Tag Archives: Rise Of The Empress Series

Book Review: Song Of The Crimson Flower by Julie C. Dao

Posted in Books, diverse books by

Book: Song Of The Crimson Flower by Julie C Dao

Published November 2019 by Philomel Books|288 pages

Where I Got It: I own the hardcover

Series: Rise Of The Empress #2.5

Genre: YA Fantasy

From the acclaimed author of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns comes a fantastical new tale of darkness and love, in which magical bonds are stronger than blood.

Will love break the spell? After cruelly rejecting Bao, the poor physician’s apprentice who loves her, Lan, a wealthy nobleman’s daughter, regrets her actions. So when she finds Bao’s prized flute floating in his boat near her house, she takes it into her care, not knowing that his soul has been trapped inside it by an evil witch, who cursed Bao, telling him that only love will set him free. Though Bao now despises her, Lan vows to make amends and help break the spell.

Together, the two travel across the continent, finding themselves in the presence of greatness in the forms of the Great Forest’s Empress Jade and Commander Wei. They journey with Wei, getting tangled in the webs of war, blood magic, and romance along the way. Will Lan and Bao begin to break the spell that’s been placed upon them? Or will they be doomed to live out their lives with black magic running through their veins?

In this fantastical tale of darkness and love, some magical bonds are stronger than blood.

Song Of The Crimson Flower was just okay for me.  I really wanted to like it more but I just wasn’t really into it.

That makes me sad, because I loved Forest Of A Thousand Lanterns so much, and the more books I read in this series, the less I like it.  The world is amazing, and the writing is really pretty but it wasn’t enough for me to like the book.

I didn’t like Lan, and even though she realizes she cares for Bao, she was pretty horrible to him.  She does regret how she treats him, but she does come across as selfish, spoiled and unable to see what’s in front of her.  She does change but even with those changes, I just didn’t care what happened to her.

I did really like Bao, though.  He seemed like a good guy, and I really felt for him.  I thought (some) of his family history was obvious, and so I wasn’t surprised when it was actually revealed.  I was glad things worked out for him in the end.

I was glad to see what happened with both Wei and Jade.  They seem to be doing really well, and it was nice to catch up with them and see how things were working out for them.

2 stars.  Song Of The Crimson Flower was okay for me, and I really wish I liked it more because this series started off so strong for me.

Book Review: Kingdom Of The Blazing Phoenix by Julie C Dao

Posted in Books, diverse books by

Book: Kingdom Of The Blazing Phoenix by Julie C Dao

Published November 2018 by Philomel Books|356 pages

Where I Got It: I own the hardcover

Series: Rise Of The Empress #2

Genre: YA Fantasy/Fairy Tale Re-telling

This fairy tale retelling lives in a mystical world inspired by the Far East, where the Dragon Lord and the Serpent God battle for control of the earthly realm; it is here that the flawed heroine of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns finally meets her match. An epic fantasy finale to the Rise of the Empress novels.

Princess Jade has grown up in exile, hidden away in a monastery while her stepmother, the ruthless Xifeng, rules as Empress of Feng Lu. But the empire is in distress and its people are sinking into poverty and despair. Even though Jade doesn’t want the crown, she knows she is the only one who can dethrone the Empress and set the world right. Ready to reclaim her place as rightful heir, Jade embarks on a quest to raise the Dragon Lords and defeat Xifeng and the Serpent God once and for all. But will the same darkness that took Xifeng take Jade, too? Or will she find the strength within to save herself, her friends, and her empire?

Set in an East Asian-inspired fantasy world filled with breathtaking pain and beauty, Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix is filled with dazzling magic, powerful prose, and characters readers won’t soon forget.

Fans of Stealing Snow, Red Queen, and The Wrath and the Dawn will hungrily devour this page-turning read.

I liked Kingdom Of The Blazing Phoenix but not as much as I thought I would!

I really wanted to like this one more than I did.  I LOVED Forest Of A Thousand Lanterns, which was a great Evil Queen origin story, but this follow up didn’t interest me as much.

I mean, I liked Jade.  She definitely had to get her kingdom back from Xifeng, and she went on quite the quest to do it.  This book is set over a decade after Forest, and it was interesting to see how much Xifeng changed.  Especially when we came across people who knew her as she made her way to being Empress of Feng Lu.  I know it put it out of the realm of YA, but I really want to know what happened in Xifeng’s life between the end of the first book and the start of this one.  You get little bits and pieces, of course, but I wanted more.  I really did like Xifeng’s story.

