Let me out myself right now that despite my cool demeanor and hip clothes, I was once (and still kind of am) a huge fantasy/science fiction reader. If any novel had a cool illustration involving a dragon, crystals and medieval clothes, I would instantly pick it up and engross myself in an alternate universe that involved magical incantations, saving a king and lots of white people brandishing swords. Yeah, that was one thing that always bugged me about popular fantasy novels: why was it so white washed? Was magic and imagination limited to the medieval, European world?
Fortunately for the younger generation, writer Cindy Pon tackles the genre with her first novel, Silver Phoenix, which is set to be released by HarperTeens tomorrow, April 28th in bookstores everywhere. The novel follows Ai Ling, a young woman who leaves her home to find her missing father, only to learn that she is on a path to fulfill her destiny from the gods.
If you couldn’t tell by the book cover, Pon’s story takes place in the Kingdom of Xia, an Asian-centric world where legends, clothing, and traditions would feel more familiar than exotic to the Asian American reader. I know I’m a little old for the novel’s demographic, but I thoroughly enjoyed Pon’s first foray into the young adult fantasy genre. She creates a sound “universe” that drew from her background in Chinese brush painting and research into traditional Chinese architecture, art and poetry–as well as her love of food. Let’s be honest; Ai Ling’s travels around Xia made my tummy grumble more than once. Who wants to get dim sum with me this weekend?
More interestingly was Pon’s inclusion of race in Silver Phoenix with her other main character, a half-Xian boy named Chen who often found himself at odds due to his biracial background. Pon included Chen to play around with the notion of a hapa boy dealing with being an outsider in Xia, an experience that most non-white characters would find themselves in the prototypical fantasy plot. It’s not hard to point out that fantasy authors either ignore these situations (since they usually take place in an alternate world) or thoroughly categorize any sort of outsider as evil or bad, creating a vacuum in the genre on how these stories can reflect complicated issues about race and culture (unless you’re Ursula Le Guin). Pon, on the other hand, seems to have embraced this idea of different races and resulting conflicts, further turning the Caucasian dominated fantasy worlds upside down.
I don’t want to give away too much of Silver Phoenix’s plotline, but I would eagerly recommend the novel for fantasy fans, whether they are parents or young readers themselves looking for a unique alternative to Harry Potter or Twilight. Especially Twilight. Anything but that horrible book. PLEASE.
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8 Comments to “Book Review: Cindy Pon’s Silver Phoenix”
Paul G. Bens, Jr. wrote:
I just added this to my to-be-read list. Given the recent amount of FAIL displayed in “RaceFail09″ by a bunch of white writers in discussions of the lack of characters of color in science fiction literature, I know many, many people who will be excited to hear about this book. Thanks for the heads-up.
Posted on 27-Apr-09 at 5:57 pm | Permalink
Minjung@gmail.com wrote:
She’s got a book reading in SF coming up soon! Also, Cindy has been a long time blogger who I’ve followed over the years and has judged some of Ernie’s past webgames in the peanut gallery. Yay!
Posted on 27-Apr-09 at 10:33 pm | Permalink
Linda wrote:
Kudos to Cindy Pon! As an Asian American writer trying to publish her first novel, I am proud of her for her accomplishments. And ditto about the Twilight comment–that book was horrendously bad. Words cannot describe.
Posted on 28-Apr-09 at 4:56 am | Permalink
cindy wrote:
YAY! thank you so much for reading and taking
the time to share this awesome review, moye.
i am LIKE YOU. fantasy has always been my first
genre love and there is no shame in my game. =D
but yes, i did write the book that i would have loved
to read as a teen.
paul, i participated on the fringes of racefail.
i DID have an spec fic editor (one of the main ones)
look me straight in the eyes and say “asian fantasy
doesn’t sell”. i was utterly crushed. BUT i found out
later at the same conference that the only other spec
fic editor was specifically looking for multi-cultural fantasy.
times, they are changing. it’s a slow change, but heck
if i’m not there for the ride to see where it goes.
linda–i querired 121 agents. probably got 100 rejections.
keep writing and keep dreaming!
Posted on 28-Apr-09 at 7:19 am | Permalink
Paul Bens wrote:
@Cindy:
Many, many congrats. I’m walking across the street at lunchtime to see if the bookstore at the mall has it in stock today and if not, I’m ordering it. That and “Secret Identities” (since I’m tired of waiting for Amazon to deliver it.)
Yeah, RaceFail was something else. I was really amazed at some of the things that come out of the mouths (fingers?) of writers whom I’d once admired. But as you say, times are changing (albeit slooooowly) and I think a lot of good things for writers of color are emerging out of the clusterF that was RaceFail.
Posted on 28-Apr-09 at 8:52 am | Permalink
Linda wrote:
@ Cindy:
Thank you so much! 100 rejections, wow…a great lesson to never give up.
Posted on 28-Apr-09 at 1:00 pm | Permalink
Purple Butterflies wrote:
As a white woman I would thoroughly enjoy reading fantasy novels set in other cultures. I loved The Forbidden Kingdom. While I know this is far from the original Monkey King stories it still introduced my children and I to the mythology of the asian cultures. We get that movie out a lot to watch. Also my daughter and I both enjoyed Archer’s Quest and Mark Twain award winner.
DW Golden
Sour with fairies in Purple Butterflies. A new young adult novel now available at Amazon
Posted on 28-Apr-09 at 5:04 pm | Permalink
cindy wrote:
good luck with your novel, too, dw.
and moye, ursula le guin is one of my
favorite fantasy authors!
Posted on 29-Apr-09 at 3:51 pm | Permalink
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