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The Phoenix Empress

by K Arsenault Rivera
Tor. (Their Bright Ascendency, Bk. 2). Oct. 2018. 544p. ISBN 9780765392572. pap. $16.99; ebk. ISBN 9780765392565. FANTASY
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Two women, both raised with the knowledge that they were bound by prophecy to save their homeland, are reunited after eight years. Wives O-Shizuka and Barsalai Shefali find that distance can exist between two hearts bound to each other. The women's stories alternate between their current reunion and previous years apart: O-Shizuka faces a war that changes her life, while Shefali endures horrible trials as a cursed warrior. Before becoming Empress, Shizuka was heir to an uncle who led the Hokkaran Imperial Army and tried to end her life on a suicide mission. The demons she faces at war cause her to doubt everything. As Shefali battles the dark influence of the curse upon her, a horrible truth is revealed that could separate the women again.
VERDICT The second entry in this epic fantasy series (after The Tiger's Daughter) continues the intense worldbuilding and time-hopping prose of the first. While the initial book's use of borrowed and slightly altered Japanese and Chinese vocabulary was hotly debated, readers will find the embattled lovers' tale engrossing and memorable.
Reviewed by Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton , Sep 15, 2018
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