ARC Review: "The Phoenix and the Firebird" by Alexis Kossiakoff & Scott Crawford ★★★★

ARC Review:The Phoenix and the Firebird by Alexis Kossiakoff & Scott Crawford

This historical fantasy is an excellent way to combine both Slavic and Chinese culture, and to tell a tale about the importance of bravery, friendship, love and what it means to belong. I learned a lot about mythology too! With beautiful descriptions, touching moments and intriguing characters, this is for anyone regardless of age. I only wish there was more to read!

I knew such a creature could bring doom or good fortune depending on its mood, but finding a Firebird feather only meant one thing: the beginning of a quest.

[Contains some spoilers]

PLOT SUMMARY
Set in 1920s Peking (now known as Beijing), 20-year-old Russian refugee Lucy is awaiting her father at the train station as he reunites with her after the end of the civil war. She has not seen him in three years. As the train pulls in, she instead discovers it is riddled with bullet holes and the passengers are missing, including her father. The only trace of his existence is a single Firebird feather sitting on one of the seats.

It is revealed her father has been taken prisoner by henchmen of The Taotie, an evil warlord seeking to capture Peking. He intends to have him serve in his army. With her Chinese friend Su Feng in tow, Lucy makes it her mission to find and free her father from this tyrant. If she finds the Firebird, she will find her father

. To do so, she must seek the help of a man who cannot die, the mysterious and dangerous Vlad the Deathless, but must also undergo five trials against the wu hsing (elements): fire, wood, water, earth and metal.

As they journey through many perils into a fantasy realm and meet many strange and fantastical characters they only believed existed in stories (from nine-tailed foxes to nightingales to ghosts), Lucy and Su find themselves faced with the greatest trials of all: will their friendship through this last and either save all or bring utter peril?

This is told from the first-person past-tense POV of Lucy.

INSPIRATION
Alexis Kossiakoff and Scott Forbes Crawford who have co-written this book are a married couple. Alexis, as beautifully told in the Notes at the back of the book, was heavily inspired by her own Russian family’s history: her grandfather Alexander Kossiakoff had a cousin named Lucy who mysteriously disappeared! It is not known what happened but this Lucy was the muse for the protagonist Lucy here in this story:

Over the years, I’ve often wondered what she was like and what became of her. As a result, she became the inspiration for Lucy in this book, a character who is an amalgam of what I imagined the real-life Lucy to be: brave, caring, adventurous and loyal.

I think this is such a lovely idea, and this story and character are a great homage to her ancestors!

Other inspirations include Alexis’ great-grandfather (Alexander’s father), Ivan Kossiakoff who was a cavalry officer in the Russian army. He got his wife and son on one of the last trains from Russia to China before all trains were terminated. This is just like Lucy’s father in the story. Alexander and his mother made a fresh start while they waited for the end of the war and the reunion with Ivan. Until then Alexander received letters from his father, much like the one in the prologue of this story from Lucy’s father to Lucy.

I have traveled a very long way to get here. By train, by horse, and on my feet, and my journey is far from over. Not until I see you will it be complete. I will swim across rivers, I will chase leopards and sneak past sleeping tigers. I will even track the Firebird through the forest if I must. After the three years we have been apart, nothing will stop me from joining you.

The latter inspiration I really love! This is probably because I adore old-fashioned heartfelt correspondences but I think a lot of people can relate to the importance of words: social media and messaging services make it so easy to send things these days, but a letter and the effort into writing and sending something back then is something else entirely. We hear so many stories of love letters and letters that never made it to their loved ones during the war. and I feel this makes the opening of the story more touching. This is a father looking forward to seeing his girl again and we the reader know before we even get to the first chapter this is not the case.

OVERALL OPINIONS
This is a middle-grade book (so readers around 8 to 12 years old), something which I did not realise until I began but this quickly became clear due to the length and pacing of the story. For the audience it is set for, I think this is brilliant and something that I could imagine my prior school teachers reading to us and answering questions about. There are some sophisticated descriptions, particularly in terms of scenery and locations.

There was also some good use of word choice throughout, for example when talking of her doll, “That secret would be sewn in me forever” – like the idea of the sewing of the doll!

A few descriptions and actions of people reminded me of that of Tolkien: especially Vlad, how he dances, and longs to stay in the forest, much like the elves in The Lord of the Rings with their longing for the sea. This moment with Vlad here when “his hunched shoulders straightened and appeared to expand by several inches. It was as if he had been a wilting plant at last given water” also reminds me so much of Aragorn as he often, in the trilogy, would straighten up with confidence whenever he mentioned his claim to the throne of Gondor.

