This is a really inventive concept and premise that was executed exceptionally well. I didn't know what to expect from this book - to be honest, I was skeptical of the concept of a power concerning pencils - but it surprised me in the best way. Monica is a college student who was raised by her grandparents. She gets in touch with a girl named Louise, who knows her grandmother's cousin Meng. Monica's grandmother and Meng have not talked in decades, not since they were separated in war-torn China. Through learning about her grandmother's powers and relationship with Meng, Monica forges a bond with Louise and finds her footing.

The relationships in this book are really the star. We get Monica's grandmother Wong Yun's perspective of growing up in the international settlement in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation, and how she and her mother ran a pencil company that had a secret other purpose. Wong Yun craves closeness with her mother and Meng's mother, as well as Meng herself, even though she's also jealous of all of them, which is such a teenage emotion that it made me smile. Wong Yun and Meng eventually form an unbreakable bond, and it's really moving. In the present day, Monica is so well-meaning and figuring out herself, and she has such a tender romance plotline, as well as a lovely story of her connection with her grandparents. I also really enjoyed learning more about China in the 1940s and 1950s, and especially the conflicts between Japan, China, Taiwan, and America.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!

| BOOK REVIEW |


Title: The Phoenix Pencil Company
Author: Allison King
Format: 🎧
Rating: ✩ ✩ 1/2


Ooh I wanted to love this one so much! So many elements are right down my alley: dual timeline, cool historical fiction eras, magical realism, thoughtful questions about storytelling in the digital age, etc. Unfortunately, this one fell a little short and to me, it was mostly from the pacing.


Early on, I felt that a lot of what I expected the story to be was used up around the 30% mark, so I was confused what the rest of the novel would be. I think maybe that's another reason why my rating is low: because there didn't feel like there was enough plot to keep the rest of the story going.


As I mentioned, I think there were some amazing reflections on storytelling, who owns our stories, memory, and how we communicate with each other. I just wish that the middle of the story kept my interest more and that the pacing moved a little faster.


Key Points:
• Magical realism
• Dual timelines
• Genre bending

Allison King created a beautiful family saga intermixed with magical realism. I thoroughly enjoyed The Phoenix Pencil Company. The book follows two timelines: one in 2018 and the other in China between the 1930s and the 1950s. I personally didn’t know much about the Chinese civil war after WWII, and it sparked my curiosity.

Monica is a college student who was brought up by her beloved grandparents after her parents left her. One day, she uses the computer program she is working on to find her grandmother’s cousin, estranged for nearly seven decades. So begins a multi-generational family saga rich with history, magical realism, and lessons about storytelling and family.

There are a lot of things about this novel to love, in particular the characters. They are rich and round, making consistently complex and realistic decisions. The symbolism throughout is strong, and the history is woven well throughout. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of Kaliane Bradley’s THE MINISTRY OF TIME, which I also enjoyed. Both take new and fantastic approaches to history, keeping the reader engaged with their characters and supernatural elements.

At about 75% is where it became a little sloppy and incomplete for me, but overall, this is a lovely debut. I’d definitely be interested to read more of King’s work in the future. Three stars.

Secrets. Survival. Emotional. Magical...

"The Phoenix Pencil Company" is the story of two women, Monica Tsai and her grandmother, Wong Yun. They are tied together by the secret and lost magic of reforging pencils—the ability to bring memories and experiences, of those who wrote with them, back to life...

This story alternates between Monica's computer journaling, describing her introverted life as a college student in Massachusetts, and Yun's handwritten letters recalling her early life in 1940s Shanghai at her family's Phoenix Pencil Company, and later, as she emigrates to the United States.

Monica was raised by her grandparents, who are now in their 90s, and there is deep love between these two generations.

I paired the audiobook with the DRC; the narrators' voices give life to Monica and Yun, and I became attached to both characters in the first two chapters. Yun's chapters are especially evocative, and I was utterly mesmerized by the words and the voice of the narrator.

