The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, New Adult, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC with anxiety, brown trans secondary character, brown sapphic love interest
PoV: Third-person, past-tense
Published on: 13th August 2024
ISBN: 0316573108
Goodreads

Against a fantasy backdrop teeming with all your favourite mythical beasts from dragons and unicorns to kelpies and krakens, The Phoenix Keeper combines the cozy fantasy stakes of TJ Klune and Travis Baldree with the heartwarming contemporary romance of Alice Oseman and Casey McQuiston.

As head phoenix keeper at a world-renowned zoo for magical creatures, Aila's childhood dream of conserving critically endangered firebirds seems closer than ever. There's just one glaring caveat: her zoo's breeding program hasn't functioned for a decade. When a tragic phoenix heist sabotages the flagship initiative at a neighbouring zoo, Aila must prove her derelict facilities are fit to take the reins.

But saving an entire species from extinction requires more than stellar animal handling skills. Carnivorous water horses, tempestuous thunderhawks, mischievous dragons... Aila has no problem wrangling beasts. Inspiring zoo patrons? That's another story. Mustering the courage to ask for help from the hotshot griffin keeper at the zoo's most popular exhibit? Virtually impossible.

Especially when that hotshot griffin keeper happens to be her arch-rival from college: Luciana, an annoyingly brooding and insufferable know-it-all with the grace of a basilisk and the face of a goddess who's convinced that Aila's beloved phoenix would serve their cause better as an active performer rather than as a passive conservation exhibit.

With the world watching and the threat of poachers looming, Aila's success is no longer merely a matter of keeping her job... She is the keeper of the phoenix, and the future of a species now rests on her shoulders.

There's just one thing she has to remember: she is also not alone.

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Highlights

~the zoo I’ve been waiting all my life for
~a giftshop where I want to buy everything
~sort-of-rivals to lovers
~don’t neglect your bestie
~PHOENIXES!

Some books make you fizz and glitter and wiggle your toes and SQUEE, and The Phoenix Keeper is one of them!

That’s my biggest take-away from this book: how much JOY it made me feel, how much delight! I want to hug it to my chest and read it another hundred times and put a copy in the hands of everyone I know, because it is SO wonderful and SO perfect and I want to share it with THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD!

You know how sometimes, it’s so clear that the author really loved getting to write the book in your hands? Phoenix Keeper is like that: delight emanates from the pages, catching in your throat and your chest, making everything sparkle and effervesce. This book was written because MacLean loved it, so that you and I could fall in love with it; and how could we not, when every aspect of it is enchanting, geared to gladden? What’s not to love about a big, bright zoo where everyone adores the animals they take such great care of? How are you supposed to resist the charms of literally magical creatures, in all their science-defying glory? Who doesn’t cheer to see an endangered species flourish just a little bit more? And all of it filtered through a sweetheart of a main character, who is unintentionally funny and so very passionate and terrible at public speaking?

YES PLEASE!

The plot is pretty much as described in the blurb, so I won’t go over that too much. But I really have to emphasise that MacLean makes you feel. I was stunned by how intensely I felt everything MacLean wanted me to, from sharing Aila’s anxiety, to utter outrage, to being on the literal edge of my seat as called for. And even though this is clearly a happy book, one where nothing will go really horrifically wrong – where the worst baddest thing definitely won’t happen – fellow readers, I was absolutely terrified when The Thing went down! It didn’t matter how much I told myself that no way, it wouldn’t happen, MacLean wouldn’t: I cared so much about the characters, about the phoenixes, about the zoo, that my reason abandoned me and my stomach was in knots and I was almost in tears from the tension. I would have defenestrated anyone who interrupted my reading just then! THIS IS NOT THE NORM FOR ME! In the ten months of this year, I’ve had this intense a reaction to just one other book!!!

But there’s just no way to not care, to keep any kind of emotional distance between you and the story; it doesn’t pull you in, it wraps around you like warm wings and you don’t even notice until next thing you know, there’s a phoenix-fire where your heart should be and whoops, you live here now.