I felt a lot of vibes from Scott Crawford’s collaboration of short stories “Besting the Beast”. This story really gave the opportunity to take everything from before and combine into something incredibly unique, whilst showcasing Crawford’s captivating style of writing. I say this in particular about the following:
The plot: A tyrant desiring to take over is in some ways like “A Thief’s Work”
Descriptions of action and monsters: fighting the Nightingale was reminiscent of Resh fighting Cerebeasts “The Carving of a Warrior”
Descriptions of characters: The tale of an evil sorcerer Koschei the Immortal made me think of Rhio Honta in A Thief’s Work, and the hungry ghost reminded me of the bizarre Kong Si from “Half-Baked Hero”

My favourite thing is Lucy and Su’s friendship. Their oath is interesting:

I want to be your friend
Forever and ever without break or decay
When the hills are all flat
And the rivers are all dry,
When it lightnings and thunders in winter
When it rains and snows in summer.
When Heaven and Earth mingle
Not till then will I part from you.”

<< The Title >>
“The Phoenix and The Firebird” is an interesting title choice! This is a Chinese and Russian term respectively, and Su and Lucy’s respective cultures. These days, the two terms are interchangeable as it means a mythical bird, but in this story, this is not the case. They come from different cultures and thus have different meanings. A Chinese Phoenix has no set look, symbolises goodness, and appears before a wise emperor came into power. A Russian Phoenix can be a blessing or bring about doom.

During the novel, Lucy and Su argue about whether the feather she found on the train belongs to a Firebird or Phoenix, but they have to journey to Phoenix Mountain to get to the warlord, and he keeps a Firebird.

The title is rather fitting as it hints to the book’s collaboration of cultures, and the fact that despite disagreeing on what creature the feather belongs to, Su and Lucy team up to go on this adventure. It is very clever!

<< Mythology >>
I learned a lot about mythology thanks to this story. All the information about the mythical beings mentioned in this tale can be found in the excellent informative Appendices, split into the different cultures, but I will mention a few things.
• There were quite a lot of creatures I had not heard of like Hungry Ghosts, Rusalka and Taotie!
• The Fox Spirit with nine tails was most pleasing to see, as this is often featured in many media such as my introduction to it via Ninetales from Pokémon as the nine-tailed fox idea was adopted from Chinese into Japanese culture, and more recently when watching the CDrama Eternal Love of Dream or it is sometimes known as Three Lives, Three Worlds, The Pillow Book, the main character Bai Fengjiu is the last nine-tailed fox of her kind.

<< Positives >>
🠚The cover is stunning and covers most things mentioned in the story: the creatures in four corners and the two girls’ silhouettes. All that is missing is Vlad. 🠚The friendship between Lucy and Su was one of the best aspects of this story.
🠚There was a lot of unexpected humour, which I enjoyed! Particularly from Vlad, and Lucy sometimes says silly or stupid things. My favourite conversation is when she is asking about the monster “What does it look like?” I asked. | “Not sure. Nobody knows. They only know how it sounds.” | “Well, how does it sound?” I pressed. ? He snorted. “How would I know? I’m here, aren’t I?”
🠚The story was mostly predictable, but this did not take any joy out of reading it. One such thing I predicted was Vlad’s identity. Predicted the ghost’s return but forgot about him until he came back haha! The feather was really cool.
🠚None of the characters introduced as the story goes on are too confusing to follow.
🠚A very poetic end for the villain!
🠚There were a lot of educational moments such as providing the pronunciation of Taotie (it is ‘tao-tee-yuh’, which I mistakenly assumed was ‘tai-yoo-tee’).

<< Negatives >>
🠚I wish it had been longer, only because I enjoyed the concept of it and desire to read more. This would help some sections be fleshed out, and would be the reason for a higher rating. I will emphasise heavily here that the book itself is the ideal length for the target age range, and this was therefore done very well!
🠚The paragraph/section divider could have been a feather!
🠚I wanted more information about Lucy and Su. Lucy’s age is revealed a quarter of the way in, but nothing of Su. It can be assumed she is probably around the same age.
🠚Lucy’s character felt weak and unlikeable in some places. And then, so did Su. There were moments like earlier on when Su is angry at Lucy and how she did it got on my nerves. Lucy sometimes annoyed me because of her stupidity. I think some of it felt sudden and unrealistic but as the story progressed, I liked them both.
🠚I had hoped that because some creatures were mentioned, like the dragon and qilin (unicorn-like creature), it would have featured more. Though, I am happy a dragon was there all the same. I feel no fantasy world is complete without one!
🠚Small thing but, logic-wise, I wonder why Li Bai did not help Du Fu considering they respected each other but one was rich and the other was poor.

