This was, I must admit, not quite what I’d expected from the author of Ninefox Gambit et al; it’s a more straightforward story, and one whose audience I found a little hard to place. I think a lot of my reaction to the book is because of that clash between expectation and reality, rather than a comment on the book. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, but I ended up having difficulty putting together what I think and feel about it because of that difference.

There was a lot I loved immediately, of course: a book where the protagonist shares my preferred pronouns is always a thrill, and the fact that it mostly goes unremarked on in the story was nice too. (It’s not quite ignored; there are a few references to Jebi’s gender and presentation. What we don’t get — as far as I remember anyway — is any clear description that marks out what sex Jebi “really” is, which was a huge relief to me.) Vei is great as well — I loved her! Arazi, the giant dragon automaton, is also pretty awesome and has some cool abilities.

Howeeeever, I didn’t really understand the relationship Jebi forms with Vei, and the level of loyalty the two of them have for each other. It feels slightly out of nowhere, and I felt like some threads weren’t super well dealt with. (The fact that Vei killed Jebi’s sister’s wife, for instance.)

I guess in the end the whole thing didn’t quite come together for me, and the ending left me with a rather melancholy, trailing-off feeling. It was an enjoyable read, and yet it didn’t quite work out for me. I’m positive part of that is because I found Ninefox Gambit et al a challenge in a way I really enjoyed, and this is not that kind of book instead. It takes a long hard look at colonialism, so it’s not that it’s an easy book… but I guess it just didn’t spark with me in the same way.

I honestly cannot describe this book in any semblance beyond a them/they artist befriends a robo-dragon, there's a war? A revolution? But like, that's not real important to us cos this robo-dragon wants to live a happy lil provincial life where he can look at flowers. Like???? Why was this so good? Big rec!

This tale of a reluctant revolutionary, unsuited for rebellion but burdened by guilty debts and a compassionate heart, is unexpectedly wholesome for a book about overthrowing a repressive government. A secondary-world fantasy, Phoenix Extravagant is inspired by the Japanese occupation of Korea, but with 100% more mechanical dragons and a delightfully queer society that includes a non-binary protagonist, non-heterosexual on-page relationships and an adorable poly family.

There's nothing about this book that I don't absolutely love. Jebi is a complicated, intriguing person who is easy to root for. The world-building is rich and has a lot of depth to it. The plot swept me right along. I'm hoping there's a sequel to this!

When artist Gyen Jebi gets a job with the occupying government, they aren't quite sure what to expect, but bringing to life a mechanical dragon is definitely not it. They are soon drawn into a complex situation that finds them destroying what they hold dear in order to keep their life, and questioning everything they've assumed about life in an occupied territory. This was a richly created world, with complex characters. We used this book in my science fiction and fantasy book group, and it was one of the best discussions we've had.

I received an ARC from the Publisher via NetGalley. My review is my own.

I was looking forward to new Yoon Ha Lee novel - one drawing upon Korean history and myths - and the worldbuilding is as astonishingly complex and wonderful as I'd hoped. To say too much would be a spoiler, but the way worldbuilding fits into plot and ideas of this book is nuanced and well-crafted. The characters are equally great - the protagonist Jebi, nonbinary artist, a younger sibling who has avoided thinking too much about their position in life and the ways in which it depends on their sister's sacrifices and protection; the sister herself, and the way in which she keeps Jebi in the dark not only for their own good, or as a measure of maintaining secrecy, but also to avoid certain difficult conversations; duelist Vei, proud and brave; and of course Arazi, the dragon. There's a lot to love there, and some amazing tropes. Unfortunately, the plot didn't quite measure up to the premise and characters, in my opinion: it felt a little too cozy for the dangerous setup, the stakes never growing as high as I'd expect. This may not be a problem for other readers, of course, and I still liked the book a lot - I just felt like the author was pulling his punches a little, perhaps due to my automatic comparison to the much darker The Machineries of Empire series.

It's good, and original, and I liked the characters a lot; I just wanted it to have a grander scale and a darker outlook. Perhaps that's yet to come - the ending certainly suggests the possibility of a sequel (though not its necessity).

Today I am going to be reviewing Phoenix Extravagant. I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for approving my request of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Here are a few things you can expect from this book:

A dragon automaton;
An exciting setting with colonisation and a beautiful culture at risk of being wiped out;
Serious artsy vibes; and
Politics, rebellion and war.
On to the full review…

I really love the cover of this book, it is so appropriate for this book and sets the tone brilliantly.

