Fury of the Phoenix by Cindy Pon

This is simultaneously a sequel and a prequel to Silver Phoenix.

In the main story, Ai Ling has a vision that Chen Long is in danger and resorts to crossdressing, trickery, and being a stowaway to get on his ship and be his bodyguard. She is hardcore. This part of the book, which explores both Ai Ling’s powers and Chen Long’s past and family, I really liked, though I didn’t like that Chen Long had been keeping a particular secret from her.

The backstory part, however, I ended up not liking as much as I expected to. Mostly because I wanted it to be about Silver Phoenix and why she was awesome, and instead it was about the villain, Zhong Ye, and as a result, we only saw Silver Phoenix through his POV. It reminded of the bits of Kristen Cashore’s Fire that were about the villain of Graceling when he was a child, and I kept wanting his bits to go away so could get back to the main story. Save that the villain parts here were more central to the main plot. So really, it’s a personal preference thing, as opposed to an actual flaw? But it’s a dominant personal preference!