This is a compelling blend of technology and magic, filled with art, rebellion, lust, love, plot twists, and complex characters. I highly recommend it if you like non-binary protagonists, dragons, getting paid for your art, and the allure of a duel.

I wanted to read this book because of the mechanical dragon (Arazi). Unfortunately, we didn’t get to the dragon parts until almost 40%. But after that, it was pretty much ongoing. I loved Arazi so much!



I enjoyed some of the characters but wasn’t pulled in by anyone really. I did love Jebi and some others but I still wasn’t totally pulled into the story. I also got confused a lot as Jebi was either, Jebi or they. I have read a few books like that and it was fine but this one was a bit more confusing as it was used a lot around other people and I thought a small group was always going to do something when it was just Jebi.

Either way, I loved Arazi and Jebi the most and I did feel sad when some people died. I do recommend you read this yourself and make up your own damn mind 😉

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

*Thank you to Netgalley and Solaris for providing me with a digital copy for review

Thank you to Netgalley & the Publishers for giving me an ARC to review!

1.5 rounded up to 2.

Mostly a 3 thanks to the worldbuilding, and the acknowledging of everyone that isn't a soldier in war and what their place is in war. Maybe this has to do with the writing style and it just not being for me? Everyone else seems to love it so it might have been a case of good book at the wrong time. I do want to re-read it later, because there were some good parts and maybe my opinion will change. It is also possible that this is part of the trend where books are steering away from more Western story/plot formats, and maybe that messed with my expectation? Idk, but if you liked the premise/synopsis, I definitely recommend you at least try the book once it is out!

Characters as a whole felt very flat and I never felt like I knew these characters more than just a cursory overview of them. Even later when tragedy strikes, it doesn't hit as hard as it should feel because I could just not be attached to them at all since they were only seen once or twice before. Lot of discussion about how badly someone is missed once they're gone, but they weren't even a thought before and we only saw them in one or two scenes. And the romance feels rushed/forced, I felt no chemistry between them at all. The best part was that I liked the idea of who the love interest was, however the reveal about her was great.

The story felt weirdly paced, and this might just be because it is following a non-Western form, so I'm not used to it which is why it feels weird. Even once we cross the 80% mark, things feel way too chill. The big climax doesn't hit as hard as it feels like it should, and it isn't the only event like that. Multiple times we have really big scenes that feel like they should be super impactful, but they just don't feel as big as the story makes them sound like they should be? Really big events get the same coverage/page time as really small ones and it just makes everything feel not important.

The ending stretch was... ok? I didn't feel like it was a strong enough ending. Obviously war isn't over that quickly, which I liked was addressed and how our MC decided they don't want part of the long war effort. And the commentary there about Western countries was also great! But it felt like a weird tone to end the book on when it didn't really feel like we were leading to that at all.

Mostly I'm just underwhelmed I think? I honestly think it is just the writing style not being my cup of tea at all.

4.5 stars
Awesome story about a nonbinary artist thrown into political machinations featuring art, automaton dragons and revolution in an East-Asian historical fantasy-ish setting.

Content warnings include: occupation and colonialisation, oppression and discrimination, destruction of art, blackmail, more or less obvious hostage situations, earthquake, violence and death, battle, imprisonment, torture, casual fatphobia, non-explicit sex on-page. Mentions of: death of parents.

This is one of the few books with a truly fitting and inspiring official description/blurb. It's concise, interesting and wakes the instant desire in me to read, yet doesn't give too much away. The promise of a nonbinary protagonist for such a plot sweetened the deal for me even more.

I loved Jebi as a protagonist. They weren't exactly likeable, especially at first. They are quick to judge and very brusque about getting their way. They only care about their art, and getting to paint and earning money through it to live, but not about much else, especially not other people, or loyalty to their homeland. They aren't a fighter or politically involved or have any ambition to change anything about their country's occupation. They are pretty selfish and kind of a coward, though they do not actively wish anyone harm.
And yet, I adored them.

