The Phoenix Keeper:
A cosy queer fantasy, set within a magical zoo.
Thank you Netgallery and Hachette aus for providing me with an eARC of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.
The Phoenix keeper is a cosy queer fantasy, set within a zoo for magical creatures. It follows Aila, an anxious yet determined young keeper as she fights to get the zoo’s Phoenix breeding program back up and running. I really appreciate how this book portrayed anxiety and absolutely adored the platonic relationship between Aila and Tanya.
The world building in my opinion was really well done, created through the introduction of new adorable magical creatures. Said creatures all sounding incredible and I’d love to see drawings of each of them.
The only downside for me with this book is the lack of scenes showing the advertised sapphic romance. Although a love a slow-burn, I would have liked to see more scenes of this main couple after they got together, perhaps a date or two that aren’t zoo related. Furthermore I would have loved to see the novel paced a little bit more consistently, as it felt like everything happened during part 4.
Overall I greatly enjoyed this novel and would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in reading a cosy fantasy, but readers that this novel isn’t really a romance, but a novel with that focuses on friendship, and has a queer main character.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette for approving this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 10%

The premise sounded right up my alley, but the execution unfortunately is just not my cup of tea. I like flowery prose, but this just felt like word vomit at some points.

Conceptually I love the idea of a zoo of mythical creatures and following a zookeeper there, all sounds super cool, but the prose was the main barrier in stopping me from being immersed in the story.

Unfortunately I am not finishing this book.
While the premise is super cute, I feel like it’s overwritten, overly descriptive, and slow.
I feel for Aila but I find her a little dull and perhaps a little infuriating.
Thank you for allowing me to review this title, I hope we can work together again in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and published for the opportunity to read this book, the story started off a little slow but soon picked up and I enjoyed the cosy fantasy vibes I got from this book.
This was a great read if you like cosy fantasy and a great story that is different from a anything I have read before

The Phoenix Keeper
by S.A. MacLean

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
0/5 spice level

A cozy romantic fantasy about Aila, the head phoenix keeper at a zoo for magical creatures, & her goal to save firebirds from extinction.

⭐️ The good parts ⭐️
-The magical creatures
-Eloquent writing style
-Relatable anxiety rep
-Lush, rich imagery

💀 The negative aspects 💀
-Confusing & large info-dumps for world-building at the beginning
-Sometimes unnecessarily detailed with descriptions
-Not enough dialogue
-Very slow plot

DNF’d at 17%

But for anyone who loves animals and low-stakes fantasy with cozy vibes, it is still worth giving this book a go 🙂

A magical story of a zoo of magical animals. A light cozy read that didn’t quite have enough depth for my personal tastes. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

The Phoenix Keeper

My rating: 4⭐️
Spice: 1🌶️

I quite liked this book. It had a fantasy aspect to everyday life which made it feel as though it was a normal day coexisting with creatures such as kelpies and merlions. I enjoyed seeing Aila’s character growth, however, she was so childish for a 28 year old. I get the with some friends you may act a bit more silly and childish but her actions made it seem as though she was in her early 20s and fresh out of her studies. I genuinely thought she was 21 or something. Additionally, Aila was a really selfish character. Tanya deserves a much better friend. I do, however, admire Aila’s passion for phoenixes and her job. The twists throughout the book was really obvious and predictable (which I am not the greatest at predicting scenes and whatnot but I could this), but was still enjoyable.

If you like books that contain:
🐦‍🔥 Cosy fantasy
🔥 Enemies to lovers
🐦‍🔥 LGBTQ+ representation
🔥 Slow burn
🐦‍🔥 And more

This book is for you.

