Kylie ChanRecensioni

Not much of a review, but I especially liked the Chinese mythology in this novel.½

Red phoenix is definitely an improvement over White tiger. It is still rather slow and somewhat repetitive (I was getting particularly sick of Emma mentioning how she doesn't need words in her relationship with Mr. Chen). However, it was not actively boring, things keep happening and the story is finally moving forward beyond 'Emma learns to fight better'. She still does of course, and she's really good at everything and everybody loves her and admires her (it gets a bit cloying), but the fighting is more interesting now that Emma is doing more advanced energy work, things progress between John and Emma, and we see a bit more of this Chinese mythology world. I'm a particular fan of all the stones, they are all really cool, and I also like the dragons (of course). Since I was really tired this week, I couldn't handle anything even slightly taxing, so this was perfect. Despite all the demon attacks, this book is really comfy, and quite frankly, when I'm in the state I was in this week, I'm absolutely fine with too-perfect too-powerful protagonists. I want someone I can count on to save the day without any twinge of worry. Plus, the Chinese mythology is cool, well executed and well integrated into current-day society, and there's a refreshing lack of misogyny in this book. The only thing I really thought was stupid was the thing where Emma likes it when John looses control in the bed, pins her down and comes awfully close to raping her. This the first time they have sex ever. She even tries to incite this state in him later on.

Blue dragon continues in the vein of Red phoenix. Emma learns more energy work, there are attacks by weird demons, and we see some more of the Chinese gods, stones, and dragons. I was disappointed about the ending, though. Way too much to-do about destroying Simon Wong, with no explanation of how it was done. A bit deus-ex-machina-like, with skills coming to the fore that we hadn't seen before. Quite frankly, with skills that could have been used to better effect beforehand if they had been there all along.
On top of that, the mystery around Emma STILL isn't solved, and if I am to believe the blurbs of Dark serpent, it's not going to be solved in the Journey to Wudang series either. Worse, the situation has become more complicated due to Wong's meddling. I'm a bit exasperated by it all, I feel this end is deviating from the path the books were following for 2.8 books, loosing some of its optimism and its feel-good aspect. I'm sure it will all be ok at some point in the next series, but that is just not right. This is a trilogy, a series in its own right. It should have a decent ending on its own. I really am a bit put out about this. I really don't feel like having to go through the whole next series before things are put to rights...

I happen to be the kind of person who likes slow books. I enjoy descriptions of daily life, and I don't need the action exploding around me. My feelings about White tiger are a bit ambiguous though. The book is slow, albeit for a definition of slow that includes fights with demons, but in some respects it felt too slow even for me, where the aforementioned fights with demons became too repetitive. So how come, even though I think the book was too slow, I still like it? I thought the love affair was too corny, and the main character Emma, the nanny who finds out her employer is a god, too unfazed. Still, I read it in two evenings. The setting is definitely original with a lot of Chinese mythology that was enjoyable and the story is engaging. I liked the descriptions of Emma's martial arts training. And the side characters particularly are vividly described. I hope some of the side story lines (like the ones with Emma's friend) will turn out to have a point in the next books. And I hope there will be a bit more story and a little less repetitiveness in the fighting (yes, I know Emma is getting better and better in these fights, but still) in the next books. But in spite of some flaws, I rather liked this one and I guess I'm going to buy number two soon...

Second read: I didn't have the best recollection about this book, but I was really tired this week and I needed to read something non-taxing. This was perfect. Admittedly, there are some incredibly boring bits in the beginning of this book. Especially before Emma finds out about the divinity of her employer and the parts where she meets with her friends. It turns out they have a role to play in the later books, but still, I can't really see why they are friends at all sometimes...
After Emma finds out, it gets better, though. Not a whole lot, it's still slow and repetitive, but this was exactly what I needed. The characters are nice, there's no need to worry about something bad happening, and how many fantasy books do you know with Chinese mythology? That bit was interesting and nicely done. Nr. 2 had been sitting on my shelf for ages, but I got that one out too, and am currently reading nr. 3 and enjoying myself.

Ordinarily there's a couple of things in White Tiger that would make me get frustrated pretty quickly. Rapid fire information dump, multiple radical changes in a character's life in less than a dozen pages and abrupt transitions. What saves White Tiger however comes down to 2 important details: 1) I've been waiting for this series to have domestic publication in America for four years and 2) contextually a lot is explained because of the character's personality. I probably would have forgiven Chan almost anything, which probably makes me sound like an unreliable reviewer, but I felt I should be honest about that.