Jebi's passion for art drew me in. Their internal conflicts agitated me, and I was always eagerly anticipating what they would do next. Their lines of thoughts were intriguing, and I just found them super interesting, despite being entirely ordinary and sort of underwhelming compared to the cast of outstanding characters around them. They were a great choice for who to follow in the big scale conflict presented in the books. They provided a perspective I really liked reading about.

The setting was East Asian, and while I'm not knowledgeable of history, I'm pretty sure it and the surrounding political situation was heavily inspired by Korea during Japan's occupation.
The worldbuilding was well done. Not much is explained, but I had no trouble gathering information about the culture, history, magic and automatons from context and what was shown on-page. That said, my progress on the book wasn't as fast as it usually is - the writing was quite complex, and, English not being my first language, I had to look up quite a lot of words (particularly adjectives) which I had never seen before, which usually doesn't happen a lot. It however never was a chore to read or hard to follow.
Both through setting and plot/writing, this is unquestionably an adult book.

I loved the casual queerness. Jebi being nonbinary was part of what drew me to the book, and I was not disappointed in the least. Being nonbinary or taking same sex partners was totally normal in this setting. The queerness was treated as just as ordinary as the magic, or the existence of magical beings. I loved that Jebi never had to come out and that the gender they were assigned at birth never played any role, just as much as I loved that magic was combined with technology, magical symbols with programming and code, astronomy with astrology, and so on.

The beginning was a bit slow, but still engaging. Even as it took me a bit to warm up to Jebi, get used to the writing and find footing in the setting, I was intrigued and invested. Things started picking up pretty quickly about 20% into the book, from which point on the stakes kept get raised higher and higher. Tension was created, upheld and released a lot, which worked very well for reading this book slowly. So many of those smaller tension arcs read like climaxes, which they obviously never were - there was always more to come, and things never turned out as expected. I loved the high amoung of plot twists which were always lead up to masterfully, always heightened my engagement, and always were a pleasant, thrilling surprise - exactly the sort of twists and turns I adore in books.

The one thing keeping this from being a perfect 5 star read for me was that I wished for a bit more emotional engagement. Some things happened a little too fast for me personally, so I wasn't always as emotionally invested as I wanted to be. One example for this was the romantic subplot (which I overall still enjoyed a lot!) This is more of a personal preferrence though - the pacing of the book worked the way it was, and the presenting length of the book fits as it is.


Overall a great read that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was exiting and thrilling and exhilarating to read the entire way through, and was exactly what I want from a fantasy book these days.

Interesting characters. Intriguing plot. Dynamic prose. My attention was held the entire time. I enjoyed my time reading this one. I’d suggest this story to everyone who likes a more contemporary stuff.

This book was one that everyone was going on about and so was glad to finally read it

It's a ride this silkpunk kind of tale, with a mixture of Japanese magic system.
The story was good but the flow of the story was hard as pronouns were over used

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Although unfamiliar with Yoon Ha Lee's previous works, I was extremely excited to pick up Phoenix Extravagant due to the incredible fanbase he has for his works. Phoenix Extravagant is the story of Gyen Jebi, an artist who unwittingly becomes a participant - and liability - in the revolution against the rule of the conquering Razanei, who had transformed their home country of Hwagugin.

Yoon Ha Lee's writing was easily the star of the read for me (besides a certain dragon... who we'll get to later). It was interesting and enticing, and I especially enjoyed small bits of humor or intrigue they would weave into Jebi's thoughts, or to the environment, or to a character's action. There were a few tiny issues I ran into, namely one particular quirk that stood out - when a sentence was interrupted with "x? y?" For example:

"In the center of the camp, a circle of rebels surrounded two? three? figures."

