The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. Maclean is a delightful cozy fantasy that introduces readers to the world of mythical creatures and Alla, a passionate zookeeper.
Fans of enemies-to-lovers tropes will enjoy the gradual development of Aila's relationship while she advocates for the protection of endangered species like the phoenix.
While the story offers a captivating blend of romance and fantasy, I adored the world-building and Aila's dedication, but wished the romance had more depth. Also I will like to acknowledge how the author introduced anxiety in a main character not it a bad ways but instead gives you other view on how complex this is and gives you more empathy to others struggling with it.

A sweet fantasy debut about an anxious, bi woman who's passionate about restarting a breeding program for phoenixes. Cozy is not my genre, but I still quite enjoyed this, especially the slow-burn romance, the mythical creatures, and the anxiety representation. I FELT the scenes where Aila just wants to talk nonstop about her passion and then feels ashamed when the person she's talking to doesn't care.

Aila seems to be neurodivergent and is so anxious that she struggles to do some aspects of her job, like public speaking. MacLean tries to balance the theme of self-acceptance with Aila's friends encouraging her to conform to social norms—something Aila has tried and failed in the past. I wish her friends were a little less pushy about getting her to do things she's uncomfortable with. I'm not sure how realistic Aila's success at becoming more extroverted is, and I think the systemic barriers for neurodivergent people could have been highlighted more. However, the story focuses more on Aila learning to accept a support system who does love her unconditionally, which I appreciate.

Overall, this was really lovely, I appreciated the diverse cast of characters, and I loved the fantastical zoo setting.

—Review by Allison from The Worldbuilder's Tavern podcast

The Phoenix Keeper is a cozy fantasy with epic world-building, a plethora of insanely cool magical creatures, and a heartwarming queer romance. A perfect fall read for those who want to escape into another world rich with texture and depth.

What I loved…
- an introverted, career motivated FMC that reminded me of all the best traits in my IRL best friend (hi Hannah, I love you!)
- These creatures are SO freaking cute, adorable, quirky and fun.
- anxiety rep (hi to me on this one!)
- that love story! ❤️ enemies to lovers and slow burn and also make it healthy and respectful?! winning!
- insanely immersive world building that had me RIGHT there with them
- wonderful characters

What I didn’t love…
- I wanted more romance
- this was cozy af, as in expect mostly vibes with a slower and smaller plot
- the world almost felt too rich/well-built for a cozy - I think it is a me issue but I prefer my cozy reads to be a bit shorter.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit books for sending this book (eARC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This book has … everything I wanted in a book. Excellent world building — with a zoo for endangered magical animals, from phoenixes to dragons and unicorns, but also invisible geese, crocodiles who grow flowers on their backs, kraken, and so many more. The creativity is just amazing, and the way the animals were characterized, not humanized, made them feel real and fully alive.

The plot is tight and focused and the pace is lightning fast. And the way the plot unfolds, hand in hand with the world building and the romance, kept it from either fading into the background or taking over the story. While I do think there was a fair amount of telegraphing, I didn’t mind it since … while it’s a nice plot, I was so much more interested in Aila and her romance and the conservation efforts.

The conservation efforts and the way Aila handled her animals felt .. well, real. If someone told me the author had spent time in a zoo, I’d believe it, and that believably made the book feel so much more grounded. The education work, the maintenance, the feeding, the routines and the clear devotion these people have for their charges … I loved it, and I want more of it. More fantasy zoos, please!

The romance may not work for everyone. Aila, with her anxiety, selfishness, focused obsession on her phoenixes and her single-minded drive to do everything herself can be slightly off putting, but I found her to be a sympathetic, and flawed character. She’s almost entirely in her head, and while she cares, deeply, for animals, she’s not the best with people. The romance between Aila and the Luciana felt effortless. While there were misunderstandings between them, and a small rivalry, the two women are so similar in how much they care, and how much of themselves they put into everything.

