by ABBY LUONG
EDITOR IN CHIEF
The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery
Reading Level: Adult
In 1906, San Francisco was a rapidly developing “Wild West” city, built with brand-new wealth unencumbered by the rigid traditions and regulations of the East.
This city was also America’s window to Asia, with a distinct Chinese population originating from the Transcontinental Railroad and Gold Rush and isolated by the Chinese Exclusion Act.
The book begins solely in the perspectives of two women from very different backgrounds, brought together by fate in the form of a very rich man. Suling, the orphaned daughter of Chinese launderers and a talented embroideress, finds herself in the dreary reality of being an unmarried Chinese woman prepar-
ing for an arranged marriage.
Meanwhile, an unlucky yet talented young opera singer, Gemma Garland, arrives in the city preparing for a role that could be her big break.
The women’s paths collide by chance when Henry Thornton, a philanthropist obsessed with art, sponsors Gemma as she prepares for her big break and hires Suling to embroider an intricate traditional Chinese robe for Gemma to wear for her San Francisco debut.
Nevertheless, as Gemma and Suling get drawn further and further into Thornton’s world, they begin to suspect that nothing is as it seems, just as one of the most devastating earthquakes in history hits the city.
Both Chang and Quinn are some of my favorite historical fiction authors. Quinn’s series on the Roman Empire, and Chang’s The Library of Legends, are both frequent rereads of mine.
I admire both authors’ ability to weave real-life stories into intriguing fiction. In this book particularly, I enjoyed the snapshot into San Francisco during this time.
The neighborhoods mentioned were quite familiar to me, and the experience of Chinese Americans were intriguing.
Still, this book fell short of my expectations. The story sometimes
felt disjointed and choppy; while the book was mostly told from the perspective of the above two women, a few times the perspective changed to one of the supporting characters, which felt unnecessary.
Also, the timing of the earthquake and the way it affected the plot was extremely predictable. In many of the authors’ other books, a plot twist happens at the end of the book and serves as the the climax.
In this book, however, the main twist, which was pretty predictable, happened smack in the middle of the book … which felt off-putting.
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Genre: Fiction/Fantasy
Reading Level: Young Adult
To preface, in the past 10 years, I must have read this book a dozen
times.
I can’t remember when I first picked up The Goose Girl, but ever since then, whenever I need an easy, uncomplicated happy ending, I go for this book.
Shannon Hale was one of my favorite authors in elementary school into middle school, so it is fitting that this is the last book review I write for The Mainsheet.
Based on the Grimm fairy tale of the same name, The Goose Girl follows Crown Princess Anidori Kiladra Talianna Isilee of Kildenree.
When she was a young child, her aunt taught her the language of the birds and told her stories of other people who could speak other languages–that of fire, water and other animals. As Ani grew older, however, it became clear that magic of that kind was scary and unfamiliar to the rest of the world.
As an only child raised by her aunt, Ani was seen as odd and different by her family, who later decide to remove her from the line of succession.
She is arranged to be married to a prince in a neighboring kingdom, but on the journey there, her eloquent lady-in-waiting leads a mutiny and takes her place.
Injured and alone, Ani finds her way to the castle and becomes a goose girl. Hale’s fantasy novels are the quintessential YA books.
In the perfect amount of words, the story constructs an imaginable, magical tale with minimal, uncomplicated world-building.
The magic detailed is simple, not all-encompassing, making it believable for a young girl such as myself to one day possess the same
skills.
Fairy tales, to me, are well-rehearsed formulas for a reason–a simple storyline with a satisfying, but not always happy, an ending that is comfortable and familiar.
Hale has adapted the original Grimm fable to become a coming-of-age story where the main characters, as well as the readers, are forced out of their comfort zones to discover where they stand when they stand alone.
And so, as I close out this final piece of writing and chapter in my life, I encourage you all to find those situations that push you out of your comfort zone. No one ever achieved something by standing still.
The Mainsheet 