What exactly made me want this series like burning? The premise for one--Chinese mythology, martial arts and kick ass heroine. Though Emma has a lot of rough edges to her characterization--inconsistent decision making, demanding attitude, lack of listening skills during very important moments--she has a very appealing personality to me. She loves kids and wants to do her best by them, she's loyal to her friends, she's inquisitive and understanding. She is also one of the few heroines I've come across who, though she states it at least 5 times in the beginning, doesn't bemoan her state of 'plainness'. Does she wish she was as sophisticated looking as her friends? Sometimes, but she's comfortable in her casual clothes and with who she is. Later, when given the chance, she improves herself through hardwork and a chance to "show off" that she could clean up well.

My total lack of studying in regards to Chinese Mythology and practices bites me in the butt throughout this novel. I have a very, very limited knowledge of Chinese Mythology and I feel that if I understood it a little better I would have gotten some of the more subtle jokes. This book made me want to learn more and expand my knowledge and that is always a delight.

The cast of characters is a little large, but with few exceptions they are easily distinguishable from each other. I took a particular liking to Bai Hui (the White Tiger) and Simone actually, and laughed whenever Bai Hui got up to his tricks. I had, actually still have, severe doubts about Emma's friend April and her "Auntie" Kitty Kwok (Emma's former employer). As for the end of this book it seemed to resolve itself in a perfectly mundane way, but the entire thing nagged at me. April was just a little too insistent about Emma talking "Auntie" Kitty and visiting Emma at Mr. Chen's place. Kitty for that matter was highly suspicious--unless I'm missing something and Emma was the Best Employee Ever, I couldn't understand why Kitty would practically harass Emma about returning to work for her almost a year after she resigned (for very legitimate reasons). Those suspicions may be resolved in one of the two future books in the trilogy, but until that its irksome.

I read an ARC of the title, so I can't say with proper authority, but the transitions were sometimes very abrupt and without any indication that it was a new stream of thought or action. When I'm able to compare the ARC with the finished copy I'll come back and revisit this complaint.

My only real complaint with Emma as a character, that I hope is different in the next book, [b:Red Phoenix|2080863|Red Phoenix|Kylie Chan|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1199058512s/2080863.jpg|2086141], is that Emma would make a firm decision, such as respecting Mr. Chen's wishes, and then in the same chapter push him and ignore his protests. She came off seeming very insincere and wishy-washy for this reason and made me want to smack her around a little. Though to be truthful Mr. Chen wasn't much better, but he at least realized he wasn't being very direct and clear.

Unfortunately I know, in a general way, what happens by the end of this trilogy because I read the blurb about the next trilogy for Dark Heaven (Journey to Wudang Book 1: [b:Earth to Hell|7489851|Earth to Hell (Journey to Wudang, #1)|Kylie Chan|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1262604075s/7489851.jpg|9627839]) and learned a couple of spoilers. I have some suspicions about the nature of who Emma is however and hope I am correct.

My biggest complaint with this series is that it didn't need to be this long. I think she loved some newer characters and pulled their storylines and their concerns into a story that was Emma's. I think she wanted to modernize their Celestials and clean up their racism, homophobia and sexism and tried to do it all. I think the series would have been tighter and more satisfying if she had stuck to Xuan Wu, Emma and Simone and eventually Frankie. I skipped through most of the 2nd book of the 3rd series.

One thing I give her credit for was that I loved the characters - even the ones that should have been edited out. There was point during the occupation of Heaven that I felt like weeping because the cruelty / gaslighting / dehumanization was so realistic.

What I didn't appreciate was the gratuitous sex between John and Emma. Almost to the point that it was ridiculous.

Whooh. I think I've gotten all of my irritation out about this series. Read the rest if you don't care about spoilers.