This happened quite often, enough for me to stop enjoying it as an interesting style choice. There were also some simple typos and grammatical errors ("v4gilant" being one misspelling), but they did not effect readability. Some of the story inaccuracies did escape through editing, as well (ex. Vei having long hair again two chapters after having it cut off). Despite these things, the writing was really enjoyable, and Yoon Ha Lee's style was a stand out.

That being said, our main character is one of the main sticking points for me in terms of my enjoyment for the story. Jebi is a non-binary person who is an artist, dedicated to their profession. Sidenote, I would like to give specific props to the inclusion of multiple LGBT+ positive elements, including Jebi's gender identification (which, we learn is quite common and accepted in their society, so much so that it even has its own unique terminology). It's always amazing to see, especially in works of fantasy, which (in my opinion) does not make enough out of the flexibility of the genre as a whole.

After this point, there will be some spoilers, so please keep that in mind while reading!

Jebi is hired by the Ministry of Armor early into the novel, as a painter to create "grammars" for the automata, the advanced Razanei robots that act as told by the grammars affixed onto their masks. These grammars are the magic system for the novel, and one I found quite interesting despite understanding little to nothing about it. The pigments used to create paint, we learn, are actually created by destroying current works of art - an act that Jebi detests, moreso than anything else about their job. Although this ramps up some drama and intrigue, it all falls quite flat when the reader is not attached to the actions or consequences of the main character. Jebi's methods of handling things, the often cumbersome inner monologue of theirs (including many, many, artistic descriptions of things) and the fact that they are almost always falling into decisions are some of the things I did not enjoy about their character.

In terms of the latter point, for the most part, Jebi seems to take whatever comes to them without much real argument or contest. As stated in the novel's description, Jebi is not a fighter, and we are constantly reminded of the fact. Conveniently, their love interest does end up being a fighter, and "helps" make a lot of the decisions for them. Most of the plot events seem to be things that just "happen" to Jebi, largely due to their lack of argument ("getting" the job for Armor, finding out some secrets about grammar, getting taken hostage, being saved from being a hostage, becoming a hostage again...). The only things Jebi does by their own will, is release Arazi from its captivity and express their romantic interests in Vei.

Onto Arazi, a dragon automata who was given the ability of speech by Jebi in an attempt to learn about what happened during a test run, in which the original artist in their position had been killed. Thus, it is the first and only known automata to have gained the ability to speak. Arazi, despite being an automata, displays a lot of interesting characteristics and peculiar interests as it communicates, and it's interactions are - dare I say - quite cute when asking about the random frivolities of daily life. Arazi's dedication to Jebi almost made me like Jebi, for it's sake. Despite being a giant metal dragon created solely for warfare, its mannerisms were sometimes compared to that of a pet, including a dog, which made it all the more lovable. I would have liked to learn a lot more about Arazi in particular, though there are not a lot of chances to learn more intricate details.

Although Jebi's navigation through the plot gave me pause more than once, Phoenix Extravagant was an enjoyable read that gave life to an interesting world with mysterious magic. The writing, worldbuilding and intrigue revolving around the two conflicting nations drew the most interest from me with this novel. Phoenix Extravagant is also a standalone story, despite an ending that practically begged for a sequel, or some kind of resolution. Though personally I don't find it to be all that troublesome, other readers might. I appreciated that, in the modern world full of fantasy trilogies, Phoenix Extravagant stands on its own.

Jebi, a nonbinary artist with a rebel older sister, is forced to work for the (Japanese-analogue, I think) invaders who control their (Korea-analogue) country and who, it turns out, are destroying the art and artifacts of “Area Fourteen” in order to create the magical pigments that run their automatons. Jebi is supposed to fix one of those automatons, a dragon that went awry and massacred soldiers, but instead falls in love with the duelist Vei and tries to free the dragon, with mixed results.

This book was interesting and fun, I loved the unique concept, the insight into another culture and the magical elements. The characters are real people, who make mistakes and have complex thoughts and feelings. This book made me think quite a bit about the concepts of 'true' freedom and humanity and what it means to be a prisoner and/or under 'occupation'. There were a few sections that felt, for me, a little slow in pacing, but otherwise this was a good solid fantasy with magical flying robot dragons!

