The Phoenix Keeper

MacLean’s tepid debut, a cozy queer romantasy, follows Aila Macbhairan, head phoenix keeper at a zoo for mythical creatures. Her lifelong goal is to save her beloved Silimalo phoenixes from extinction, but the phoenix breeding program at her zoo has been dormant for a decade. Though Aila excels at magical animal science, she becomes overwhelmed with anxiety around other humans. Asking others for help is harder than fighting an archibird off of a shiny object. But after a phoenix is stolen from a nearby zoo, Aila musters her people skills and all the help she can get to prove that her dilapidated complex is up to the task of taking over their conservation program. It’s a cute setup and the fantastical creatures are a delight, but the worldbuilding is disjointed, with extensive new information dropped in sporadically. The characters, meanwhile, are thin sketches, making it difficult to invest in their plight, and the eventual romantic subplot, while sweet, feels almost perfunctory. This is a rocky start. Agent: John Baker, Bell Lomax Moreton Agency. (Aug.)