The Phoenix Keeper

[alobear]

The Phoenix Keeper by SA MacLean is a cozy fantasy book about a zookeeper who looks after magical and fantastical creatures. The modern setting took me by surprise and was a bit off-putting, because I'm not used to social media and smart phones mixed in with my cozy fantasy, but I got used to it eventually. I liked the mental health representation, with the protagonist's crippling anxiety, and also the completely unremarked-upon bisexual and trans representation too. The audiobook narrator was good, but my brain kept sliding off the story for some reason, so it was a bit hard to get invested because I felt like I was only tangentially connecting to the book. The protagonist, Aila, also came across as intermittently quite unlikeable because she got a huge amount of help and support from everyone around her, but couldn't seem to acknowledge anyone else's needs or reciprocate when they needed help. She did get called on this multiple times and did improve each time, when her unacceptable behaviour was pointed out to her, but still - it was a bit annoying. The whole thing was also wildly predictable, though I guess I didn't mind that all too much - and a lot of things that were set up early on got a really good pay-off during the action climax. Overall, this book was perfectly fine, but not one that's going to stay with me.