"The Phoenix Pencil Company" uses the magical concept of reforging as a metaphor for the power of storytelling, and how we pass down stories from generation to generation. This family story is told through a tangle of hardships, silences, and fears that gives this tale a heaviness, felt primarily through Yun's narrative, and it is that part of this debut novel I enjoyed the most!

4⭐

Thank you to William Morrow and Allison King for the gifted DRC through NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

When I started this novel, I didn’t realize it was historical fiction. I think the cover threw me a bit. normally I’m a little bit turned off by more typical historical fiction covers so that said I went in probably with misguided expectations. Overall, I liked the themes I thought it was really interesting. The way they used pencils, history, and magic. I liked the dual timelines however about midway I started to get fairly Bored. It seemed to drag and I just couldn’t get to the end so unfortunately it’s a DNF from me I think those that like historical fictional fair better than me.

Reading this as part of Reese's book club and it didn't disappoint. I loved the story and the characters. I would highly recommend!

This book is worth the hype it has received this summer. The Phoenix Pencil Company is a beautiful debut historical fantasy that takes place in historic Shanghai and modern day America. Monica is working on a new online app that works to connect strangers on the internet via an algorithm that calculates the written entries of its subscribers. Through her testing of the app she is able to connect her grandmother with her estranged cousin in Shanghai during a time where her grandmother is quickly losing her memories. During the journey to connect the long lost cousins, we learn the history of Yun and Meng’s relationship, get a look at how Shanghai and the rest of Asia were impacted by the world wars around them, and we were introduced to the familial magical ability to reforge pencils.

This is a story of war, hardship, family, female empowerment and connection through the use of magical ability to pull stories from the pencils that write them. I absolutely loved these characters and their story. The magic system is so unique, reminding me a little of the magic system in Rebecca Ross’s Divine Rivals. I love the idea of distributing communication via avenues of magic. This story also offers a glimpse into the impacts WWII had in China, an area not standardly highlighted in other historical fiction narratives.

I am super impressed by this debut novel by Allison King and cannot wait to see what’s next for her. The Phoenix Pencil Company is out now! Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for my copy; all opinions are my own.

A unique story of two cousins, how they both came to Shanghai before WWII, survived Japanese occupation, and then were separated after the Chinese revolution between Chinese Nationalists and Communists. Yun leaves China to make a new life in America, and Meng remains in Shanghai. Fast forward to modern times and you meet Monica, Yun's granddaughter. She is a computer science major, working on a project called EMBRS - trying to make connections on the internet. When she discovers a young woman named Louise with her Great Aunt, Meng, in a photo, the two meet in person, and Louise gives her a pencil from Meng and instructs her to give it to Yun. Both women worked at the Phoenix Pencil Company, run by Yun's mother, and both women have the ability to "reforge" the words written by the user of the pencil. The story is told from both Monica's and Yun's point of view. Monica finds herself falling in love with Louise, and there is one part of the book that was pretty uncomfortable for me - did we really need to go there? the pencil can be "reforged" in two methods. Overall, an interesting historical story with magical realism.

First, this cover is beautiful! The detail of the pencil carvings incorporated into the title is perfect. This book had such a creative concept. I wanted to love it, but parts of it fell flat for me. I wanted to stay in the older timeline more than contemporary timeline. I enjoyed learning about China during WWII and am glad that this book covered a different aspect of historical WWII fiction.

⭐️💫

I will be honest that after just having finished this book I really don’t know what it was about. What I did get from it was a multigenerational Chinese family living in Boston reconnecting with family (?) back in China, and telling their stories (then and now) using some magical pencils from the Phoenix Pencil Company. Yup, that’s what I got.

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I was very intrigued by the concept of The Phoenix Pencil Company.

