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A review by dustnfluff
Phoenix Rising by Bryony Pearce
2.0
Phoenix Rising follows the story of teenage pirate Toby Ford and his travels aboard the Phoenix in a world of garbage-filled seas and blinding sunlight. Years before the story starts, the world had run out of natural oil, bringing the governments and corporations into chaos as they fight for power and resources. While all of this happens, a supervolcano erupts, bringing the world into darkness caused by ash clouds. Along with this, the Earth's seas become so salty that it becomes near impossible for life to inhabit on it.
Toby Ford is doing his regular duties on the Phoenix, which are maintaining the boat's boiler room to make sure the paddles keep rowing. One day, he finds a piece of scrap out on the ocean, an airplane that may be filled with valuables. He and the Phoenix's crew don't know it yet, but this one salvage mission will bring problems for them in the future, mainly when against rival ship the Banshee.
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I hate this book.
I'll be blunt when I say most of this book did not float well with me, which is rather disheartening because the plot had so much potential to be good. Sadly, it did not live up to such a great idea.
There is a LOT of world building within this book, but it ends up useless when I don't care about anything that happens in the said world.
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There are multiple characters mentioned throughout the story, most of which have little to no personality. The man Toby saves in the prologue, Marcus, has so little personality that it surprises me that his rescue was even given any recognition. With this fatal flaw, whenever a character dies in the story, it just feels like background noise.
The characters that DO matter (Toby, Ayla, Nell, Barnaby, Polly, and Hiko) are just tropes upon tropes.
Toby is Thomas + Peeta + kind-hearted male dystopian protagonist number 150 - any common sense these people had that helped them survive such harsh conditions. Ayla is Katniss + Tris - anything that made them interesting. Hiko is any kid dystopian character that dies in the end but doesn't die. Polly is probably the only interesting character, which isn't saying much because she's a robotic parrot with a personality.
For a dystopian novel that constantly talks about battles aboard rusting ships surrounded by toxic waters and robot birds, it feels BORING. The first half simply drags on for too long for what is supposed to be an intense battle between two rival pirate groups. Even when the main characters reach a new port town, the story only picks up around the near end of that whole ordeal.
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Even worse is the formatting of this book. AT times, there are moments where you would see typos such as:
The formatting of this book irritates me to no end, which doesn't help the case for this book at all.
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Overall, Phoenix Rising is a boring book that only manages to be interesting for the twist. Although it is a GREAT twist, I feel like it does not serve this wreck of a book justice. It's clear the author put her heart and soul into this book, especially considering the map of the Phoenix + the news article clippings before the prologue. Sadly, they only make a rotten meal slightly more bearable.
Overall, Phoenix Rising gets 3 crackers out of 10.
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"Toby f0idg0ted."
- Bryony Pearce, Phoenix Rising
Toby Ford is doing his regular duties on the Phoenix, which are maintaining the boat's boiler room to make sure the paddles keep rowing. One day, he finds a piece of scrap out on the ocean, an airplane that may be filled with valuables. He and the Phoenix's crew don't know it yet, but this one salvage mission will bring problems for them in the future, mainly when against rival ship the Banshee.
▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄
I hate this book.
I'll be blunt when I say most of this book did not float well with me, which is rather disheartening because the plot had so much potential to be good. Sadly, it did not live up to such a great idea.
There is a LOT of world building within this book, but it ends up useless when I don't care about anything that happens in the said world.
-----
There are multiple characters mentioned throughout the story, most of which have little to no personality. The man Toby saves in the prologue, Marcus, has so little personality that it surprises me that his rescue was even given any recognition. With this fatal flaw, whenever a character dies in the story, it just feels like background noise.
The characters that DO matter (Toby, Ayla, Nell, Barnaby, Polly, and Hiko) are just tropes upon tropes.
Toby is Thomas + Peeta + kind-hearted male dystopian protagonist number 150 - any common sense these people had that helped them survive such harsh conditions. Ayla is Katniss + Tris - anything that made them interesting. Hiko is any kid dystopian character that dies in the end but doesn't die. Polly is probably the only interesting character, which isn't saying much because she's a robotic parrot with a personality.
For a dystopian novel that constantly talks about battles aboard rusting ships surrounded by toxic waters and robot birds, it feels BORING. The first half simply drags on for too long for what is supposed to be an intense battle between two rival pirate groups. Even when the main characters reach a new port town, the story only picks up around the near end of that whole ordeal.
-----
Even worse is the formatting of this book. AT times, there are moments where you would see typos such as:
"Toby f0idg0ted."
The formatting of this book irritates me to no end, which doesn't help the case for this book at all.
▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄
Overall, Phoenix Rising is a boring book that only manages to be interesting for the twist. Although it is a GREAT twist, I feel like it does not serve this wreck of a book justice. It's clear the author put her heart and soul into this book, especially considering the map of the Phoenix + the news article clippings before the prologue. Sadly, they only make a rotten meal slightly more bearable.
Overall, Phoenix Rising gets 3 crackers out of 10.
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"Toby f0idg0ted."
- Bryony Pearce, Phoenix Rising