I won't lie, I've always been a fan of fairy tales and legends. I grew up reading all the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson and Andrew Lang stories, fell in love with Arabian Nights and sought out other lesser known tales from anywhere else I could.

Silver Phoenix reads very much like an epic fairy tale or legend. The unlucky heroine on a quest to find out more about herself and save a loved one. Love and friendship and dire circumstances and a villain who is bent on winning at any cost.

I'll admit some of it didn't work so well for me, I think that there could have been more said about her past life and why it was affecting her now and why it made the villain seem even worse, but overall I greatly enjoyed the book. Its a book of thrilling adventures, fantastical journeys and a young girl coming into her own. ( )

It was a really interesting book. Good characters who I liked a lot. I really loved Ai Ling. She was brave and I really felt for her. It was really nice that the love interest was there, but she didn't lose he mind over him. She kept to her mission and he supported her and it was great. The writing was also good. It was detailed, but not so much that you want to skip things or stop reading. The only thing I would say is that A LOT happened in this book. I would possible venture to call it too much. It didn't matter so much in the end. I enjoyed everything and the climax was pretty interesting in that there was a nice long descent in the pages after, which is usually a lot more than I'm given. But, yes. A lot happened very fast and in a short time, but it was somehow believable enough that it didn't ruin anything. A good read. Go for it. ( )

Couldn't finish it. ( )

I absolutely loved the beginning (amazing first few chapters!!) and the end (the bad guy was simply fascinating!), but had trouble with much of the middle (somehow an exciting plot including riding a dragon was made not-so-exciting by the slow writing). I actually liked the love interest a lot more than the main character and sort of wished the book had been partially told from his point-of-view.
There are a lot of delicious food descriptions, so be warned--do not start reading if you don't have access to a good Chinese restaurant. :) ( )

I expected to enjoy this book more than I did, given the setting and the premise of the story. The writing is solid, and things are fairly well paced. All these things combine to make, well, an average story instead of a gripping one. ( )