Phoenix Extravagant is the 4th novel by author Yoon Ha Lee, the author of the multi-award nominated Machineries of Empire trilogy (Ninefox Gambit) and of a number of shorter stories - may taking place in that same universe (resulting in a collection "Hexarchate Stories") and a few not. This is the first novel of his taking place in a different world - in this case a fantasy world blatantly inspired by Japan-occupied Korea circa World War 2. Lee's prior work used complicated (and I mean complicated) SciFi concepts and worldbuilding to create fascinating and entertaining stories dealing with issues of Empire/colonialism, individual rights and autonomy, and identity, in a way that made those works some of my favorite over the past few years (I had him tops on my Hugo Ballot multiple times). So yeah, when I noticed this book up on Netgalley, I requested it instantly, and I was thrilled to receive an advance copy.

And Phoenix Extravagant is a fascinating and captivating book, reminding me for very obvious reasons of RF Kuang's "The Poppy War" in its themes and setting but more clearly featuring the same deft touches as Lee's own earlier trilogy. The story features a really strong protagonist to go along with a number of other excellent characters, a plot that takes some incredibly surprising turns, all of which deals with some really strong and often hard to read themes dealing with Occupation and what comes afterward and what really remains, and whether it might ever really end. It's not a perfect book - honestly some of the fantasy elements feel out of place - but it's very compelling in its own often brutal way, all the way up till its ending. This is likely to find itself on award ballots next year, and it will be well deserved.

-----------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------------

Six years ago, the archipelago Empire of Razan finished conquering the land of Hwaguk, and now occupy and govern Hwaguk as they see fit, even having changed the name of the country to "Administrative Territory Fourteen". Jebi is an Hwagugin artist, who may dislike what the Razanei are doing to their country, but really just wants desperately to find a steady job and survive. To that end, Jebi has even obtained a name change to a Razanei name and is even willing to apply for a job at the Razanei Ministry of Art. But Jebi's sister, whose wife was killed in the war, refuses to accept anything Razanei, and the revelation of these actions by Jebi results in Jebi being forced out onto the street.

As a result, Jebi winds up on the radar of not the Razanei Ministry of Art, but its Ministry of Armor, responsible for the weapons and their special Automata which allowed them to conquer the country. Forced into serving the Ministry of Armor by a threat on their sister's life, Jebi discovers the true nature of what the Razanei have been doing to Hwaguk's historic treasures, and just how art has been powering the Razanei Automata. Suddenly Jebi finds themselves unable to stand aside any longer, but their act of rebellion will throw everything they know about the world into doubt and lead to a change that cannot be stopped.....

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Phoenix Extravagant's setting is a not-that-disguised fantasy version of Japan-occupied Korea during World War 2. For the natives of Hwaguk (Korea), that's not an easy place to live - not only have the Razanei (Japanese) instilled a curfew, but they discriminate in favor of their own people in terms of hiring, forcing many Hawgugin (Korean) individuals to change their names and try to blend in with their conquerors in order to avoid such prejudice - but such acts can of course only go so far. And of course, the Hwagugin's historical treasures - their art, their history, their very culture - are trodded on by their conquerors as they see fit - sometimes in very literal ways (more on that in a bit). In such a land, some people will try to resist in any way they can, and others will try instead to find a way to live out their lives in this new normal as happily as they can.

Our protagonist in this book, Jebi, is one of the latter. They care about three things at the start of this novel: 1. Art, particularly their painting/drawing skills; 2. Surviving and making a living in a world that's turned against them and their people; and 3. the wellbeing of their sister. As such, resistance is the furthest thing from their mind - what they want is to find any way possible to make a living for them and their sister via their art, which is not an easy goal even in a world that hasn't been overturned by a conquering force, and is even harder now. And the latter goal is made difficult because their sister is one of those who wishes to resist - even if Jebi doesn't quite understand how much - and thus any sacrifices Jebi might want to make of their cultural identity for survival's sake are an utter betrayal to her. It's easy to see Jebi's point of view: what can an artist really do to resist?

