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A review by 10000bees
The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Kind of mixed feelings about this one, partially due to having beef with how it's marketed, but I'll get into that later. It's a cozy contemporary fantasy with some romance. It's kind of gives sitcom vibes, though it wasn't very funny (not that it was trying to be, I just don't know how else to describe it). I would not call it a romantasy at all. The heart of this story is about taking care of magical creatures, and I really loved that part of it. You can tell the author has a real love for conservation efforts, and the discussion and critiques about the roles zoos play in it were very well done. Aila's anxiety rep felt very authentic, but she was also very immature to the point where she didn't make for an enjoyable protagonist to follow. At most, I pictured her as like 22 and straight out of college, not 28 like she's supposed to be. The plot was fitting for a cozy story, which is to say it was a little on the slow side, but I expected as much. Overall, I think if you like lighthearted and cozy fantasy, you might like it more than me.
Here's my problem with the marketing which involves light spoilers: It doesn't *lie* in the synopsis, but there's a pretty glaring exclusion: a man (*gasp*). Listen, I love wlw just as much as the next person, but for the amount of page time spent with this other supposed romantic interest absolutely warrants a mention in the synopsis, and the fact that he is completely skipped over gave no reason to care about him at all. And the whole time I was waiting for Aila to get over herself to have a real conversation with Luciana to get their romance going, which happened way later than I expected. Luciana doesn't even get much page time until the second half. Now, that's not really a problem that I have with the book. In a vacuum where I didn't read the synopsis before picking it up, I don't think I would be complaining about it. But I did, and I know others do, and it just feels weird to me to only market a sapphic relationship when the main character is bi, you know?
Here's my problem with the marketing which involves light spoilers: It doesn't *lie* in the synopsis, but there's a pretty glaring exclusion: a man (*gasp*). Listen, I love wlw just as much as the next person, but for the amount of page time spent with this other supposed romantic interest absolutely warrants a mention in the synopsis, and the fact that he is completely skipped over gave no reason to care about him at all. And the whole time I was waiting for Aila to get over herself to have a real conversation with Luciana to get their romance going, which happened way later than I expected. Luciana doesn't even get much page time until the second half. Now, that's not really a problem that I have with the book. In a vacuum where I didn't read the synopsis before picking it up, I don't think I would be complaining about it. But I did, and I know others do, and it just feels weird to me to only market a sapphic relationship when the main character is bi, you know?