Because everything grew together, plot, world, character and romance, the ending of the book felt perfect. Every small moment had meaning, every seed planted bore fruit, and while I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read an arc, I’m now off to go preorder the book. I need a copy of this on my shelf; it’s so good, so much fun, and I really hope you give this book a try.

E-Arc review!

I really enjoyed this book with its zoo world-building. It's not something you see often, so it was quite a nice refresher! A cozy fantasy about a "28 year old teenage woman" (thank you to the reviewer Samah for perfectly encapsulating Aila) and her prized phoenixes was a fun and light-hearted read for me. I admire the fact that she is neurodivergent, specifically with an anxiety disorder, and that is probably my psychology degree bouncing around with joy at seeing representation in this book.

Neurodivergent characters have always existed, if not explicitly said then heavily coded to be; however, I feel like I am seeing more, or at least my attention is being brought to, books with characters that are neuroatypical recently. It brings me joy! Representation matters!

Honestly, I was irked with Aila half of the book. She tended to put her focus about herself and what affected her without considering the closest people around her (Tanya especially). It definitely was not in a conceited way, more of a 'I will think about 1000 scenarios where I will fail' way. I am happy to say that she has a huge development and realizes her faults and acts upon them. Her and Tanya are the bestest of friends, and Tanya is exactly what Aila needs in her life. She is so patient with her, and I commend that with my entire heart.

I was in a very sapphic-reading mood, and this definitely hit the spot. Her relationship with Luciana blossoms in the book. Dare I say, their relationship is like that of a phoenix immolating from burning at the sight of each other to falling into ashes and reborn into a kindling romance. I was slightly disappointed in the fact that there was not more of their already developed relationship. I thoroughly enjoyed the slow burn, but I also would have liked to see more of them dating.

Overall, this was a delightful read, and I hope others are entertained with this as well. Please support this book when it comes out!

Also, if Connor has no haters it's because I am not alive anymore.

As someone obsessed with zoo tycoon and all things fantasy, imagine my delight upon reading The Phoenix Keeper’s synopsis. Oh, and it’s cozy fantasy?! Sign me up. Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for the ARC.

The world building was easy to follow yet immersive. I found myself able to identify with the main character, Aila (who really likes public speaking, anyway?) and her obsessive personality over animals. If we had Phoenixes, you better believe my eyes would be glued to their cam as well.

The pace of the book was nice and steady, picking up a bit towards the end. Although a bit predictable, the story was an enjoyable experience. Spice in this book is essentially nonexistent, so keep that in mind when diving into it & soak up all the cozy vibes instead!


4.25/5 ⭐️

I love the creativity used to build this fantasy zoo. All the creatures are described so well that they truly feel real, and while I think the deep worldbuilding used to describe where each animal came from could bog down the story at times, it was very cool to see how far the author stretched their creativity.

The characters feel very human, and the developing romance was just slow enough to feel well earned. The anxiety and self doubt Aila experiences have so much truth in them that it was very easy to empathize with her.

My only true complaint is that much of the book is spent with Aila dating someone that is not her final partner. While it makes sense from a character growth standpoint, it’s always been an irk of mine when a stand alone novel wastes time with a romantic interest who isn’t the actual person they end up with. Since this is marketed as a sapphic romance, that really made the irksome feeling stronger in this case because it wasn’t a “I wonder who she’ll end up with” feeling, which felt like a bigger waste of time.

Overall the book is a sweet, fantastical slice of life, and while it maybe have been predictable and too easy in some ways, it’s still a very enjoyable read.

Before reading S.A. Maclean’s The Phoenix Keeper, I’d never read a book about a zoo before. I’d never even considered reading a book about a zoo before. But add a diverse cast of characters and magical creatures and suddenly I see the appeal.

So, I decided to read a book about a zoo—a zoo of magical creatures.