* SPOILERS *

I nearly didn't finish the last series because she dragged everything and the kitchen sink into the story. Other things that ticked me off - if I hadn't reading it on an IPAD, I would have thrown the book across the room:
* I don't know why they were so passive about about finding Xuan Wu's Serpent.
* She had been lied to multiple times throughout this series and for some reason - she JUST BELIEVED THE PEOPLE WHO HAD IMPRISONED HER THAT SHE LOST THE BABY.
* The constant plot twists - it was so annoying that the last BJ marriage plot twist was almost expected.
* By the end of the series, I had to remind myself who all of the characters were - and SHE STILL KEPT INTRODUCING NEW CHARACTER (Dragon King, anyone?)
* Xuan Wu (Turtle) serving as General when his serpent - who was connected to - was locked up with the Demon King. He was vulnerable to attack at any time and he was attacked. Whether the Serpent could hear what Xuan Wu and Emma was saying could have been an advantage to the Demon King was also annoying. WHY WAS HE LEADING THE ATTACK. The fact that they waited so long to attack Hell was annoying given that he was vulnerable through the Serpent.
* The only reason I gave the final book a 4 was because the book finally delivered on the promises given at the beginning of the series:
- John was united
- They were married
- They were a family
* Nu Wa coming down was almost expected. I was looking Deus Ex Machina - but it was annoying.
* I hated the fact that Kitty Kwok never died painfully. She robbed the reader of that satisfaction.

Semi-spoiler - don't read

The only thing I have to say about this part of the series is that the characters and decisions are a little off. Stupid decisions, odd reactions, virtue signaling where none is needed. A plot twist that removes the promise made at the start of the original series to get Kitty Kwok guts some of the impact and makes the ending less satisfying.½

The core problem of this book is that the story is just too rushed.
The writing is inconsistent (at time surprisingly good, at other times very bad), but that would be easier to deal with if it didn't always feel like character moments and periods of drama are entirely undeserved because everything flies by so fast.
The shell of a good story is here, but it needs work to be properly filled.

Really enjoyed it, neat twist reading about an Australian in China, and all the chinese culture. I can't wait to read book 2.

Really enjoyed it. Very fast paced, can't wait to get book 3.

Its a satisfactory, but fairly obvious book. The characters are competent, bordering on stereotypes. We have the Emma Donahoe, a pretty nanny who is hired to take care of Simone, the 6ish year old daughter of John Chen, a mysterious businessman. This is set in Hong Kong, and the mythology in this book is incredibly interesting.

Its not without it problems - Emma is perfect, no real faults, easily falls into her new job with no problems. The bodyguard, Leo, falls into the trying to break stereotypes trope - that is, he's a big black guy, who is gay. And follows the gay stereotype of being a good dresser... John Chen is mysterious, but is very quickly figured out.

The plot itself isn't really that deep- typical good vs bad, except that the bad isn't out for world domination. The bad is out to win a contest. And, there's an obvious solution, that is incredibly overlooked, and would have added depth to the story... but its not even suggested (which is having the side of good trying to kill the kid, and solve the demon problem)...

Overall, I was hoping for more badass heroines with Chinese ethnicity, rather than a white nanny who has things martial arts come naturally to her. I am also not a fan of the love story. To much "I can't touch you because...", which is a cheap way to create tension in a story.

Oh well, its a subpar example of the genre, but I liked the setting, and the author does seem to know Hong Kong.

Thank you. It's over.

Disappointing end to what I was hoping would be a satisfying end to Emma's story. Instead Emma is essentially nothing more than a passenger in the major plot line of the story and has very little to do with the outcome of the book.

Instead of being the hero of the story Emma ended up being a pointless bystander.

Should never have been published and the editor should have told her to throw it out and start again.

Well, how much fun are urban fantasy stories? I like to think that even though it's inevitable that they step on someone's religion, they can give those religions respect and, hopefully, generate new interest in cultures and traditions that readers might not otherwise get exposed to. Kylie Chan has certainly done this. Sure, there are a few places where the characters let me down - why are the Celestials so impressed that she is 'remarkable' to stick around to protect Simone? They are basically demi-gods themselves, but have dedicated their immortal lives to serve her and Mr Chen, haven't they? Some of the dialogue was a bit confusing too - I kept expecting them to go back and explain their mysterious references, but it never happened. Still, I raced through this story and had fun doing it, and really, isn't that the point? I'd much rather that than get bogged down in too much exposition and boring character back stories. Yes, I'm definitely up for book 2.

Like all of Kylie Chan's series I enjoyed this book. It certainly wasn't my favourite but she has this way of captivating the reader with her simple storytelling and interesting characters.

We got to see the final battle and Emma's interactions with demons and celestials alike.

I enjoyed it. I was disappointed that there wasn't as much of the Tiger as previous books, because he's always been one of my favourites. And I think I would have liked a better conclusion to what happened to the stones. Other than that, though, a satisfying ending!½

What a lot of fun and nonsense! Just strap yourself in and go with the flow.

