Book Review of
The Phoenix Crown

Lynn's Review

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang is a historical fiction book published in 2024.

I love Kate Quinn’s writing and wanted to love this book. I did not. I almost didn’t finish it. I finished it mainly out of curiosity, not because I enjoyed it.

It was a one-and-a-half or two-star read for me. It is a bit painful to give that review on a book by an author I love. 

The Phoenix Crown is set in 1906 San Fransico. It starts with the days leading up to the earthquake of 1906 and then follows four women through the events before, during, and after the quake. 

I enjoyed that this book included the history of San Francisco and the Chinese during that time period. But a good portion of this book did not feel like a story set in 1906 or one that would have been lived in 1906. 

I love historical fiction, but I want it true to the time period. Books like Crow Mary, The Frozen River, The Great Alone, and others all deal with big, important topics, but they do it accurately to the time period they are set in. 

The Phoenix Crow took today’s topics, some of which were also in 1906, but wrote them in a 2024 way. It was like a modern-day story, and modern-day people dropped into 1906. It made the whole book feel off to me. 

Some may like books that do that, but I don’t. I want my historical fiction to read like it would have happened in the time period it occurred.

If you are going to cover big topics that modern readers want to read about, you can do it in a way that is true to history. You don’t have to write a modern-day story set in history. 

I wish I could say more, but I don’t want to share any spoilers. Many will disagree with me, but we are all about honest opinions here. 

This book just wasn’t for me.