Monica is a college student who is working on a computer project with her professor called EMBRs. In inputting her data, she receives a connection with Louise. Louise knows a woman named Meng, who is the long lost cousin of Monica’s grandmother Yun. Yun has lived through two Chinese wars and after moving to America, has largely kept her pre-American life hidden from her family. She’s recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s though, and her memories are starting to fade. In telling her story, Yun reveals a secret that has traveled through generations of women in her family. As Monica connects with Louise and Yun writes her final letter to Meng, her family story is revealed…along with all the heartbreak that comes with it.

First, I think the idea of this story hooked me. The prose is beautifully written and Yun’s story is quite heartbreaking. However, I did have a bit of a struggle with Monica’s story. It felt a bit underdeveloped for me and the romance of it all didn’t fully form for me. The ending was emotional though and felt like a gut punch.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for an eARC of this book!

When I first saw the description of this, i knew it was for me. Magical realism and coming-of-age are two of my top favorite genres (subgenres?) so I was thrilled to see them married together in a wholly unique book. While I did enjoy it, for me the narrative structure was something I did have to get into for a moment, meaning it took me a few chapters in to really grasp what was going on. I found that I enjoyed the exploration of the Pencil Company to be more interesting than the family dynamics, but that could have been due to my inability to really connect with it.

All in all though, absolutely worth the read!

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥.”

3.75⭐️ | 🫑

First and foremost, thank you to @netgalley and @williammorrow books as well as Allison King for the e-Arc!

Historical fiction meets magical realism in this refreshing debut of Allison King. This book touches on the adversities of immigration during WWII; communication, or lack thereof, across multigenerational families, mysterious powers in the form of reforging pencils, & the refreshing bloom of a budding romance.

“𝘞𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.”

It took me a hot minute to realize the structure of this book and imo, it was super clever. It gave serious ‘The Notebook’ vibes as Grandmother Yun’s POV’s were all from when her writing down her memories so that Monica can later re-live those memories as she reforged it. I truly loved how their story was told as you witness the advancements in technology and communication, from oral tradition to writing letters/reforging pencils, and through e-mail communication/EMBRS.

While I wasn’t sold on the EMBRS sub-plot, I was very touched with budding YA romance as well as Yun & Torou’s romance, but was also very saddened when Louise’s initial intentions came to light. It was definitely a different take on ‘pleasure & pain’…pleasurable pain?… that was interesting. I also did cringe a little at the thought of stabbing yourself with a pencil to the point of bleeding - couldn’t help but think of lead poisoning, haha!

Anyhow, the magical realism was most definitely rooted in the historical fiction setting in WWII, and the heart of this whole novel. Reclaiming their narrative and uncovering memories lost in translation truly highlighted the consequences of war and adversities of immigration - how families were impacted as a result.

✏️ magical realism
🎑 WWII setting
✏️ multiple POV
🎑 uncovering lost memories
✏️ sprinkle of espionage
🎑 modern day connection
✏️ an immigrant story

This book was so interesting. I first heard about it through the Modern Mrs Darcy summer reading guide. This book is a little bit historical fiction and a little bit magical realism. I loved both storylines so even though we went back-and-forth, it was done in such a way that I felt equally invested and wasn't sorry to be pulled back to the other timeline. This was just such a beautiful story about family and belonging and coming of age into different but equally complicated times.
I loved all the food that was in the book. Also, how cultures can be different but the same. I grew up in a family culture very much oriented around food and caring for one's family and coupons 🤣, which is not the same food or coupons as this family, however it all felt very relatable. Highly recommend this book.

Part speculative, part multigenerational family epic, part historical record, part coming-of-age romance King's debut novel "The Phoenix Pencil Company" has an intriguing and original premise about a pencil company that creates pencils that can reveal all of the words its writer has previously wrote, through a process called reforging. The novel's themes of memory, privacy, ownership, history, techology, and intergenerational trauma are mostly well woven into the story.