I also don’t normally base my feelings about a book on the relatability of characters because, let’s face it, as much as I want to relate to some of the badass FMCs in the books I’ve read, I’m not them. I would be one of the NPCs that die early in the story. Maybe first.

Anyway…

Aila, the FMC of this story (while still badass in her own right) has incredible social anxiety, crippling stage fright, and devastating self-esteem issues. Can relate. Perhaps not to the degree that they are portrayed in this novel, for which I am grateful, but I can at least find common ground with her. The world-building—zoo-building?—was really detailed, and I loved the descriptions of the animals and wanted to snuggle several of them. As for the romance, the relationship pacing between the rivals-to-lovers, for me, was better than in a lot of other books I’ve read. Having it much slower, made it feel more plausible.

On the surface, The Phoenix Keeper is just a cozy story about a socially awkward woman who worked hard to get to where she is, believes in the importance of what she does, and thinks she has the best job in the world. But it is also about crippling self-doubt, relationships and not always getting them right, and a mischievous bird who likes to stick shiny things together with their freakishly-adhesive saliva…

One of my only …mehs…about this novel is when an animal was introduced, the place they were from was also mentioned. This is not the meh. The meh is that after a while, for me, all of the place names and details kind of started to run together and cause a bit of confusion. This may very well be a me problem though.

Favorite quote? Hands down, it's:
“Two giant, majestic-ass unicorns trotted up to meet them, all majestic white fur with majestic tassels swathing their hooves, majestic quartz horns, majestic manes and tails billowing in puffs of blue and pink that defied gravity…majestically.”

Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for approving the digital arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Pros and cons to this one. Probably a 3.5 rounded up.

Pros: I loved the setting of this, as well as the magical creatures. if you’ve ever been to the san diego zoo safari park, this will feel very familiar in a fun way. I loved the tie in with the Condor breeding program and could imagine the mischievous Archibird in the main aviary. The creatures are so well thought out, with their own individual personalities as well as breed traits. Lastly, I think the “cozy” stakes are about right here—mostly day to day issues with one big conflict towards the end. That is really hard to do and a lot of cozy fantasy fails at hitting a low stress mark with stakes.

Cons: Unfortunately, I didn’t really like any of the characters. I found the main character unnecessarily rude & judgmental, both potential love interests awful in their own ways, and the best friend pleasant but unfortunately two-dimensional. The plot was very predictable and the pacing was incredibly slow for the first 60-70%.

However, it did pick up towards the end though and I enjoyed the last quarter or so of the book. If the first half had been more like the second half, I would have really enjoyed this book. I think it just spent too much time establishing how awful the main character is with people, public speaking, friends, dating, how much she hates the public, how little she understands about how zoos work, her disdain for zoo visitors and administration and also governing bodies, how much she ignores her only friend, etc etc and not enough time moving the plot forward in an interesting way.

The Phoenix Keeper is the story of zoo keeper Aila overcoming her anxiety to get a Phoenix breeding program established at her zoo. As someone who seriously considered a career in zoo keeping I really loved all the detail we got on the daily routines of taking care of magical animals and glimpses of the other magical animals at the zoo. I also appreciate that it focuses on something other than dragons, which are everywhere in fantasy.

I really liked seeing the main relationship develop in this, the characters have a history together and the story did a good job of unraveling that and showing their relationship develop. That being said a good chunk of the book is taken up with the main character dating someone else. I understand why it's there for plot and character development reasons, but since the book is marketed as a sapphic romance I knew it wasn't going anywhere and it just felt like wasting time.

On the whole, this is a nice, cozy read that gives a peek at what a zoo full of magical animals would be like with just a dash of action at the end to really highlight the main characters growth throughout the book.

Wow wow wow. I LOVED every single second of this book!! It was atmospheric and compelling, while also being light and funny and just an all around good time.

Following Alia through her social anxiety and her general anxiety surrounding her phoenixes, and then experiencing her character development was just amazing. I adored everything so much so this has become one of my fave books of the year!