But as the plot goes on, Jebi finds that the answer isn't "nothing", because Jebi's own talents dovetail exactly into the Razanei's needs: for their automata are created by the painting of various sigils onto their faces, sigils painted with particular paints. And those paints are atrocities themselves, created from historical art/artifacts of the dead - which means the Razanei are raiding Hwagukin historical sites in order to obtain the raw materials. And thus Jebi finds themselves complicit to in the Razanei's own atrocities, and is unable to take it for very long: first through an act of sabotage to find the truth, and then to try and help the dragon automata (yes, Dragon) escape instead of to help it be used as a weapon of war. But Jebi finds themselves more conflicted because their need to act contrasts with the attraction they begin to feel to one of their jailers - a master duelist woman named Vei, who they would be betraying by acting.

And that's just the first act of this story, which features a number of really well done characters who I've barely mentioned, from Jebi's sister Bongsunga, to Vei, to the dragon automata Arazi itself. It's a story that dives strongly into not just the themes of what happens to a conquered people, but whether those people can really ever be the same again - especially if it take the aid of other foreigners to regain their "Freedom." Moreover, it deals of course with the themes of what exactly are the right means, if any, to try and fight back, as Jebi finds themselves caught between their own morals, their family, and their country without any easy solution. Lee does a phenomenal job showcasing the conflicts these cause in Jebi and will also cause for the reader in their place, with Lee rarely providing easy answers....because there aren't any (the one time Lee sort of does do so, Lee pivots to a different ethical conflict which makes it all work). It all leads up until an ending that is brutal in its own way, in how it dares to leave the reader with a potential future of potential despair, even if it isn't as directly brutal as say the book I compared it to above (The Poppy War). There is some charm in this book, but still this is a book that is not a happy one, and the words "The End" have rarely had as much crushing impact as they do here.

Still the book isn't perfect and some of its fantasy elements just seem out of place. For the most part this is a fairly close approximation of our world, except that through painting various symbols through a secret paint derived from the destruction of historical works, the Razanei are able to create automata which they have used as supplements to their war forces. But there are other fantasy elements to - for example, one minor character is a Gumiho (Korean Fox Spirit), and there is serious talk about flying to the moon on an automata as if that was viable and space and vacuum isn't a thing. These elements just feel a bit off the realistic portrayal of everything else, particularly in how they tie in to the book's ending, which otherwise works really well (see above).

Long story short, this is an utterly tremendous novel that I highly recommend from Lee, and continues his streak of utterly tremendous use of the genre to examine some strong and very relevant themes for today.

I have tried two other Yoon Ha Lee books and never made it through, one I tried to listen to and the other I tried to read. I encountered the same result with this one. It's the writing style, it just isn't for me. There isn't enough explanations and descriptions and the flow is odd. The story starts with a load of facts and politics that are just unloaded on the reader without any background. Again, because the writing was hard to read I only made it a pitiful 10%. Sorry, but I will not be attempting another Yoon Ha Lee novel. The cover is awesome though, right?

This isn’t normally a book I would pick up personally, but this one was actually pretty darn good. Gyen is a fun character to follow and the “magic” in the book is new and refreshing. Would be fun to see on TV or in a film.

I did enjoy this book but maybe not as much as I was expecting. It is a mix of Asian fantasy and sci-fi which worked well together. The pacing was very slow especially at the start which did cause me to be bored at times, but at other times I really liked this.

One of the first things to notice in this book is the use of the they/them pronouns, the main character is non binary. It took a little while to get used to it and I think pronouns in general were used a lot. But it was good to see this in a book and I liked that this aspect didn't really impact the story, it was just how it was.