I REGRET NOTHING.

I admit I was predisposed to love Phoenix Keeper – I’ve been pining for an Adult zoo or vet story about magical creatures for years now, so yes, I lit up like a phoenix when I heard about this one! Still, I’m notoriously picky; it would absolutely be possible to write this kind of story and for it to just not work for me. Whereas this did, for so many reasons. MacLean expertly wields the tone and prose (is this really her debut?!) so that Phoenix Keeper feels light and glittery even while scary things are happening, or sad ones, or when Aila’s anxiety is spiking. The writing dances, bright and quick, making for a wonderfully relaxing, easy reading experience; this is not a book that leaves you exhausted with the effort of reading it, but nor is it shallow. Phoenix Keeper manages to examine friendship and grief and passion, what it’s like to have found the thing you want to devote your life to, what it’s like to devote yourself to a goal so much bigger than you are; even what (romantic) love should and shouldn’t be, all while telling a heart-warming, incredibly joy-full story.

It probably goes without saying that this book is a celebration of conservation and animal-lovers everywhere! But it’s not nearly technical or science-y enough to be elitist about it: even if you’re not especially passionate about animals, you’ll have plenty to enjoy and appreciate in Phoenix Keeper – although it’s hard to imagine that any reader won’t be enchanted by MacLean’s obvious love for beasts, birds, and everything in-between. And if you have, EVER, been that kid who read nonfiction about tigers, or watched documentaries about whales, or went starry-eyed at the zoo – then this is the book that will bring that wonder back, reignite it, even if you thought you’d lost it somewhere along the way.

This might go without saying too, but somehow I wasn’t expecting it: the zoo isn’t just a cute setting, or an excuse to show off all the magical animals. Phoenix Keeper is lovingly pro-zoo: maybe more importantly, it also perfectly verbalises why zoos, and things like animal-shows – as in, when animals perform for audiences at zoos – and live-streams of nesting birds are so necessary. If you’d asked me before I read the book, I would have said that the shows and live-streams was unnecessary, and a bit silly, and I would have understood (albeit not agreed) the argument that things like that are demeaning to the animals. Animals aren’t toys.

And no. They’re not.

“But other people,” Luciana said, the softest yet. “Most people are somewhere in between. Not destructive on purpose, but they don’t have a reason to care yet. They don’t realize why they should care. And no one cares about anything they can’t connect to. That’s our job, Aila. Connecting people to these animals, giving them a reason to care. Whether it’s an exhibit or a show, it’s all the same goal in the end.”

The galaxy-brain moment I had after that passage, my gods.

Speaking of animals: MacLean made a choice that surprised me in not stocking the San Tamculo Zoo with mythological creatures; while there are indeed dragons and unicorns present, most of MacLean’s beasties come from her own imagination, from the water phoenix and disappearing ducks (they teleport) to the adorable carbuncle pups and three-faced marmosets. But after about .2 seconds of being taken aback, I was convinced that making up her own animals was a much better option than scouring through The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures: this way, the zoo’s inhabitants are new to every reader, which means we all get that thrill of encountering something new and beautiful, which wouldn’t be guaranteed if she pulled her beasties from established myth. And as a bonus, there’s no possibility of upsetting or offending anyone with her depiction of a mythological creature they might be quite attached to.

The same rationale might be why this book has a secondary-world setting: it’s functionally urban fantasy, since Aila’s world has the same level of technology as ours, but you won’t recognise any of the place names (even if several are clearly inspired by real countries or regions, like Aila’s ancestral not-Ireland). Again, I think this was a good call, since it neatly avoids any potential cultural appropriation and dodges the need to worry about how real-world international politics might affect the story (since things like zoo breeding programs tend to be international projects) – or the question of whether to set the story pre- or post-Covid or pretend it never happened.

