Aila loves animals but none so much as her beloved Silimalo phoenix that she cares for at the Sam Tamculo Zoo. She just gets animals. People, not so much. Luckily her best friend,Tanya, is also her fellow zoo keeper and she helps Aila to deal with the people in her life. Like the hot dragon keeper that keeps stealing her focus and seems to be interested in her too, and the little miss perfect griffin trainer that causes Aila all kinds of grief. Tayna is also there for her when an opportunity comes up to restart the defunct phoenix breeding program at the Sam Tamculo Zoo. Aila’s lifelong dream has been to actually breed Silimalo phoenixes, but it won’t be easy to reach her goals. Especially with her love life choosing this time to heat up. Can Aila balance it all, or will everything fall apart? Find out in S.A. MacLean’s debut novel, The Phoenix Keeper.
[Note: While I am reviewing this novel independently and honestly, it should be noted that it has been provided to me by Orbit for the purpose of this review. Warning: My review of The Phoenix Keeper contains some spoilers!]
Not saving the world, but saving a part of it in The Phoenix Keeper
In some ways, The Phoenix Keeper is a small story, but it has a huge heart. It focuses on Aila, a zookeeper in a zoo that also happens to have magical animals. She is not rich, she doesn’t come from a powerful family, and she doesn’t have a huge, world-changing destiny. In fact, she’s rather socially awkward (probably on the spectrum), and just wants to be left alone with her birds. But her fierce devotion to her birds leads her to want to save, not the whole world, but a small part of it. Specifically, her birds. She wants to protect the phoenixes in her care, help them breed, and possibly even release some into the wild some day. This is her only goal, and she’s willing to give everything to achieve it.
When the breeding program at another zoo falls apart after the babies and mother are stolen by poachers, Aila must convince the powers that be to send that male to meet and hopefully mate with her female. To her shock and amazement, they approve the move, and she gets her wish. But that’s just the beginning. Now she has to get them to breed, and protect those vulnerable babies from poachers. It won’t be easy, but she has her best friend Tayna to help her. And she’s learning how to ask for and accept help from others. It’s hard, but she’s making it.
While she’s dealing with all the phoenix problems, she’s also trying to stretch her romantic life. Another zookeeper, Conner, seems to be really into her. Aila doesn’t really know what to do or how to act, animals are so much easier than people! But at Tayna’s urging, she gives it a try. But trying to balance love and phoenixes might be too much to ask of Aila right now. What will she choose in the end? Would real love even make her choose?
The Phoenix Keeper highlights conservation
The Phoenix Keeper is being billed as a romance, but it’s really not. Sure, there is romance, but that’s really not the focus of this book and honestly, that makes it better. By not focusing on Aila’s love life, we are given a story that celebrates people’s dreams without the need for a relationship. So often being in a relationship feels like the end all goal for stories, but people are more than love or sex. We have hopes and dreams that in no way relate to romantic feelings, and having a story with a female lead that recognizes the heroine as more than a love interest is rare and exciting.
There is romance, but Aila’s focus is always on her birds above everything else. I really loved MacLean’s choice to make the story about Aila and the phoenix’s with love as a secondary plot instead of the other way around. I look forward to more stories like this from this wonderful new author.
Aila doesn’t just love her particular birds. She loves the phoenixes in general and her greatest dream is not just to care for the birds but to actually help them make a comeback. I really enjoyed this twist on the rare magical creature theme. There are lots of books that talk about rare mythical creatures, the last of their kind, or even extinct creatures. But there aren’t many stories where the people are actually trying to save them. They may be trying to save one particular animal, but saving a species as a whole isn’t really thought about.
I felt that this really grounded MacLean’s story and made it feel more real and relatable. We are going through these same problems here in our world, seeing it mirrored in a magical world created a bridge between the two that made the story feel very real to me. I loved it. I harbor a small hope that readers will think about what’s happening in Aila’s world and connect it to our own. And once they make that connection, maybe they’ll be moved to care about what’s happening on Earth and take some action to save our planet before it’s too late. It’s a lot to ask for a debut novel, but I can hope.
The romance ends up taking a predictable path
As I’ve said a few times, The Phoenix Keeper isn’t really a romance. And it’s a good thing it’s not, because the romance part follows a pretty predictable path. Two rivals that don’t like each other are forced to spend time together and find out that there’s more to each other, eventually falling in love. It’s a really old trope and it’s gotten boring. But somehow it’s not horrible the way MacLean writes it. That fact that the focus is on Aila’s goals and not romance makes the romance storyline subtler and more palatable.
Having a female lead that isn’t obsessed with her love life is refreshing. The romance is almost an afterthought to Aila’s story, and I loved that. We’ve all had times where romance wasn’t the focus of our life, and so having a story that reflects that is nice. It also allows for a more organic love to develop in Aila’s life which is what usually happens in real life too, just when you stop looking (okay, Aila never was looking, but you get my point) is when love finally finds you.
The Phoenix Keeper is a solid debut for S.A. MacLean
S.A. MacLean is a new author, which is always scary for both the author and the reader. New authors usually need a few books to really get their feet under them and start producing good books. But MacLean has crafted a solid story for their first offering.
Aila is a great character. I really connected to her introverted personality. I totally understand her need to recharge and her preferring animals to people. But I also greatly admire her commitment to her dreams and her passion for those she loves. I think she’s the perfect heroine for now. This is a time when people are feeling increasingly overwhelmed by expectations but still want to make a difference in the world, just like Aila. I think that a lot of people out there will connect with her, let’s just not all try to tell her at once, it’ll be too much for her!
Rating: 9/10
The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean is now available where books are sold! Are you picking up this book soon? Let us know what you think of it on social media @mycosmiccircus.
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