Brian Knight (1)

It took me much too long to decide to read this book -- I won it through LibraryThing Early Reviewers, and ended up shuffling it to the back of my reading list. But after winning the second book as well, I decided it was time to tackle the first one, and I'm glad I did!

The book is a quick, but an enjoyable read, that takes us through the transition of Penny Sinclair from an orphan, to a new resident of Dogwood, to a Phoenix Girl. I found her to be immediately likable, and with a desire for the opening mysteries of the book to be solved and wanting to see something good happen for Penny, I sped through even the even the more slower paced parts of the book, eager to see what awaited Penny and her new friends.

However, it's not all fun and magic -- after a magician that Penny suspects is her father arrives in town, several kids from her area go missing. And the more Penny learns, the less she can be sure she ever knew her own life in the first place. But she needs to figure something out soon -- because the mysterious kidnapper is coming for her next.

There were a few pacing issues for me with the story, which is the only thing that kept me from giving it 5 stars. The book's description promises experiments with magic going wrong as often as they go right, but we don't really get to see this in any meaningful way. It's sort of mentioned once and then referred to a few times in the book. I think it would have helped to see more misadventures on that front, because it would have added in more conflict when the main conflict of the story was sort of in the background. It also would have helped to make the girls seem more proactive and make the magic seem more like a part of the story.

That being said, it wasn't a deal breaker by any means, and I'm greatly looking forward to the next book. The author, much like the girls' fox companion Ronan, leaves more questions than answers at the start of this series. I can't wait to see what the rest of the story holds.

Note: I received a free copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. This has no bearing on the content of my review.
… (lisätietoja)

The Crimson Brand is the second book in The Phoenix Girls series by Brian Knight, and I found it to be an even better read than the first installment. I would say that it’s possible to read this book without having read the first one, but there are so many questions that are asked and answered, some of which picking up on threads from the previous book, that it would certainly be worth picking up book one, The Conjuring Glass, and getting a full look at the story. (I really enjoy that about this book, by the way! Each book introduces its own new plot elements, and then with the second book you have some questions being resolved from the first book, only to add new ones, but the novel still works as a story on its own.)

In Book Two, Penny and her friends are back in Aurora Hollow, the sacred grove where the girls have found magic — magic that helped them defeat the evil Birdman who terrorized their town almost half a year ago. But the girls’ trouble has only just begun, because now they’ve drawn attention to themselves, and enemies are coming. Their vulpine guide, Ronan, is agitated and won’t give them the whole story, their family lives are fracturing, and someone is trying to buy Penny’s land, which holds Aurora Hollow. And they’re seducing her godmother to get it. A whole mess of trouble rests on the shoulders of these girls, and their various problems may not be unrelated.

One of the things I wanted from the last book was to see them using their magic more and playing around with it to find out what it can do, and this book really delivers on that front. I love stories about girls learning and using magic. It’s my truest weakness. And the magic system in this series is so interesting. The way it works, the way they’re taught, and the way they use it…it’s the kind of thing that makes me go, “I wish *I* was a Phoenix Girl.” and that, for me, is the best feeling I can get from a book. Wanting to be a part of it, wanting it to be real. I enjoy that part of reading a book more than almost anything else.

The Phoenix Girls are an especially enjoyable group, because they’re smart, they’re creative, and they’re made of tough stuff. The girls keep fighting for each other, and in this book they have a lot to fight for — and against. Friendship and family are important themes in this novel, and while there are mentions of romantic attractions, I actually like that the author doesn’t focus on those things. And I’m not the kind of person who usually says that — most of the time I don’t enjoy anything without a romantic plotline.

Like the first book, I found The Crimson Brand to be an intense read that didn’t allow me to put the book down until I’d finished. I cared about the characters and I was worried about what would happen to them in the story, and the author gave me good reason for concern. Though this is a young adult book, the story doesn’t pull punches and the girls were often placed in real danger. It still felt like a YA novel though — in the best way. Books like this are the reason I love YA so much, even though I’m about a decade out of its target audience.

I’m looking forward to the next book in the series and seeing what the future holds for the girls and their families, and figuring out exactly who is who and what happened with the last generation of Phoenix Girls.

Note: I received a free copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. This has no bearing on the content of my review.… (lisätietoja)

The Phoenix Girls have survived their first set of adventures and, as they slowly grow into a team, they are also growing toward adulthood. Their relationships with their families and the community are changing, becoming more complex yet at the same time more defined. In this series, teen crises are muted.

Here the girls, now expanded to include a new member, begins to explore the limits of their magical powers and the book is focused on them and their strengths rather than on their relationship with Ronan their spirit guide. The story progresses nicely and is just scary enough. I think it is well suited to younger teens on up. It is a bit thin for an adult reader, but would probably make a good book to read together.

Unlike most other reviewers, I do not think that this second book of the Phoenix Girls series can be read as a stand-alone. There was quite a bit of time between my reading the first and second books and I had trouble remembering what had happened in the first book, and the second book was hard to understand. For someone who had not read the first book at all, I would think the story would lose a lot.

I received a review copy of "The Crimson Brand: Phoenix Girls II" by Brian Knight (JournalStone) through LibraryThing.com.… (lisätietoja)