🐦‍🔥 The Phoenix Keeper releases 13th of August 2024 🐦‍🔥

Thank you to @netgalley and @hachetteaus for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Cosy fantasy is very hit or miss (usually miss) for me, but I'd been interested in this one for a long time because a) my two favourite things as a kid were animals and magic, and not much has changed; and b) the author is an actual biologist, so I had hopes the magic animal stuff would at least be cool. And boy oh boy, were my hopes not only met but bashed right out of the park--and not just when it came to the magical creatures (though I will say, the inventiveness in magical species was probably my favourite part. To quote my partner: 'Yes, you've told me about the mouse griffins three times. Please stop telling me about the mouse griffins.' (In my defence: there are MOUSE GRIFFINS!!)). This title is proof that a book can have a gripping plot, narrative tension and a proper character arc WHILE ALSO hitting the warmth, charm and low stakes (though for me, an animal lover who also has a bio background, the stakes were ANYTHING BUT LOW, oh my god) of cosy fantasy.

I was so invested in poor, disastrous Aila, with her crippling social anxiety and deep love for her animals. I loved how her anxiety was handled with real compassion, while the narrative also held her to account for her actions; I loved how rich and real both she and the whole cast felt, and how while this is billed as a romantasy, the central relationship is really between Aila and her best friend (and the true hero of the story) Tanya. That being said, I also loved the romance, or rather romanceS, and the way they were used narratively to highlight Aila's own development, and to show what it looks like to allow someone to see you for yourself, and help you grow into the best version of yourself. I loved the gentle way the narrative slipped in teaching moments about zoos and conservation. And, of course, I loved loved loved the animals, and the obvious both knowledge and love with which they were imagined and brought to life.

All in all, this was both a brilliant debut and, for me, the platonic ideal of what a cosy fantasy can look like. I had a wonderful time from the first page to the last, and can't wait to see what Sarah MacLean does next.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for the eARC in exchange for my review!

This book reminded me of <i>[book:Coffee, Milk & Spider Silk|59560842]</i> because of the worldbuilding, or lack thereof. In both cases, in imaginary worlds that are very different to ours in some ways, the culture - people's names, technology, institutions, attitudes, values, even slang - are ported wholesale from the west coast of the USA, circa right now. In this book, the geography of the world is very different - not only the names of places, but also the shape of the continents. There are magical creatures, some of them based directly on mythical creatures from our own world, others more invented. But the plants seem to be the same as ours, and the culture is indistinguishable from today's Southern California, where the author lives. The story could just as well have been set in, say, the San Diego Zoo in an alternate version of our world; the new geography is a difference that makes no difference, except to make the culture less plausible. For that matter, even the mythical creatures seemed to be there for aesthetics rather than having any obvious impact on how the story unfolded; they could equally well have been real-world endangered species, at least as far as I read. Since I didn't finish the book, I can't say definitely that this was the case, though.

In terms of copy editing, I personally would have used the past perfect tense more often, though it is usually used in places where the sentence doesn't have a more explicit way of orientating the reader to the fact that it's referring to events earlier than the narrative moment. The commas and apostrophes are correctly placed, and the vocabulary correctly used, even in the pre-release version I had from Netgalley, which puts this far ahead of most contemporary books I read, and gets it the "well-edited" tag.

Although the weak worldbuilding was a problem for me, the reason I stopped reading was the main character. She's so anxious that she's barely able to function, and I much prefer calm, competent protagonists. I don't mind if they're emotionally troubled as long as they don't whine about it, but I felt like she did.

As I often do, when I was finding the book hard going I took a break and read something else; after reading three other books I realized I wasn't going to go back, because I didn't want to spend more time with the main character. This is about my personal taste rather than the quality of the writing. This book will definitely have an audience; it's just not me.

The Phoenix Keeper is an accomplished cozy fantasy that introduces new elements into its story while also keeping us in touch with some that are familiar. In a setting that seems parallel to the real world, a zoo containing magical creatures is looked after by Aila and her best friend, Tanya. What we get are superior world-building (probably influenced by the author's background as an ecologist), lively interactions, humour, real concern about the endangerment of animals, lucid descriptions and a genuinely satisfying finale. There are strong friendship and romance bits to the story, and a refreshing viewpoint from a main character with social anxiety. My only small criticism is that two of the main plot happenings felt like they could be predicted from a mile away. But that doesn't stop it being a truly satisfying book.