I felt for Jade, and she had a lot going on.  It seems like things will change in Feng Lu, and for the better.  It seems like it will take a while but I feel like they’ll get there eventually.  She wasn’t my favorite character, but she definitely came into her own by the end of the book.  She had a lot of support, even if she came across people who didn’t want to give her support.  Some seemed hesitant, especially at first, but I also felt like they eventually knew it was the right choice for the kingdom.

It’s just…Jade didn’t interest me as much as Xifeng.  She was so good that it was sometimes annoying and mostly boring, and she didn’t seem as complex as Xifeng.  Gone are the court politics and people doing these crazy things to get what they want.

Actually, I kind of take that last part back.  Jade is a somewhat unwilling Empress but she does do what she needs to for the sake of Feng Lu.  It’s just a very different story of than what Xifeng does to get what she wants.

This is more of a Snow White re-telling, and I think it stands on its own pretty well.  While you don’t need to read the first book to know what’s going on in this book, it is also a wonderful book, and it definitely gives you more backstory on Xifeng, and why she does what she does.  It’s not that hard to figure out, especially if you’re at all familiar with the Snow White story, but it really is a good starting point to this story.

It was slow at times, though there are little pockets of action and excitement.  This is a journey novel after all.  I just wasn’t super-excited about the journey, though I did like some of the characters we come across.

3 stars.  Overall, I liked this book, but Jade, for me, wasn’t as interesting as Xifeng.

Book Review: Forest Of A Thousand Lanterns by Julie C Dao

Posted in Books, diverse books by

Book: Forest Of A Thousand Lanterns by Julie C Dao

Published October 2017 by Philomel Books|363 Pages

Where I Got It: I own the hardcover

Series: Rise Of The Empress #1

Genre: YA Fantasy/YA Re-telling

An East Asian fantasy reimagining of The Evil Queen legend about one peasant girl’s quest to become Empress–and the darkness she must unleash to achieve her destiny.

Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng’s majestic future. But is the price of the throne too high?

Because in order to achieve greatness, she must spurn the young man who loves her and exploit the callous magic that runs through her veins–sorcery fueled by eating the hearts of the recently killed. For the god who has sent her on this journey will not be satisfied until his power is absolute.

I absolutely loved this book!  It took me forever to get through (partly because I wasn’t in the mood, and partly because I was trying to get through some other books).

I love this re-telling of The Evil Queen, and while this story is Xifeng’s journey to becoming the evil queen, it’s still worth reading.  It makes me want to read the next book so, so much.  Regina Mills from Once Upon A Time is an amazing Evil Queen, but Xifeng comes pretty close.  It’s basically Snow White before Snow White, if that makes any sense.  It’s basically a prequel to the Snow White story that we all know (at least from Disney, but this is not the happy Disney version.  Please don’t expect a happy, Disney version of the Evil Queen, because this is not that book.

If you need to like characters, especially the main character, this book probably isn’t for you.  It was so hard to like Xifeng at times, but I did find myself understanding where she came from, and why she did what she did.  She does get jealous of other women, and she wasn’t very confident, especially at the beginning of the book.  She changes so much over the course of the book, but it felt really natural and not forced at all.

I feel like her journey isn’t going to end well, but this is one story that I feel pretty invested in, and I can’t wait to see where her story goes, even if the ending isn’t a happy one.

I thought the world was amazing and really detailed.  I had such a clear picture of what was going on, and I loved how vivid everything was.  My copy of the book was an annotated one from PageHabit, and those extra details really made the book for me.  It was interesting to see what inspired her, and where certain things in the book came from.

Also, this is not a light and fluffy story.  It is dark and twisted and sometimes gory.  I mean, she eats hearts to gain power and make herself stronger.  She will do anything to become Empress, and I thought the use of a prophecy was interesting.  As weird as it may be, I did like seeing how far she was willing to go to get what she wants and what she was willing to do so she could fulfill the destiny that was foretold.

I’m not sure if this was something the author intended, but I couldn’t help but think about prophecy and destiny and how cutthroat some people are, and how they’ll use prophecy to get whatever they want.  Also, some of the characters are pretty catty (and petty), and Xifeng was willing to take them down because they were standing in her way.  I’m sure there’s some sort of real world parallel you could draw.  I won’t, because my brain doesn’t want to work right (and I myself in not confident in my ability to draw a meaningful comparison) but it did feel very real.  Girls and women are pitted against each other as well, and you can definitely see why they act the way they do.

5 stars.  Overall, I loved this book.  The setting is amazing and vivid, and I just loved the world and the mythology and the characters.