Ok… a zoo with magical creatures? How could I not enjoy this book? This book is a wonderful cozy fantasy with fascinating creatures involved. I honestly just loved the vibe of this book. Let’s just learn about someone and their birds and perhaps they’ll fall in love along the way. I really loved Archie and his little mischievous ways.

🥰Bi & non-binary representation🥰
If you’re a fan of Heather Fawcett or Sylvie Cathrall’s writing then you will enjoy this!
It was a little slow in the first part, maybe the first 30%, and I found Aila’s attitude to be a little annoying. She was very hostile, it was understandable to an extent but also frustrating. However I did end up enjoying this very much! I especially loved the side characters and all of the magical animals!

OMFG. This book just amazed me right from the start. The magical realism and the LGBTQ undertones and love story were just so well-written and engaging that I ended up reading the last 70%+ of this book in just a few hours.

This story follows Aila, a young, extremely introverted phoenix keeper at the San Tamculo Zoo whose only goal in life is to revive the Silimalo phoenix breeding program at her beloved zoo. Her hopes that this could be done are emboldened by the success that has occurred at the neighboring Jewelport zoo….until disaster strikes. The chicks were stolen…and Aila believes that her dreams are dashed forever. So, she takes a shot in the dark, sending an email to the IMWS (the International Magical Wildlife Service) begging them to transfer a phoenix to her zoo instead of taking hers. IMWS…says yes. And so begins her journey into not only reviving the breeding program, but also falling in love, betrayal, learning her limits, and finding what truly matters to her. And in this journey, Aila learns to overcome her fears and ask for help, and that she doesn’t have to do everything on her own.

While I am unlike Aila in that I am not so much an introvert, I still felt connected to her character. She just, embodied all the fears that we feel talking to crowds and strangers. Her journey and interactions with Tanya and Luciana made my giggle, kick my feet, and smile the whole time throughout this book. And although Aila and I were different in our introvert/extrovert tendencies, I still empathized with her. I wanted her to have a win and get the guy (until things happened) and achieve her dreams. I felt the same exhilaration she did when good things happened, and the same disappointment when things went wrong. This book was just…so well written and the story was amazing. Cannot recommend this enough, and I was so lucky to receive this as an eARC!

Favorite quotes:
- “Clean zookeepers weren’t doing their job right”
- “Aila had only ever been ‘someone like you,’ not someone who made sense to normal people”
- “Everything didn’t feel fine”
- “That’s ridiculous. It’s impressive, how passionate you are about your work. I think you could inspire a lot of people, if you shared even a bit of it”
- “Aila preferred a carnivorous horse over other people most days”
- “Deep breath. Deep fucking breath”
- “Aila didn’t mesh well with waiting. Or patience. Or uncertainty in most capacities”

I was so incredibly excited to get this ARC. I was disappointed in that writing, as it reads very much like a middle grade book. I pushed through trying to get into it more, but very much felt the writing was more juvenile than I enjoyed. I do feel there is likely a strong following for this story, however I do not feel I am the target audience for this. I did DNF this book, but rated 3 stars because I am confident there is an audience that will truly enjoy this book and I do not want to tank the rating for the author that I can tell poured her life into her work.

The Phoenix Keeper

There’s something really magical about books that are warm and fuzzy like a blanket wrapped around your middle. Not unlike a blanket wrapped around lil hatchlings cooing fresh out their eggs. 😉

This book feels like that. It’s an engaging sapphic slow burn, rivals to friends to lovers romantasy set in a magical zoo. If you loved the House in the Cerulean Sea you will enjoy this cozy read.

The first bit is a little heavy on the science of all the magical beasts in the zoo but it pairs well with the fact that the story is about a zoo keeper. And isn’t that a zoo keepers job, to educate us lowly visitors.