Art was very important in this story and I liked how it was used to create these automatons by magic in the paint. It really helped blend the fantasy and sci-fi together almost effortlessly. I did like the bits of this book about the rebellion the most, it wasn't the full extent of it and we didn't see much of it. We could see where it was going to lead and that this was just the beginning. It was interesting to get the story from the side of someone who wasn't actually part of the rebellion, it gave a different perspective than other books. The main character wasn't really the hero of the story and they didn't really want to be any part of the rebel group. As a standalone it worked really well, it was enough to feel like the story was complete.

Overall it was a really unique book with an interesting world and a good story.

I loved this book!! It's very unusual to have a stand alone book in this genre, but it was great to have everything wrapped up in one book, and i finished it satisfied. The book could have been much longer for me, but that's because I loved the character and world building so much

4.4 stars out of 5
Keyword: dragon, artist main lead, steampunk (?), colonialism, non-binary protagonist, dragon, rune-like magic, pacifism

Phoenix Extravagant is a fantasy novel inspired from Korea under colonialism by Japan. We saw things from our non-binary protagonist Gyen Jebi. Jebi is an artist from Hwaguk, Phoenix Extravagant's version of Korea. They seek for a job as an artist but ends up with a dragon and drowned deeper in conflicts between their own people and those of Razan, the nation who conquered Hwaguk.

I will list what I like and what I dislike from this book. First is what I like:
- The setting and it's intricate cultural tidbits.
Phoenix Extravagant is pretty detailed on its worldbuilding. It depicts Jebi's life in the colonized country quite well, along with the cultural clashes between two nations and the assimilation of both cultures. It portrays the clashes between traditions and embracing the new way. I could give this book a five star for the cultural setting alone.

- Phoenix Extravagant also done well in normalizing gender fluidity and various sexualities.
Trust me, this book is really LGBTQ+ friendly. Non-binary, pansexuality, bisexuality, polyamorous relationship, and some more. This book didn't make those as a focus and highlight them but instead, write those as something nobody batted an eye for just as cis heterosexual relationship is. I like it.

- It have some realistic portrayal of war and its costs
This book deals quite well with its portrayal of war, no war is without sacrifices. And to gain freedom from colonization, war is something inevitable. Fights and war have consequences, some death are inevitable. The moral point is to see things from the bigger picture and not to be narrow minded. Since we see the world from Jebi's point of view, we learn all those things the hard way.

- Distinct point of view
This book is written in Jebi's point of view. They have high regard of art, a bit narrow minded, not aware of what happened around them, and very traditional. They are also strongly a pacifist, a trait that I like. Yoon Ha Lee written this book masterfully that we could distinctly see Jebi's thought and opinion regarding many things seeping through the naration. It makes solid characterization for the main character. When the character grow, we see that their views growed too.

Sadly I wish the other characters could be more fleshed out as well. Vei, Jebi's Razan supervisor seems to be the one who actually doing something throughout the story (Jebi did very little) but we only see few of her views and ideas. Bongsunga, Jebi's sister, has better characterization and I'm grateful. Alas the dragon and the villain feels a bit flat. As for the relationship, the sibling dynamic is the focus so it's explored neatly and great. The romance is not that bad too. Some of the romantic scenes written here are nice, especially in the early courtship.

What I don't like:
- Some portion of the ending didnt make sense even from fantasy point of view
The ending feels a bit sudden although some of its reasoning is understandable. The worse thing is that some elements of the ending make the tone not consistent. Does this book want to be harsh, rational and grounded or does it want to be odd and whimsical?

- Very minimal action
Jebi the main character didn't do much. Most of the story is about their internal conflicts not from the real action. The plot dragged after around two third of the story. It got a bit boring but still manageable to read.

