "traditional" in real life YOU KNOW that's enough to send me running in the opposite direction. He's so stupidly self-congratulatory over the fact that he doesn't think women should be mindless baby-making and cooking machines. Like:
Chen Yong: “I know I’m very traditional in thought. But you have to believe that I value women for more than their roles within the inner quarters.”
Charlotte:
Spoilers and a discussion of sexual violence follow.
So What's It About?
"On the day of her first betrothal meeting–and rejection–Ai Ling discovers a power welling deep within her. She can reach into other people’s spirits, hear their thoughts, see their dreams…and that’s just the beginning.
Ai Ling has been marked by the immortals; her destiny lies in the emperor’s palace, where a terrible evil has lived, stealing souls, for centuries. She must conquer this enemy and rescue her captive father, while mythical demons track her every step. And then she meets Chen Yong, a young man with a quest of his own, whose fate is intertwined with hers. Here is a heart-stopping, breathtaking tale for fans of action, fantasy, and romance–of anything with the making of legend."
What I Thought
This is, ultimately, something of a big old "ehhh" for me. Nothing about it caused me to despise it, but nothing about it caused me to adore it either. This book and I exist in a neutral, awkward liminal space together, making stilted small talk.
The best that I have to say about it is that Cindy Pon clearly possesses a vivid imagination and a great capacity for translating that imagination to the paper. Silver Phoenix is positively crawling with hordes of grotesque and fascinating creatures, some of which genuinely disgusted me:
"She realized then that it was composed of corpses—arms and legs jutted from the top of its head instead of hair. Its naked mass was formed of human torsos, more limbs, and worse, heads and sagging faces. Some of the eyes were so decomposed only empty sockets peered from a putrefied skull."
But it's not all body horror! Over the course of the book Ai Ling treks through many marvelous and mystical locales, which are lushly and beautifully described as well. My favorite is the palace of the Immortals, where there are a number of magical trees:
"There was the tree with leaves that were giant eyes blinking in the wind. The irises were of every shade imaginable, pink, green, scarlet, and orange. The pupils were all shaped differently, from circles to squares and diamonds, swirls and stars. The eye leaves rustled under the gentle breeze of the heavenly mountain, all blinking, and all-seeing. THE OBSERVANT TREE."
Another plus is that, contrary to all the YA protagonist waifs who can barely manage to choke down a granola bar, Ai Ling positively revels in food and eating. This is great to see for mental/physical health reasons, but also just because all the food sounds so tasty:
"'A plate of roast duck, steamed dumplings, spicy noodles with beef gravy, pickled cucumbers, stewed tongue and eggs if you have them, cold please, and sticky rice pearls, too,' Ai Ling said, before the server girl could open her mouth. 'I don't know what he wants.' Ai Ling nodded toward Chen Yong.
'I'm not sure I have enough coins to order anything more,' he said, laughing.”
As a final positive note, I'd also add that Ai Ling's ultimate decision not to resurrect her dead friend is handled appropriately as a demanding ethical dilemma, and I was quite pleased with the way in which she arrives at her final decision.
My concerns about Silver Phoenix, however, arise when we consider the fact that none of the characters are especially strong or interesting outside of the main antagonist. Ai Ling's love for food is the main thing about her that endears her to me at all, and I'll discuss the other main character, Chen Yong, a little bit later. In addition, I'd like to discuss the mixed bag of this book's feminism.
YA has come a long way in the 10 years since Silver Phoenix was published, and as far as I can remember, this book's willingness to grapple with questions of gender and race is something that wasn't all too common back then. Generally speaking, there are some good basic messages in this book for early teen readers who might be just figuring out feminism:
"Why were women always seen as things to be possessed by men in these tales, never worth more than their physical beauty?"
It's nothing ground-shattering for an adult, but I think it's just the right level for a young reader to sink their teeth into. In addition to matters of gender, I'd like to address the matter of race in Silver Phoenix. Cindy Pon is the co-founder of Diversity in YA, and an advisory board member for We Need Diverse Books. It's clearly something that she is passionate about, and that is apparent in her debut novel. Silver Phoenix's ancient Chinese-inspired setting is populated entirely by people of color, and is fundamentally built upon the extensive and rich knowledge that stems from Pon's background in Chinese studies. I especially appreciated the examination of difficulties arising from biracial identity that occurs as a part of Chen Yong's story.
At the same time, I think the positive messages get a little lost when the book starts to delve into the intersection of sexism and sexual violence. I really had no idea that I'd be spending so much time talking about this topic when I started this blog, but here we are, kids! The problem is that Ai Ling is subjected to numerous instances of sexual harassment and sexual assault over the course of the book, but I never felt that she had a realistic psychological response to anything that happened. People may be numb after an assault; they may suppress their feelings - but these are still VERY clearly different things from simply having no emotional reaction at all and more or less carrying on with one's adventure like nothing out of the ordinary has happened. The latter is what happens in Silver Phoenix.
Finally, the sort-of-love-interest Chen Yong is a big dumb idiot who repeatedly talks about how "traditional" he is, and when a dude describes himself as "traditional" in real life YOU KNOW that's enough to send me running in the opposite direction. He's so stupidly self-congratulatory over the fact that he doesn't think women should be mindless baby-making and cooking machines. Like:
Chen Yong: “I know I’m very traditional in thought. But you have to believe that I value women for more than their roles within the inner quarters.”
Charlotte: