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I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up The Book of Phoenix. I had heard about the author, so I decided to give her a try. It was the one thing that the bookstore had and I wanted something new. Turns out it was exactly what I was looking for in the moment that I read it.
Phoenix Okore is, in essence, a genetic experiment that goes so right that it goes completely wrong. The Book of Phoenix is her story, her evolution from complacent lab rat to vengeful and avenging angel. In a world too much like our own, Phoenix ultimately fights to re-assert balance between nature and all men.
The Book of Phoenix is a morality tale and it asks some big questions about the world we live in. The framing story that bookends Phoenix's story even calls that into question. In the end, what is the nature of men and can they ever live in true harmony with the world around, must everything be continually subverted and bent to the needs and intentions of a few? Perhaps, that is the point of Phoenix Okore and the story as a whole, continual rebirth is the destiny of mankind because what happens always happens, it never doesn't happen. No matter how many times we try to change, ultimately the greed and smallness of mankind prevent them from understanding and embracing a perspective that exists outside of a dichotomy of mine vs yours.
The opening of Phoenix's story was a bit choppy in the execution, but smoothed out beautifully as it went along and the author found her feet. Much of what happens in the story felt very convenient and there was less conflict than I would have imagined given the story's premise.
Phoenix Okore is, in essence, a genetic experiment that goes so right that it goes completely wrong. The Book of Phoenix is her story, her evolution from complacent lab rat to vengeful and avenging angel. In a world too much like our own, Phoenix ultimately fights to re-assert balance between nature and all men.
The Book of Phoenix is a morality tale and it asks some big questions about the world we live in. The framing story that bookends Phoenix's story even calls that into question. In the end, what is the nature of men and can they ever live in true harmony with the world around, must everything be continually subverted and bent to the needs and intentions of a few? Perhaps, that is the point of Phoenix Okore and the story as a whole, continual rebirth is the destiny of mankind because what happens always happens, it never doesn't happen. No matter how many times we try to change, ultimately the greed and smallness of mankind prevent them from understanding and embracing a perspective that exists outside of a dichotomy of mine vs yours.
The opening of Phoenix's story was a bit choppy in the execution, but smoothed out beautifully as it went along and the author found her feet. Much of what happens in the story felt very convenient and there was less conflict than I would have imagined given the story's premise.