After all, this is still a good book. Countless thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this e-arc of Phoenix Extravagant. I recommend this book to those who like slow read, those who want to find LGBTQ+ friendly fantasy novel, people who love intricate cultural setting and those who like the cover. Seriously, the book cover is satisfying to look at.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for a review, which is why my review is being posted before the (coronavirus-delayed) release date.

Non-spoiler review first, since this is coming so early: the short version is, you should absolutely be excited for this book. It's a sharp turn in many ways from Yoon Ha Lee's previous work--there are no space battles, little math or technical language, and characters don't spend much time sharing each other's bodies or experiences. What it does retain are carefully crafted images, an unflinching look at the pain and human toll of war, and clever use of the physical world to ground emotional and metaphysical ideas. Once again, Yoon Ha Lee immerses us in a world where magic is not just a fact of the world, it's an emotional reflection of the way it works--painting literally captures the way we see and shape the world. Even if you thought Machineries of Empire wasn't for you, this book is worth a second look--and if you did, then I probably don't need to convince you.

Spoilers follow! Don't read ahead unless you want to know, in great detail, what happens and to whom.

Unlike with the (pro? an?)tagonist of Machineries of Empire, the infamous Shuos Jedao, Jebi is more accessible to those around him and to the reader. Our connection to them comes not from others' experiences with them, but with their own experience in the world. This experience is what makes their painting such a powerful device for capturing the effect of the occupation; Jebi's art provides an embodiment of their relationship with the occupation and their struggles over what is worth memorializing. As a big fan of the "elegant duelist" character, the presence of Vei was a great chance to see a more refined, classical version of combat, and also--through her duel--a well-used opportunity to subvert it. By making all of the novel's central characters approach the occupation from distinct angles, Yoon Ha Lee is able to show us how it is made of people, people with ideas and beliefs about how to do good in the world despite their frequently untenable positions. He refuses to take the easy way out and cast cackling villains or draw equivalences between Bongsunga's willingness to render Razanei art and Hanfanden's careless disregard for Jebi's culture. Instead, the ending provides a literal "zoom out" moment that leaves us with the idea that perhaps we are all much much smaller players on the world stage than we believe, even when the corner of it that we do inhabit is overwhelmingly vast. Vei's duel and Jebi's earthquake stand out as crisp, poignant scenes, and Hak the gumiho is a beautifully written minor character whom I would have loved to see more of. It's these little moments and the plot that carries them forward that make this book worth anyone's while.

Phoenix Extravagant is, well, it’s good. Actually, strike that. It’s great. It’s a story which wants to get you thinking about big questions - about colonialism, about identity, about family, about the nature of choice. But it’s not a weighty treatise. The story artfully weaves all of these big questions into more personal narratives, into the lives and loves and struggles of the characters, creating something which sparkles on the page, which compels you to turn just one more page, and, above all, is a delight to read.

As you can tell from the above, I rather enjoyed this one. One of the core reasons for that is the protagonist, Jyen Gebi. Jyen Gebi isn’t a Chosen One, or a general, or a powerful politician. Jyen Gebi is an artist. Jyen Gebi is just getting by, as much as they can, as well as they can, under difficult circumstances. They’re easy to sympathise with, just wanting to get on, do their job, do it well, and pay the rent. There’s a vulnerability and an honesty there, a sense of an everyday person just trying to get by. Jyen Gebi is thoughtful, introspective, someone trying to break free of the socio-economic constraints fitted around them; or at least, wanting to make those constraints chafe a little less. And they’re genuine - warm, and funny, and friendly. Not romantic per se, but willing to build relationships, to put the work in. Someone who knows what the right thing is, and will at least try to see it through.

It helps (perhaps) that we can contrast Jyen Gebi with their older sister: fierce, driven, uncompromising, she is. A wonderful contrast to Jyen’s capacity for accommodation of circumstance. Because that passion is dangerous, It can lead you into all sorts of trouble, especially in the world these two inhabit.

