This is a clever and engaging story of culture and magic. I was grateful I had read Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking as it gave me cultural backstory on the treatment of Chinese people at the hands of the Japanese. The story unspools the relationship of a Chinese American girl and her grandmother’s life in Shang.hai and Taiwan. The magic came as a surprise. The sexual element of magic was an unnecessary flourish. There is woman+woman romance if only in the first nascent steps. I very much enjoyed the work and would seek out this author in the future.

DNF- 70%
First of all, I don't know what description of the book I read, but I expected more magic and I didn't know there would be any historical fiction, which I'm not really a fan of. Also, I am not a fan of any romance that is not clean, so be aware that this may just be me.

I liked this book for the first 50% or so, but there was a spice scene in chapter 20 and then a really gross romance discussion/flirting thing in chapter 26 that made me quit. I enjoyed the magical realism part, but not really the other parts.

This book is a blend of historical fiction, romance, and magical realism. The romance takes a bit to build-up but it is definitely there later on (in both timelines). Each chapter alternates between present day (really 2018) and the 1930s-1950s ish. The present day follows Monica and the historical part follows her grandmother, Wong Yun. Monica's chapters are about a coding project she is working on, EMBRS and Yun's is about her time growing up in China. Yun talks about her life during multiple wars and her cousin Meng, who she got separated from after the first of the two wars.

Epistolary. Coming-of-age. History. Fantasy. King takes on a hefty handful of genres in The Phoenix Pencil Company, but does them justice. This novel will engage readers of many ages and interests. The history of the occupation of Shanghai by the Japanese is explored through the eyes of two young women, through the recounting of their story in…pencils,,,many years later, at the encouragement of a granddaughter (Monica Tsai) and her friend, who meet because of an online programming project Monica is working on. As her grandmother’s health and memory declines, Monica realizes she knows little of the early years of her grandmother’s life, a life filled with mystery, friendship, and the real-life horror of occupation.
The Phoenix Pencil Company left me wanting to know more about the next months and years of the characters’ lives.

A deep and thoughtful story that unravels through dual perspectives. I really loved that one of those perspectives is told through letters from one character to another. There is romance, there are betrayals, all interwoven in a greater story of spy craft, war, family ties, and diaspora. The speculative elements were fascinating and fresh. This is a great book for anyone who wants to be taken on an emotional journey that spans generations.

*received an advanced copy via NetGalley* Although Allison’s story got off to a slow start, I could not put it down in the second half. I am a huge fan of multiple POV as well as storytelling over different time periods and Allison delivers going in between modern USA and 1930-50s China/Taiwan. It was enlightening to learn more about what life was like in a Japan invaded China and to hear a WWII story not based in Europe. I recommend to all historical fiction lovers.

The Phoenix Pencil Company is a STUNNINGGG debut novel that weaves together magic, history, and the lives of a family in Shanghai during the war. The story centers on the women of the family, who possess a unique magical ability called Reforging. I had no idea this book had any aspects of magic whatsoever, which would normally turn me off of a book if I wasn’t expecting it. However, this book was a welcome surprise! The prose is lovely, capturing the dangerous world these women inhabit. While the present-day chapters are fine, it’s the memories from Yun that truly shine—richly detailed and interesting, they offer a compelling contrast to the modern narrative. A beautifully crafted debut!!

I really loved the epistolary aspect of this book and the way the book incorporates both the past and the present as well as different versions of storytelling. The historical fiction and magical realism components also made for a very compelling narrative.

Completely honest, it was hard to get through in the beginning because I am thinking that this is a love story between two women and their grandchildren are bringing them together with the helpful memory of this pencil that they used to work for when they were coming up. There came in the confusion of what it was really trying to speak about after a while because the romance between the grandchildren, the learning of how to text between the grandparents, and the overall romance in the journey of the two people we were originally supposed to be following. The plot was good but, it was clear. It seemed like a lot of writing with no ending plot or solution. I just wished it made more sense to me.

**Review**

*The Phoenix Pencil Company* is such a magical, heartfelt read. Monica’s journey to uncover her grandmother Yun’s past pulled me in right away, especially with the unique twist of Reforging pencils to unlock old memories. It’s a mix of family secrets, a little magic, and a whole lot of heart.

I loved how Yun’s story during wartime and Monica’s modern-day search for answers came together. The connection between generations felt so real, and the little touches of magical realism just made it even more special.

If you’re into books like *The Midnight Library* or *A Tale for the Time Being*, you’ll love this one. It’s thoughtful, emotional, and left me with a lot to think about after I turned the last page.

Big thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC!

I really enjoyed reading this book! It was so comforting and cozy and just filled with happy sweet moments and touching ones too. I liked the way it felt kind of nostalgic too. I am a fan of this book!!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

Dazzling and unexpected (in a good way!). Reading Allison King’s debut novel reminded me of how I felt when reading, among others, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, The Midnight Library, The Book Eaters, and The Cartographers. Monica, a college student and computer scientist, learns about her family’s pencil company and her family’s secret - the ability to Reforge pencils. And in the process, Monica learns about her family’s history, especially that of her beloved paternal grandmother. I don’t want to accidentally give anything away, but I loved the alternating timelines and viewpoints and the gradual reveal of feelings and secrets. Looking forward to reading more from King in the future.