MacLean could have gotten away with just that, but as a worldbuilding aficionado (read: freak!) I massively appreciated that she gave us more. There are so many delightful little details tucked here and there about what how magical creatures fit into Aila’s world: powdered dragon scales, for instance, are a strengthening agent used in modern construction, and griffins make such excellent pest control that farmers build nesting platforms to encourage them to live near their crops! Did we NEED to know that??? I mean, I did, but I accept that most readers don’t. And yet! Does it not add even more joy to this masterpiece? YES IT DOES, PLEASE AND THANK YOU!

All of which increases the book’s escapism factor – we don’t have to worry about ANY real-world nonsense here! Once you open the pages of Phoenix Keeper, you can leave our world entirely behind, with no need to think about it and nothing to remind you of it. MacLean whirls us away to the San Tamculo Zoo and immerses us in the wonderful, passionate realm of Aila and her fellow zookeepers, where the only concerns are the incredible and instantly lovable creatures they care for, and the unfairly appetising beastie-themed snacks in the gift shop (if you don’t want a phoenix-shaped cake pop, you’re lying). You’ll never want to leave!

“Luciana will be here soon. Right?”

Tanya clicked her tongue. “I don’t have a GPS tracker on that woman.”

“You’re right.” Aila squinted, calculating. “That would make things much easier.”

Tanya swatted her. “We aren’t putting a tracker on a fellow zoo employee.”

It is PAST time I talked about the characters, SO: Aila! Aila Aila Aila. I love her. She is, frankly, inspiring, both in her dedication/passion, and in how she does not let her anxiety get in the way when it comes to what’s best for her beasties. Anxiety sucks, clinical anxiety sucks more, and speaking from experience, MacLean’s depiction of it is spot-on. Which is one reason it was so wonderful to see Aila succeeding: as you might expect, anxiety makes you think you’ll never succeed at anything, so even fictional examples of people with anxiety accomplishing their dreams are extremely welcome! And also because Aila works for it: Phoenix Keeper is, as I keep saying, a sparkly, fizzy, joy-full book, but that doesn’t mean things are hand-waved or fixed with magic wands. Aila works for what she wants, to make those things happen, and so do her fellow zoo-keepers, and damn it, I want to take this woman on a date! I adore her. I’ve always thought that characters who have quirks or interests or things they’re passionate about are so much more magnetic (the same holds true for real people too!), and Aila’s love, not just for her phoenixes but for all the birds in her care, shines from the entire book.

But she’s also far from perfect, and I love that. Sometimes she fucks up! She makes mistakes! And then…she takes responsibility and fixes it. *chef’s kiss* Too rare a quality, superlative to see!

a heart attack was the last thing she needed. Who would take care of the phoenixes?

Then we have Tanya – Aila’s bestie and simply magnificent – and Luciana, Aila’s sort-of rival. I am very tired of obvious villains with no depth to them, and the way our expectations were subverted when it came to Luciana was fantastic; I liked the gradual reveal that she wasn’t who, or what, we thought she was, and how MacLean did that with other characters too – never heavy-handedly, always believably.

The romance? Yes. Just. Yes. I approve so much. I ship it. I squeed. If I could draw, I would draw so much fanart. I knew the endgame, and I still cheered when they got together. MUCH YES!

Look, I’m terrible at talking about romance and it shows; all I can say is that the romance here made me ridiculously happy, and if this is Romantasy, then I am officially ready to declare myself a Romantasy fan.

I love everything about this book. It made me FEEL things. It made me HAPPY. Gloriously, glitteringly happy. I am not joyful; I am overjoyed by this book. By Phoenix Keeper. There’s not one single thing I’d change about it; there is not one single caveat I want to give. It’s flawless. I have Illumicrate’s special edition coming and it will be enshrined on my bookcase in a place of honour. Hands down one of the best books of the year, and it has soared, firework-like, to perch with the rest of my all-time favourites.

Make like a phoenix and fly to your retailer of choice to order your own copy!

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