Phoenix Extravagant is quite a wholesome book, with strong themes of family and friendship. It tackles the trials of dealing with grief and the relationship between two sisters with different motivations. In respect of the sisters relationship I would have loved to see more scenes between them to really show their relationship just to give more depth to them, while I understood their motivations and reasons I didn’t feel them of really care for them.

The world and setting is lovely and quite atmospheric, Yoon Ha Lee has imbued this tale with historical influences and has skilfully woven art and culture into it while not neglecting the resistance present to the conquering forces present and the response to the and their actions.

I do feel like my main issue with this book, is that most of the characters and elements I found the most interesting seemed to only be surface deep. There is a massacre that the characters need to unravel and it just had no punch and it falls into the background with little emphasis. It is a massacre for goodness sake that is a horrifying act and I felt nothing for it. It was also the event that set things in motion for the most part and it went nowhere, which also meant that I was constantly wondering where this book was going. What I thought would be the driving plot in this book wasn’t, and I was left wondering how it would end. While I did like the ending because it gave me Mulan vibes it didn’t feel built up.

There are obviously some great points to this book and I did enjoy it, I just wanted more. It is a book that touches on so many issues and historically inspired events that have so much emotion attached to them and I just didn’t get that in this book.

Our main character is a well written character, I quite liked that despite all the external influences they remained themself. There was some growth and the inevitable changes to a person when you come to meet others with different ideals than you but I really liked that our main character didn’t deviate from what we knew to be their character, they remained consistent. They stood strong in the face of so much and that was great to see and experience.

On the fact of characters though, Arzi stole the show! It was such fun reading the scenes in which the automaton was involved. Arzi had a great personality, it had an inner strength and understanding of a world it had not yet truly experienced and seeing Arzi asking Jebi to try this and explain that was such a wholesome experience. Their growing friendship was this books biggest strength.

Even though, I clearly had a few issues with this book I did enjoy it. It has a beautiful setting and is written beautifully, I genuinely cared for the art in this book and it’s destruction. It just a shame that’s all I really cared for. It has its stumbles but with Arzi and Jebi relationship, the art and historically influenced setting it has pulled together three Goodreads stars but it doesn’t have all I personally want from a book.

THE RANKS:

BUY THE HARDBACK | BUY THE PAPERBACK | BUY THE EBOOK | LIBRARY RENTAL OR SALE PURCHASE

This is my first library rental or sale ranking, which isn’t necessarily bad because this rank covers books i liked but would want to pay the price for or ones that are well written but are not suited to my tastes.

In this are it is a bit f both of the above comments, it isn’t the cheapest eBook, whileI enjoyed certain elements I wouldn’t pay the £6’ish it costs. If it was £2.99 then it would be an eBook rating but it isn’t so this would be a wait for sale for me.

Brilliant and interesting! This story is skillfully written, Amazing worldbuilding and so well written it's unbelievable!!!

I went into this book already a huge fan of Yoon Ha Lee. His writing is unique and fantastic and Phoenix Extravagant is no exception. A science fiction fantasy with a non-binary protagonist. Obviously pulling from the invasion and occupation of Korea by the Japanese, Phoenix Extravagant deals with colonialism, nationalism, and cultural obliteration.

I was, unfortunately, unable to finish this book. The writing felt sort of stiff and weirdly formal, and I really struggled to get into the story, especially since the beginning felt like an exorbitant amount of filler and background without much to actually sustain me.

I enjoyed it. Looking forward to Lee's books. I rated it 4 stars because I really want it to be a hard science fiction story. The story is enjoyable but the whole premise is a little so-so.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2021 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2021/02/2021-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

The writing is impeccable and flowed very well. I really enjoyed the world building and thought it was very visceral and fleshed out. The novel was well paced and kept me entertained throughout. My one con is that I wasn't invested in the romance. It felt a bit forced.

I would lie if I say I didn't want to read this because of the dragon, and I was kind of sad that we didn't see the dragon for the majority of the first half of the book. But later, we got to met it. Then the story really got it turns and it was a really fun reading experience.

Unfortunately, I DNF'ed this at 30%. While the writing style was very pleasant, the story just didn't grip me at all. I just couldn't get through it.

Before we get into the review itself, can we talk about how great it is to see a non-binary protagonist! Not just a non-binary protagonist, but one whose gender identity isn't the main focus of their struggles or of the plot - Jebi is simply who they are, and they're great! (Not that books with gender identity as a main focus aren't important, it's just also nice to have ones like these.)

