Review: Phoenix Angel

Phoenix Angel by Amanda Gerry

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Book Info: Genre: Fantasy
Reading Level: Young Adult
Recommended for: Fans of YA Fantasy
Trigger Warnings: sexual assault, assault, violence

My Thoughts: I'm a bit torn on this book. On the one hand, it is a really interesting idea, even though the reader doesn't really know what the idea is until the penultimate page. On the other hand, it is just so stereotypically YA with all the angst and drama and drama and angst that made me want to beat my head against the wall. I know that teenagers are prone to drama and angst, but for crying out loud, do we really need to be along for the whole ride? Then there are the characters...

Maggie is pretty unlikeable from the start. She is prickly and often cruel with a tendency to push everyone except Lily away. Yes, I understand, this one guy was mean to her three years ago; for crying out loud, move on! Lily, on the other hand, is too nice to be believed, and despite being in a school with hundreds of students she knows everyone, and has been Homecoming Queen since she was a Freshman? Seriously? In my school, only Seniors were eligible to be Homecoming or Prom Queen. Their characters are like caricatures of real people. Then there is Kyle. Why does he talk like a Southerner when he's from California? If he's so devoted to Maggie, why does he pull that bonehead move with Katie?

Then there is the cover. Why is there a weeping elf on the cover? There is not a single mention in the entire book of an elf. The actual Phoenix Angel is again not mentioned at all until the next to last page, in the epilogue, and then just a couple sentences that don't really explain much. Of course, this is the first book in a trilogy, but this book felt like mostly a build-up. I think quite a lot of the angst and drama could have been cut out and the story would have improved vastly.

Fans of YA fantasy will probably like this, and those who like YA romance also. I am ambivalent and probably will not read the rest of this series.

Disclosure: I received a copy from a representative of the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: What is happening to us? I’ve asked this question a thousand times, but there is no answer.

I was a normal teenager, trudging my way through senior year with my best friend. Then a boy named Kyle Spencer came to Idaho Falls, and since then everything has fallen apart. Something mysterious has passed among the three of us. We’ve developed terrifying abilities—strange powers that separate us from normal people.

Even worse, someone—or something—has taken a deadly interest in us. We never know when they are going to strike, or how to protect ourselves. We don’t even know who they are.

All we know is that they want one of us alive, and we don’t know who. The others they want dead.

Which will I be?



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