This was not quite as good as "The White Tiger," it lacked much of the humour that made the first book such a delight, but the action and excitement was right up there, so it was still a page turner. Looking forward to the last book in the trilogy.

This might be the end of the trilogy but it's certainly not the end of Emma, John Chen and the others. There are too many questions left unanswered, and the book ended on a real cliff-hanger. "Blue Dragon" is even more action-packed than "The Red Phoenix" with the demons becoming stronger and Wong continuing his plan to destroy Zuan Wu. this book had me rushing to the end to see how it would end. The only thing that put me off this book were the snakes, they were HUGE and deadly!!!!!

This is a fun, entertaining read which had me hooked from the first chapter. Set in modern Hong Kong, the book combines Chinese mythology, romance, adventure and martial arts in a harmonious whole. Emma is a fabulous heroine and certainly no shrinking violet. She is decisive, humorous, protective and intelligent and is supported by other wonderful characters including Mr Chen, Lady Kwan, the white tiger and Leo, whom I adored. With a fast-paced plot and lots of supernaturla action to keep the pages turning, I am really looking forward to the sequel.

messy. I'm quite disappointed with ambiguous ending. review soon!

How can I describe the sense of wonder I experienced when I finished this book? I can not. This was a wonderful, glorious journey, but this book is not for everyone.

I think that people who like me grew up on enormous amount of Hong Kong movies will love it. People who went to Asia and saw with their own eyes that alien for Westerners multi-layered culture will love it. For everyone else it's a gamble.

I spent 9 months in Asia, and still pretty much don't know anything of the culture and way of thinking, but I can recognise what Kylie Chan showed to us in White Tiger, and I think it took an enormous amount of research and talent to do it.

It's a beautiful book, which if you are patient enough will give you a glimpse of Chinese culture and mythology which you practically don't see in modern literature.

It's slow, it's evenly paced and that's why the relationship which develops between Emma and John Chen is completely believable. An employer and and employee first, friends second, master and his student third... It's gradual, but never boring. Leo, Mr.Chen's bodyguard and Simone - John's daughter are absolutely delightful, and Emma herself is a strong character who I totally fell in love with from the very beginning when she resigned from her job as a teacher.

There are so many mythical characters, Chinese gods and demons, traditions and complicated teachings. It's beautiful how John teaches Emma martial arts and how to work with her chi, how she becomes so much more than she thought she'd ever be.

I'm not going into details of the plot, I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I'm in awe of this book and I'm so relieved that book #2 Red Phoenix comes out in October, and book #3 Blue Dragon comes out in November. I need to know more.

Absolutely loved it! It took me 5 hours straight to read this book. 560 pages. That's how good it was.

Again, non-stop action, fantastic battles, lots of intense situations, and Emma! Oh. My. God. I would never have thought in a million years she can be that. I was blown away.

Emma and John have some really sweet moments, and there is a lot going on. Obviously now, that she is Regent, there are plenty of assassination attempts on her life, especially on behalf of One Two Two aka Simon Wong, a disgusting demon who absolutely doesn't follow the code of honour and uses every awful malicious trick in the book to bring John's head to his dad.

Emma hires a new addition to Simone's bodyguards, a young and talented boy. She is also quite busy with other duties helping John to rebuild the mountain and train new warriors. John gets more and more drained of energy and it looks like they won't even have promised two years together. Even Simone's talents progress much faster than John thought and the girl finally finds out the whole truth about her dad.

There are couple of annoying moments. I didn't like how everyone kept telling Emma that she is extraordinary and how confident she was and how self-sacrificing to the point of being ridiculous. But perhaps I'm looking at it from the western point of view, and from the eastern point of view it was quite natural and expected.

Again there are plenty of fascinating details in book #2 to keep you hooked, and now I can't wait to find out what's going to happen in grand finale! A MUST READ for an urban fantasy fan.

Bought as part of $0.99 ebook sale at Harper -- http://harpervoyagerbooks.com/2012/02/01/just-a-few-more-days-of-the-harper-voya...

Don't get me started on this book. I LOVE it. I picked it up on a whim one day and I couldn't put it down. I've read this book so many times that the binding broke. The story telling is amazing, and so are the characters. I will admit that it is a little hard to get into at first, but once you're in, you're in! It's the perfect mix of romance, Chinese mythology, and awesome fight scenes.

Was not able to put Red Phoenix down. A must read.