Author: Kate Quinn, Janie Chang
Published: February 13, 2024 by William Morrow Paperbacks
Format: Kindle, Paperback 384 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
First Sentence: Prologue. Summer 1911. “A rose by any other name,” someone quoted, and Alice Eastwood was hard-pressed not to roll her eyes.
Blurb: San Francisco, 1906. In a city bustling with newly minted millionaires and scheming upstarts, two very different women hope to change their fortunes: Gemma, a golden-haired, silver-voiced soprano whose career desperately needs rekindling, and Suling, a petite and resolute Chinatown embroideress who is determined to escape an arranged marriage. Their paths cross when they are drawn into the orbit of Henry Thornton, a charming railroad magnate whose extraordinary collection of Chinese antiques includes the fabled Phoenix Crown, a legendary relic of Beijing’s fallen Summer Palace.
His patronage offers Gemma and Suling the chance of a lifetime, but their lives are thrown into turmoil when a devastating earthquake rips San Francisco apart and Thornton disappears, leaving behind a mystery reaching further than anyone could have imagined . . . until the Phoenix Crown reappears five years later at a sumptuous Paris costume ball, drawing Gemma and Suling together in one last desperate quest for justice. (GoodReads)
My Opinion: The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang is a novel that left me underwhelmed. With a hundred pages in, I found myself questioning whether I should continue or walk away. The appeal of Quinn’s previous works nudged me forward in the hope it would get better. Unfortunately, it did not. desperate quest for justice. (GoodReads)
The narrative introduces two women: Gemma, a soprano seeking the next step in her career, and Suling, a Chinatown embroideress desperate to escape an arranged marriage. Their paths intersect by chance and their story, involving friends, family, and foes, is the basis of the book. desperate quest for justice. (GoodReads)
It wasn’t until the last third of the book, when the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 took place, that this book took off. desperate quest for justice. (GoodReads)
I commend the research the authors put into this book, but the characters failed to grab my attention. Gemma’s voice fell flat, and Suling’s determination was lost. Their shared backstory—losing parents and being orphaned—seemed to have been a ‘heard that before’ trope. Perhaps their pasts weighed them down, but I was searching for more. The book felt like it went on for far too long. The promise of intrigue—Thornton’s disappearance, the missing Phoenix Crown—fizzled. I found the surrounding characters far more interesting than Gemma and Suling. desperate quest for justice. (GoodReads)
As a warning, Quinn and Chang stir up the era, but some terms make the reader shudder and constantly need to remind themselves of the times this book took place.
Blurb: San Francisco, 1906. In a city bustling with newly minted millionaires and scheming upstarts, two very different women hope to change their fortunes: Gemma, a golden-haired, silver-voiced soprano whose career desperately needs rekindling, and Suling, a petite and resolute Chinatown embroideress who is determined to escape an arranged marriage. Their paths cross when they are drawn into the orbit of Henry Thornton, a charming railroad magnate whose extraordinary collection of Chinese antiques includes the fabled Phoenix Crown, a legendary relic of Beijing’s fallen Summer Palace.
His patronage offers Gemma and Suling the chance of a lifetime, but their lives are thrown into turmoil when a devastating earthquake rips San Francisco apart and Thornton disappears, leaving behind a mystery reaching further than anyone could have imagined . . . until the Phoenix Crown reappears five years later at a sumptuous Paris costume ball, drawing Gemma and Suling together in one last desperate quest for justice. (GoodReads)
My Opinion: The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang is a novel that left me underwhelmed. With a hundred pages in, I found myself questioning whether I should continue or walk away. The appeal of Quinn’s previous works nudged me forward in the hope it would get better. Unfortunately, it did not. desperate quest for justice. (GoodReads)
The narrative introduces two women: Gemma, a soprano seeking the next step in her career, and Suling, a Chinatown embroideress desperate to escape an arranged marriage. Their paths intersect by chance and their story, involving friends, family, and foes, is the basis of the book. desperate quest for justice. (GoodReads)
It wasn’t until the last third of the book, when the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 took place, that this book took off. desperate quest for justice. (GoodReads)
I commend the research the authors put into this book, but the characters failed to grab my attention. Gemma’s voice fell flat, and Suling’s determination was lost. Their shared backstory—losing parents and being orphaned—seemed to have been a ‘heard that before’ trope. Perhaps their pasts weighed them down, but I was searching for more. The book felt like it went on for far too long. The promise of intrigue—Thornton’s disappearance, the missing Phoenix Crown—fizzled. I found the surrounding characters far more interesting than Gemma and Suling. desperate quest for justice. (GoodReads)
As a warning, Quinn and Chang stir up the era, but some terms make the reader shudder and constantly need to remind themselves of the times this book took place.
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