The main character Aila, is delightfully socially awkward around humans and much prefers to be with the Phoenix named Rubra.🐦‍🔥

Aila has devoted her life and career to protecting the endangered magical bird from extinction and finds herself in a position to potentially get a breeding program started at the San Tamculo zoo, loosely based off the world famous San Diego zoo.

This book will make you want to go to your local zoo and get involved in conservation. It will make you look at your friendships and think about the last time you thanked them for being wonderful people in your life. A trait our main character Aila is admittedly quite awful at. In fact, I found that to be the most frustrating part of this book. Aila is truly at times socially clueless and frankly just a bad friend. She makes up for it of course. I do love a complex character that shows growth.

I cannot wait to get my hands on this book. This is my first five star ARC this year.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the eARC of this delightful debut novel. All views expressed are my own.

I really struggled with this book and almost DNF'd at around 30% in. I did at one point put it down to check the description because I was convinced I must have misread about it being a queer romance! Main character and titular phoenix keeper Aila's anxiety is almost too relatable; I was cringing with secondhand embarrassment throughout a good portion of the novel. While I did push through and finish the book, I don't know if the payoff was worth the initial slog. Cozy fantasy may be low stakes but that doesn't have to mean absolutely nothing happening - as evidenced in the very last section of the book where there is suspense and action! It just takes too long to get there.

Slow burn romance between two zookeepers. Except rather than Bears, tigers, lions… you get animals such as dragons, unicorns, and phoenixes. Honestly, this whole book was such a cute cozy fantasy, With a little side of mystery. Aila, who is the Phoenix keeper, Struggling to find a mate for her only Phoenix. While searching, she unfortunately discovers something sinister. Her love interest (or thorn in her side, whichever you prefer) is the keeper of the another animal the zoo and they begrudgingly agree to work together. I won’t say much about her love interest because I do not want to spoil anything. This book was super cute, Well, written with some twists that I did not see coming. It reminded me a bit of Hagrid with all of the fantasy animals.

The Phoenix Keeper is a very long winded cozy fantasy about a young woman with social anxieties that works at a zoo for magical animals. Her charge is, of course, a Phoenix. One solitary female Phoenix that could be taken from her if the magical animal commission decides that the bird should be transferred to another zoo with a male Phoenix for reproduction. Desperate to keep her treasured bird close, the keeper embarks on a plan to convince the commission that her zoo is the place for the male phoenix to come to.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the opportunity to read and review this book. I am giving this book 3.5⭐️/5.

As this is a cozy fantasy story there is a certain amount of expectation that not a lot will actually happen in the book and this book delivered on not a lot happening. I liked this book, but didn’t love it. A significant reason for not loving this book were issues with the FMC. I have seen other readers comment that the FMC is self centered and unlikable. While I agree that she is self centered I don’t think she was completely unlikable but she isn’t a character that I would want to spend any time around. She is dismissive to other people and blames it on her social anxieties, she takes advantage of her best friend and gives nothing in return in her friendship. Around 80% there is an attempt to pull off something resembling action/plot, but it’s so predictable in the twist that it’s too little too late.
This book is supposed to be the Illumicrate pick for July of 2024 and I have already skipped that box. I would only recommend this book as a library book and cannot possibly justify the expense of almost $40 on a special edition off this book.

DNF @ 26%. I try really hard not to DNF galleys, but I just can’t bring myself to read more of this one. The main character has severe anxiety, both general and social. So many main characters have anxiety these days that it’s become a pet peeve of mine (why can’t we get more representation of other mental illnesses?), and Aila’s anxiety is particularly claustrophobic. She’s also deeply misanthropic and finds literally everyone other than her best friend and therapist annoying or beneath her. Hers is just a really unpleasant headspace to be in.

That’s unfortunate, because the rest of the book is pretty good, from the premise (magical aviaries / zoos!) to the queer rep (trans best friend, sapphic rivals-to-lovers love interest), to the vivid personalities of the birds in the aviary.