(3.5 stars) I’m torn as to my opinion of this book. On the plus side, I loved the way the story was told – in quiet and affecting prose, the two timelines of Monica and her grandmother Yun were drawn out largely in diary entries and letters. Together, the two narrators told the tale of the Phoenix Pencil Company and its forged and reforged pencils. The pencils were used to pass down personal histories and memories that otherwise would not have had a chance to be told. On the negative side, however, I did not like the way that the pencils were “reforged”. I can’t go further without spoilers, but suffice it to say that I would have liked the pencils to be “used” in a manner different from that in the book. It just seemed a bit crude and I cringed whenever it was used. And, I have to say that the inclusion of a second method of reforging which showed up later in the book was entirely uncalled for. Again, I can’t say anything due to spoilers, but this second method didn’t add anything to the storyline and was awkward to say the least.

This book entwines modern day social media and computer coding with a history of Shanghai China immediately following World War II, when Communists were struggling with Nationalists for power of the city. I particularly like the reconnecting of long-lost characters to their modern counterparts, and the passing down of the reforging process. Like I said earlier, I’m a little torn as to my overall opinion. It doesn’t seem as if the reforging process bothered other reviewers (what few there are this early in the process), so I may be nitpicking. If a lost history of family members across time and place, forged through the use of “magical” pencils piques your interest, please give it a try.

Much thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for allowing me access to the e-ARC of this title.

The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King, my newest review book, is about two stories: one told by Monica and the other told by her grandmother. Monica's story is about herself and her grandparents. Meanwhile her grandmother's story is about herself, her cousin and the Phoenix Pencil Company. Her grandmother and the women in her family had the ability to bring back words that people had written by reforging them. What follows, with both stories, is a magical, wonderful, mostly cozy story.

This book was not at all what I expected. I kept trying to guess what would happen. I kept expecting there to be some big twist or unexpected event. There wasn't. Instead The Phoenix Pencil Company is story about not forgetting the past and learning to forgive. Its a story about what happened and what might happen. Not everything presented is wonderful. There are some elements that are definitely sad. But the overall message of the story and especially the ending is one about hope and wonder.

Allison King is a gifted storyteller. The grandmother's tale was so well written and so was Monicas. Both stories craft complex characters who go through a lot, make mistakes, and sometimes learn from them. The message the book puts out there about not forgetting the past and sharing this story feels like a hug.

I also love how it weaves in actual history. This book shares a culture and a history that I knew nothing about. There is so much history that Americans especially just have no clue about and I love how this book dives into that, weaving in fantasy with reality and creating something magical and memorable.

The Phoenix Pencil Company is a wonderful book. I absolutely love it. You should read it too.

The Phoenix Pencil Company comes out on July 22nd, 2025. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with an early digital copy of the book.

This is a truly unexpected and deeply felt story of legacy - not at all what I expected to see for 2025 but I can't want to evangelize for this book.

A bit of mixed feelings with this book. The narrative is told from two perspectives: Monica, a freshman in college writing journals of her present, and her grandmother Yun, writing a letter to her long lost cousin about her past. Monica’s POV didn’t move me. I found the prose too stream-of-consciousness. Yun, on the other hand, I was enthralled by. Her voice was authentic and her story captivating. I think this book could have benefitted from drawing a stronger parallel between the two POVs. Perhaps if Monica had also been writing to someone, had as strong a focus and need to share her story and perspective, I would have been more engaged.

The prose was beautiful in this book and I loved the way the story wove together the concepts of storytelling, memory, family history, spying and immigrant stories with social media data, technology and broader privacy and ethical issues. But it's only not getting 4 stars because I struggled with the love story.

This book tells the story of Monica Tsai, a shy, reclusive computer programmer who's more at home with lines of code than the ways of the heart. She is close to her loving grandparents, who raised her. Her family has a secret that she unearths with the help of a new social media app that scrapes journal entries to make connections between users.

She connects her grandmother with a long-lost family friend and finds out about the family secret: They used to own a pencil factory in China. But the pencils were a front for a magical power the women in the family possessed to Reforge pencils and bleed out the memories of their owners into stories. This power was used during wartime in Shanghai to spy on dissidents through various regimes. I was confused about the mechanics of how this power worked and could never really picture it.

The narrative is woven together through multiple points of view in the form of journal entries and personal letters, which I found creatively executed and easy to follow.

On this journey of discovery, Monica meets Louise, the family friend's daughter, whom she develops a crush on. The two dance around a tentative situationship while Louise is using her for her real project, her future career as an archivist. She wants to get close to Monica's grandmother to record her story. Stories, for her, are a way of connecting to a family that she's never felt she belonged to.

There was a nasty third-act betrayal in the love story though, not cheating but I found myself disliking Louise and not trusting her intentions, and I did not forgive her as quickly as Monica did. I would have been happier with a sad ending for them than the flimsy HEA presented. Betrayals are my least favorite third act breakup and they require a strong redemption arc and a deep-dive into character motivations for me to appreciate them. That didn't happen here; their reunion felt rushed and tentative.

In short... the story was beautiful but the romance really did not work for me at all.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoyed reading this, it had that scifi element that I was looking for and enjoyed the bond between the characters. It was a strong debut and worked with the story being told. Allison King was able to weave a strong tale and keep the reader engaged with what was happening. I enjoyed the cross-generational element and enjoyed the family element that went with it.