In my opinion, I found the two primary points of view to be uneven. I was most certainly more invested in Yun's personal diary entries as she explores the pencil company, has complicated yet loving connection with her cousin Meng, and deceives her way out of Taiwan and immigrates to the U.S. I was less interested in Monica's contemporary storyline. Monica actually read much younger to me than a college student and I felt the aspect of her working on EMBRS and her budding romance with Louisa to be very underdeveloped and rushed. I did appreciate Monica's sweet devotion and care of her grandparents.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the advanced reader's copy of the book.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I think the story and the “magic” of reforging was so unique. I love when authors take risks and try things. However, I didn’t feel as connected to the characters as I wanted to be. I preferred the grandmother’s story about her past but felt Monica to be not as interesting to read about. Overall it was an enjoyable read but not one I was crazy about.

Beautifully written and emotionally complex, for fans of Tomorrow x3 and Pachinko.

This book has two intertwined plots. The first, set in the late 2010s, follows college student Monica, somewhat of a social recluse who struggles to find her place in the world, while caring for the aging grandparents who raised her. In her online blog, she recounts her progress developing EMBRS, a search engine meant to spark connections, which she uses to look for her grandmother Yun's long-lost cousin, Meng. The other timeline follows Yun and Meng as they grow up in Japan-occupied Shanghai during WWII, working at their family business: the Phoenix Pencil Company. The company is well-known for its quality, but its true strength lies in the secret Reforging ability the family's women possess. When the wrong person discovers their power, the girls are thrown into a life of espionage and betrayal.

Yun and Meng's storyline had me completely hooked. The beauty and heartache of that kind of sisterly bond is so difficult to understand, much less recreate, and I have not stopped thinking about it since reading. I would read this novel again for their story alone. On the flip side, I had trouble connecting with Monica's chapters. Given the emotional (and literal) intensity of Yun's storyline, Monica's entries fell a bit flat. It could be a simple preference, but I didn't connect with the romantic subplot or the EMBRS dilemma.

Regardless, I highly recommend this, and can't wait to see what King writes next.

Trigger warning for self-harm.

Thank you to William Morrow for providing this book for review via NetGalley.

The Phoenix Pencil Company is a debut genre-mashup of historical fiction, fantasy, family drama and a little romance thrown in. The story is told from two POVs and two time periods. Monica is a present day college student working on a big project with her professor which will take journal entries (all info kept private) and find ways to make connections to others by analyzing the entries. Yun, the grandmother who raised her, shares her story of growing up in Shanghai during the Chinese revolution with her family, running The Phoenix Pencil Company. The pencil company is special, manufacturing "magic" pencils that will hold the memory of what's been written until it's "reforged," spilling family secrets, political plans and more. Only the women of the family have the ability to reforge the pencils and they become tools of the political factions in sending secret messages, stopping insurrection, etc. There are parallels in the stories of grandmother and granddaughter, as they are both data mining, in a way. The novel explores stories and who owns them, connections, data privacy and more. There is also a queer romance storyline with Monica and a girl named Louise, who seemed pretty sketchy to me throughout the book.

Overall, I liked the magical realism of the reforging of the pencils, but the story did seem a little long at times and I definitely did not like Louise. My favorite part was the relationship between Monica and her grandparents as Monica is trying to get as much quality time and memories with Yun, who has Alzheimer's. I was reading an ARC and the emojis didn't always appear correctly in the Kindle version for me, so I would be curious to see what I missed there, but it didn't detract from the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced reader's copy.

So many of my trusted book friends loved and enjoyed this book so I immediately grabbed it because I thought it had all the elements of a book I would love. I still trust my book friends, but I did not love this one. And I'm a little stressed about it. Three things I ADORE in a book are, multigenerational stories, magical realism, and anything Asian. So why didn't I love this? I don't know?? But I thought the story was really dry, not crazy exciting and it was really slow off the starting block. I didn't begin to enjoy the story until Yun really got into her secrets, but by then, it was too late for me. Monica's story didn't do it for me either. Guys! I'm so sad!