CHARACTERS
-ˋˏ ꒰ Lucy꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ I like her friendship with Su. Some moments show they are true friends, such as “knowing what you’re feeling before you do” and “With only our eyes, Su and I held a conversation... Sometimes if you really know someone, you don’t need words to exchange opinions.” I found this whole aspect relatable.
🠚It is interesting we do not learn her last name, and this feels more personal both in the sense that we know her because we hear her point of view, and that she could be anyone.
🠚Lucy is smart in her own way, in terms of understanding how people tick and how best to earn their trust, such as in her conversation with Vlad she mentions his horse because she knows how much it means to him. Very observational too!

I gathered my wits and found my anger at this monster who had taken my father from me and caused untold suffering to so many others. “I am not part of your collection!” I spat.

-ˋˏ ꒰ Su꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ It is admirable that Su is looking after her father and you have that immediate contrast between her and Lucy: she has a father and Lucy doesn’t at this point.
🠚I like that despite their disagreements, and her feeling betrayed at Lucy’s plan to go with her father once she finds him, she still comes back and saves her! That’s a true friend right there.

“When you have almost nothing in your life, trust is the greatest treasure in the world. More valuable than all of your jewels.”

-ˋˏ ꒰ Vlad꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ One of, if not the most interesting of characters in this story. He is my absolute favourite! I knew I liked him the moment he appeared based on his description, but what sealed it for me was the scene where they ask him how he knows the two goons are asleep and he replies “Because I did it to them” and then before anyone can say anything, he says “Now it’s time to depart!”
🠚I enjoyed every page he was on, so was disappointed when he did disappear halfway through. But I’m glad he didn’t betray them!

“The wise gambler knows when to stop. The bold gambler knows when the only choice is to bet everything.”

FAV QUOTES
• “He’d make a man whose house is on fire stop to hear his tale before running to safety.”
• “There’s a saying in Chinese: ‘Those who survive hard times will later meet good fortune.’ I suppose it is something we must all remember.”
• I took a deep breath, remembering what Papa used to tell me. “If you are scared of wolves, don’t go in the woods.” You can only lose from fear, never gain. And when Papa’s life hung in the balance, fear was not a luxury I could afford.
• What an assortment of deadbeats, each looking more desperate and untrustworthy than the next.
• “Even in times of war, a gentleman needs proper tea.” I wasn’t particularly sold on the gentleman part, though I did enjoy the tea.
• “It is never over. War has no home. It just slips from place to place like a traveling salesman peddling an endless supply of misery.”
• He was trying to protect us, but it frustrated me all the same. If there was one thing I hated, it was being underestimated.
• “I’m scared.” Once I uttered the words, I knew I had to be careful. Fears can take root, branching out under the surface, until without your even noticing, they have sprouted into mighty, immovable trees. We hugged each other tightly, relishing our shared heat.
• It was far more beautiful than anything I could ever have imagined. No words could capture its exquisiteness. It stood to my shoulder. Its silky feathers shone brighter than all the jewels of the world. Awestruck, I stumbled over, shading my eyes against its brilliant glow. The Firebird turned and stared back at me with its sad eyes like two red-gold sunsets.
• a flash of his honey-colored eyes would scorch your blood, as if you were bitten by a viper.
• he was barely recognizable, but underneath the layers of sweat, blood and dirt, his neck still smelled the same. It was the smell of comfort, love, family. How strange, that of all my senses and memories, it should be his scent that made the moment real.
• “I’ll always have a home as long as people continue to tell my story. Promise you will do that? Write about me in books, tell your children my name. Maybe even mention that I wasn’t all bad.”
• “Belushka, a home is not made from a comfortable chair or velvet curtains, but the people within its walls.”

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I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review and I’d like to thank Alexis Kossiakoff, Scott Forbes Crawford, and BookSirens for the opportunity. This has not affected my opinion in any way.

“The Phoenix and the Firebird” is out now!