YA Silkpunk Sequel That Takes Us to the High Seas

 

Image copied from Goodreads

My end of June review is of a NetGalley read that wraps of this silkpunk YA fantasy duology by Amber Chen. One that weaves in steampunk elements with mythology and some early Asian Pacific history to create a truly engrossing and often heartbreaking series full of romance and longing, found family, intrigue, politics, and adventure.

I enjoyed this sequel to Of Jade and Dragons. In The Blood Phoenix, we switch from being in the skies with airships to exploring the depths of the ocean with mysterious submersibles. Unlike Of Jade and Dragons, this book is told from dual points of view as well. We not only get Ying's perspective, but we also have part of the narrative told from her sister Nian's perspective. The story opens two years after the events of the first novel, with Ying engaged to a young man on another island. But an attack on Ying's new island home send her back to Fei and back to Ye-Yang to help the High Commander figure out a way to defeat the pirates that have been causing problems for the nine isles and interfering with trade routes between them and the Jade Empire. At the same time, we learn through Nian how things have been going within Qianlei Palace with the new High Command and the remaining beiles, including Ye-Kan, the youngest beile and former guild mate of Ying's. It seems that Ye-Yang, has been training Nian in how to deal with court politics but in every other respect treats her more like a friend or a younger sister than a fiancée.

The aspects of this novel that I loved most were the steampunk elements that are further developed. Instead of focusing on airships we are at sea in this adventure. Fleets of pirate ships, along with mysterious underwater steam-powered submersibles, or what we would call submarines, are wreaking havoc on the Order of the Cobra's ships and airships, and on civilians who make their living at sea in some way from both the nine isles and the Empire. Without giving too much away, the descriptions of how these submersibles operate and how they look are amazing. The interactions with the pirates later in the story when Ying and friends set out to test their engineering inventions was also fun and engrossing. We get to see just how much broader the scope of engineering is in the wider world beyond the confines of Fei and the Engineering Guild. The new gadgets and inventions that Ying and her guild friends are exposed to are truly incredible. Chen's imaginative worldbuilding in this respect is first rate all the way. I also enjoyed the story that develops between Nian, Ye-Kan, and with the court politics the two have to navigate. I loved the character development of Nian. She is very different from Ying in many ways, but she is no less intelligent and brave. Getting to see new facets of an older and more mature Ye-Kan through Nian's eyes was also very entertaining. All of these aspects added dimension and drama to this world and to this sequel.

This novel was very different in terms of the overall story arc from the first one. Of Jade and Dragons is very much a coming-of-age story. But The Blood Phoenix explores a different theme, one of war, politics, and the complexities that come with both. It also delves into the consequences of realized ambitions whether they be for power, revenge or both. It does not shy away from the darker aspects of the guilt and uncertainties that Ying and Ye-Yang have been left with after making the choices they do in the first novel. All of the characters in The Blood Phoenix, even some of the secondary ones, are faced with challenges that are much less black and white than what they seemed in the first book. It is much harder for them to distinguish between who is good and who is evil. Though some characters remain team bad, the other characters that we assume are adversaries at the start of the story are much more complicated and more morally gray that we are at first, led to believe. This makes the twists and turns of the novel much harder to anticipate in terms of outcomes making the tension and stakes much higher. That being said, I did think that the pacing was a bit slower than the first book. However, with all of the threads of intrigue woven into this plot, I did not mind the slightly slower pace. However, unlike the first novel in this series, I gave this sequel 4 stars rather than five. My reason for doing so was the ending. I am not a fan of open-ended conclusions. Most of the the loose threads are very deftly wrapped up at the end of the story. However, while we are given slivers of hope for some characters in the resolution, their circumstances at the conclusion are still left very uncertain. I only hope that if the author writes any other stories set in this world we are given some hints about what transpired for some of these characters we are left to wonder about.

If you don't mind some story ending ambiguity and you enjoy stories with lots of fun and imaginative steampunk elements, I highly recommend this duology. I am definitely interested in reading more books by Amber Chen after finishing this series. Even though she was clear that for these characters this is the end, this world has lots of potential for series spinoffs or even another series duology with different characters set at some future date in this world.

For my first review in July I will be switching gears from YA and fantasy to adult regency romance. I will be reviewing the first in a regency rom-com series I've discovered by Beverley Watts. It came highly recommended to me by one of my sisters and I have thoroughly enjoyed the first three books in the Shackleford Sisters series. Both the cover and the blurb below for the first book were copied from Goodreads. 

In this funny romantic series, the Shackleford sisters descend on a Regency society that don’t know what’s hit them…

....Reverend Augustus Shackleford’s mission in life (aside from ensuring the collection box was suitably full every Sunday) was to secure advantageous marriages for each of his eight daughters. A tall order, given the fact that in the Reverend’s opinion they didn’t possess a single ladylike bone in the eight bodies they had between them. Quite where he would find a wealthy titled gentleman bottle headed enough to take any of them on remained a mystery and indeed was likely to test even his legendary resourcefulness.

....Grievously wounded at the Battle of Trafalgar, Nicholas Sinclair was only recently returned to Blackmore after receiving news of his estranged father’s unexpected death. After an absence of twenty years, the new Duke was well aware it was his duty to marry and produce an heir as quickly as possible. However, tormented by recurring nightmares after his horrific experiences during the battle, Nicholas had no taste to brave the ton’s marriage mart in search of a docile obedient wife.

…..Never in his wildest dreams did Reverend Shackleford envisage receiving an offer for his eldest daughter from the newly appointed Duke of Blackmore. Of course, the Reverend was well aware he was fudging it a bit in describing Grace as respectful, meek or dutiful, nevertheless, he could never have imagined that his eldest daughter’s unruliness might end up ruining them all….