They’re not alone in that world, of course, being surrounded by a supporting cast that includes ominous government ministers, well-connected art dealers, elegant duelists and, well, a dragon. The latter I don’t want to discuss in too much detail, for fear of spoilers, but watching them adjust to the world, experience it fresh, deciding who and what they are and will be, is wonderful and each turn of the page is downright refreshing.

All of these folks are living in a world whose story seeps out of the page over time. It begins in a city under occupation, where cultural heritage and memory are being appropriated or expunged. Where the people - not the aristocracy, but the regular run of people - are adjusting to their new state of being, to their new leadership, and where the new leadership are trying to shape the people in line with their own cultural mores, their own truths. And that city, with its undercurrents of racial and cultural tension, its overt military control, its revolutionaries and collaborators...that city is simmering and may yet boil over. I must admit, walking the neighbourhoods with Jyen Gebi is a joy, seeing them thrive and live and absorb their new cultural overlords, or rage at their arrival. At the blockhouse of the ministry of armour, or the lavish rooms of a dealer in fine art. This is a pcle which you can see in your minds eye, feel, smell even. The words that draw this into being construct a work of art that you build out yourself, and have a sense of place, a sense of reality to them as a result. The city lives.

The plot. Look, I won’t spoil it for you, but it’s intriguing, it’s thoughtful, it will make you think, and it’s fun. There’s romance, charmingly structured and passionately compelling. There’s swordfights. There’s highwire tension, friendship, betrayal, joy and terror in equal measure. This is a story which made me gasp, which made me laugh, which wrung out my heart and, above all, a story which made me feel. It’s a fantastic story, one I deeply enjoyed, and one which you’ll enjoy as well.

Pheonix Extravagant was a spectacular novel seamlessly weaving together fantasy, science fiction and asian mythology.
I especially enjoyed the creative magoc system based on pigments and the new take on automatons. The characters were well written and the friendship betwwen Jebi and Arazi was my favourite part.
I found the pacing a bit slow in the beginning and I felt some of the fat could have been cut.

Overall a really fun read why I would recommend to any sff reader

I would like to give thanks to both Rebellion Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to read this e-ARC.

I have never read any of Lee Yoon Ha's work before and I really wasn't sure what to expect, a book with a non-binary artist protagonist, occupation and a dragon, the possibilities were endless. I'll be honest and say that I found it a little hard to get into the book to begin with, the use of the non-binary pronouns is extensive throughout the text and that often felt a little heavy, I did find it easier as I got to know the characters and they were referred to more by name as the story progressed.

However, the world building and character definition and creation was complex, multi-faceted and well-thought out and the primary characters are likeable. This book delivers a wonderful complete and satisfying story that stands alone, but there could always be more of this world.

As I said it initially took me a little while to get used to the plural pronouns, but I appreciated this challenge to language and grammar and welcomed the protagonist being a non-binary person. Plus there was a dragon! I absolutely loved Arazi, definitely one of those characters I wanted to spend so much more time with!

As a fantasy the story is accessible, the magic system is understandable and interesting, particularly when the story delves deeper into the logic behind the system; Sigils bring things to life, grammar and pigments provide greater depth, nuance and grounding.

I enjoyed this as my first foray into the work of Yoon Ha Lee and enjoyed the themes that the story brought to play and will definitely be looking into more of Yoon Ha Lee's work. This is definitely a great book for anyone who loves eastern inspired fantasy worlds or is looking for stories told from a well-developed non-binary character.

This book surprised me. I wished for it as it was coming in my Goldsboro SFF subscription and I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it. Therefore I wanted to read it first in order to know what to do with it.
I am extremely happy to say that I loved it. It was such an interesting and rich narrative not what I was expecting at all.
I was easily drawn in by Jebi and found myself ploughing through the pages to find out what would happen.
I have to say the dragon was amazing by far my favourite character - incredibly well written and insightful.
Overall this is an extremely good book and if you were considering giving it a try do so. Hopefully you too will be pleasantly surprised with what you find.