Aila, the main character, struggles with her life-long anxiety around strangers and large groups. She is an expert in her field, devoted to saving the lives of endangered phoenixes through a breeding program at the San Tamculo zoo. This city strongly resembles San Francisco and the environment seems much like our own, with smartphones and social media like 'Griffingram'. The zoo itself is described vividly and we get a clear picture of tourist crowds, night atmosphere and the animals' habitats and individual personalities.

Aila's best friend is Tanya, committed and brave. Tanya has her own goal: a volunteering program to assist the zoo. We get to experience the strong friendship between Aila and Tanya, and though their amusing, cheeky interactions can see how much they genuinely care about each other. However, Aila's single-minded obsession with phoenixes can be a weakness, and she must re-learn to pay attention to Tanya's need for help.

Spoiler warning

Luciana is another zookeeper who seems eerily perfect, and is a person Aila has had a long dislike for because of a past misunderstanding. We find out eventually that Luciana conceals a vulnerability when she must deal with the loss of her own creature, a griffin. By gradually co-operating with Aila, we see her barriers break down.

Then there's an 'enemies-to-lovers' trope as Aila and Luciana's difficulties are reconciled, and through this fresh understanding a romance develops. And another tried-and-true plot element appears later when a 'dark horse' character betrays Aila in a plot against her precious animals. While there's nothing wrong with all this, they're hardly unexpected events when they eventually occur.

The final chase sequence, however, kept me in genuine suspense and was a great way to finish off the book. As was Aila's journey to finding love and personal freedom, with her successes in the faces of of her zoo colleagues, superiors and even a large audience.

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

I have mixed feelings about this – it’s the third ‘cozy fantasy’ I’ve read and I’m not sure this genre is for me. The elements that I think a lot of people appreciate about this category, I personally find make the stories a bit dull.

What worked for me is that this book is a quick, cute read, the main characters were charming, and the romance was sweet. I always appreciate when a relationship is the opposite of insta-love and this was one that built over time and over a range of different experiences and interactions. I also really liked the setting and I found all the details about the magical animals and their care interesting. The fact that many of the creatures had been hunted to near extinction and the difficulties encountered with breeding in capacity was sadly familiar. Aila’s passion for her work and for conservation was an engaging and inspiring element of the text.

What didn’t work for me was that the coaching and feedback she received from friends and colleagues about Aila’s communication and public speaking struggles felt uncomfortably ableist at times. Aila read to me as neurodivergent coded, and I find it difficult to accept that conformity to norms that don’t work for you an acceptable solution to the systemic barriers. This also meant I found some of the nicknames Luciana used (such as loser or nerd) also seemed derogatory rather than affectionate. Moreover, I’m an oblivious reader who often misses twists, but the villain in this story was so obvious that it was easy for even me to spot and their characterisation sometimes felt cartoonish. Finally, I felt there was a missed opportunity to critique how animal conservation programs are funded and are so reliant on individual donations. Rather than accepting this as a system that the characters must adapt to, I think there was scope to think more broadly about government spending priorities and habitat destruction mitigation.

I did really enjoy the last 20% of the book when the plot really escalated and there was quite a lot of tension and drama. However, given how every other point of stress in the story had been resolved, it was obvious everything was going to work out.

2.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is truly a one of a kind. I loved every second of this heart-warming, loveable collection of characters and story. It had some really wonderful twists and turns whilst still staying true to the core of the story. Aila is such a loveable character with so much charm about her in her own unique way and I think her development truly can teach us so much about ourselves and our relationships with others. This was such a great experience and I would highly recommend this book to everyone. Such a cosy little read with a perfectly enticing storyline.

This was a really enjoyable and light read!
Though it was a little cliched at times and I could see where it was going from fairly early on I really loved how cozy and easy it was to get through.
The world building was very solid and I’m curious to learn more about the world outside the zoo that was often hinted at but not thoroughly delved into. This along with the magical creatures was a definite highlight and I’d be keen to read a sequel to explore both more!
I appreciated the diverse characters who covered a range of backgrounds, sexualities and genders.
There was also a very strong neurodivergent coding to the main character which I resonated with and enjoyed.
My main critique is the slightly too predictable nature and ending which all tied up pretty fast.
Overall, it was a fun and light read I enjoyed as a break in between heavier titles!