Let's start with the characters - I loved Jebi from the outset, with their struggling artist persona and their relationship with their sister, which I think was portrayed really well throughout the novel. The characters all felt real, and complex - even Arazi, who was definitely one of the highlights for me.

The world was, I think, really well-developed, especially for a standalone fantasy, without ever feeling like an info-dump, and while it could be a little slow at times, I found I quite enjoyed that, and once the plot really got going, I could barely pause for breath. One thing I wasn't a huge fan of was Jebi's relationship, but I think that's just a personal preference thing!

This book was painfully incredible. I first found Yoon Ha Lee through his Nine Fox Gambit series (if you haven't read it, you should), and was looking forward to this book as soon as I found out it existed. Unlike the previous series, this isn't hard sci-fi; it merges automatons and magic in a fantasy world that seems to draw its inspiration from east Asian cultures. (I love non-European fantasy even if nothing else is going on!). The main character of the book, Gyen, is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. If there's literally nothing else to say about this book, it demonstrates that you can write about sex with non-binary characters without explaining what's between their legs - and do it very, very well.

Gyen is a painter, and the story digs into the idea of paintings and art as magic that can be made physical and used to animate and direct otherwise inert mechanical creatures. The concepts are as cool as their execution. There's a strong romantic throughline to the book, though I'd stop long before calling it a romance. It does touch on some of the military resistance concepts that came up in Nine Fox Gambit and its sequels but presents them in a fresh light. It is emotionally challenging to read a book where it is very clear that people like you are the oppressors, but it's also good to be challenged.

This book appears to have an ending that is complete, so I'm not sure if sequels are planned; I'd love to read more books set in this world, however, even if they are not specifically about Gyen.

A very well written original story based loosely on Korean mythology.. I particularly liked that the main character was non-binary, but this wasn't a big deal in the book.

Phoenix Extravagant is a slow burner that I really wished I enjoyed more because I’ve been looking forward to reading this for a long time, it just didn’t do it for me unfortunately. What I liked is Arazi, the dragon, they’re a great character and you get to hear them develop into their character on the page, I also loved Vei, a complex badass, and of course huge credit for the LGBTQIA+ and polyamory representation. However my biggest issue with this book is it’s inconsistency and I found it pretty frustrating. Jebi, the protagonist, has no substance and flip flops through the book in terms of beliefs and feelings, one minute they betray someone, the next they’re calling them sexy, one minute they call Vei heartless, the next they’re acting all smitten again with no acknowledgement of even saying that. There isn’t any development and the characters feel incredibly shallow and weak, Vei is a badass, a trained warrior, literally Jebi’s superior and yet is demoted to being a smitten side character clinging to Jebi. And Arazi, while being on the cover, doesn’t really feature until 40% in, Arazi who jumps from being a pacifist to choosing to fight, with no build up to the jump. Which brings me onto my 2nd issue, there is so much political world building in this book but the magical side just makes no sense and it isn’t explained. Firstly, did I miss how earthquakes happen in this book?? Arazi isn’t living but a creation and yet has a full personality, symbols and paints are meant to control and instruct Arazi what to do, and yet who would/could have fitted a dragon only made for war and obeying instructions with a personality?? A whole point is made about making sure the symbols don’t give an option of choice and yet they gave a dragon a personality?? It makes no sense.

The action was enjoyable enough and if the magic had been explained better and Jebi either made a solid character, or Vei and Arazi pushed to the forefront, I would have enjoyed this a lot more. As it was though, I didn’t understand the characters or why things were happening.

Phoenix Extravagant is an amazing, breathtaking piece of work which centres a non-binary artist in the middle of a war. All Jebi wants to do is paint, but their life is turned upside down when they are hired by the government to paint mystical symbols on the automaton soldiers — and then discovers the horror that sits beneath all they’ve come to understand as their world. Pretty soon, Jebi cannot stay out the politics that surrounds them…

Drawing on the occupation of Korea by the Japanese as inspiration, Yoon Ha Lee creates a fantasy world unlike any I’ve previously encountered — lavish and extravagant, yet also horrific and brutal. The narrative has a lot to say about colonialism, cultural obliteration, invasions, conquests, love, family, the importance of the arts, and choice. It’s bloodthirsty in places, beautiful in many others, and mysterious throughout. Arazi, the sentient mecca-dragon, steals the show for me despite not being the protagonist.

I particularly loved that the world is so inclusive: LGBTQIA+, polyamory, and other forms of relationships are all considered the norm, and it was a breath of fresh air and freedom. Overall, this was a great standalone with a fun story and the power of one person to stand against tyranny.

Highly recommended.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher, Solaris, through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.