Red phoenix is definitely an improvement over White tiger. It is still rather slow and somewhat repetitive (I was getting particularly sick of Emma mentioning how she doesn't need words in her relationship with Mr. Chen). However, it was not actively boring, things keep happening and the story is finally moving forward beyond 'Emma learns to fight better'. She still does of course, and she's really good at everything and everybody loves her and admires her (it gets a bit cloying), but the fighting is more interesting now that Emma is doing more advanced energy work, things progress between John and Emma, and we see a bit more of this Chinese mythology world. I'm a particular fan of all the stones, they are all really cool, and I also like the dragons (of course). Since I was really tired this week, I couldn't handle anything even slightly taxing, so this was perfect. Despite all the demon attacks, this book is really comfy, and quite frankly, when I'm in the state I was in this week, I'm absolutely fine with too-perfect too-powerful protagonists. I want someone I can count on to save the day without any twinge of worry. Plus, the Chinese mythology is cool, well executed and well integrated into current-day society, and there's a refreshing lack of misogyny in this book. The only thing I really thought was stupid was the thing where Emma likes it when John looses control in the bed, pins her down and comes awfully close to raping her. This the first time they have sex ever. She even tries to incite this state in him later on. ( )

Really enjoyed it. Very fast paced, can't wait to get book 3. ( )

This was not quite as good as "The White Tiger," it lacked much of the humour that made the first book such a delight, but the action and excitement was right up there, so it was still a page turner. Looking forward to the last book in the trilogy. ( )

Absolutely loved it! It took me 5 hours straight to read this book. 560 pages. That's how good it was.

Again, non-stop action, fantastic battles, lots of intense situations, and Emma! Oh. My. God. I would never have thought in a million years she can be that. I was blown away.

Emma and John have some really sweet moments, and there is a lot going on. Obviously now, that she is Regent, there are plenty of assassination attempts on her life, especially on behalf of One Two Two aka Simon Wong, a disgusting demon who absolutely doesn't follow the code of honour and uses every awful malicious trick in the book to bring John's head to his dad.

Emma hires a new addition to Simone's bodyguards, a young and talented boy. She is also quite busy with other duties helping John to rebuild the mountain and train new warriors. John gets more and more drained of energy and it looks like they won't even have promised two years together. Even Simone's talents progress much faster than John thought and the girl finally finds out the whole truth about her dad.

There are couple of annoying moments. I didn't like how everyone kept telling Emma that she is extraordinary and how confident she was and how self-sacrificing to the point of being ridiculous. But perhaps I'm looking at it from the western point of view, and from the eastern point of view it was quite natural and expected.

Again there are plenty of fascinating details in book #2 to keep you hooked, and now I can't wait to find out what's going to happen in grand finale! A MUST READ for an urban fantasy fan. ( )

Was not able to put Red Phoenix down. A must read. ( )