Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Phoenix Extravagant

Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

32 reviews

gussurireads's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

A unique sci-fi take on the Japanese occupation of Korea in the 20th century, with a promising setting and magic system. The originality of the concepts presented are however tainted by flat characters (especially the protagonist, Jebi, an artist that is utterly uninterested in the world around them for some weird, unexplained reason) and the lack of any character development, interesting relationships or exciting plot in general.

More than a bad book, which it isn't on a technical level, "Phoenix Extravagant" is simply a disappointing book, especially when you consider its stunning cover (I did judge a book by its cover!).

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jayisreading's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

3.25

I want to first praise the fascinating premise, especially considering that it was clearly based on colonial Korea in a fantasy setting. Lee also brought to attention the importance of art in life and society, turning it into a literal weapon to signify its value even during war. He also reimagined really interesting politics that clearly drew from historical figures and events of the Korean peninsula while under Japanese rule.

And, with that said, I was underwhelmed by the novel and wanted more. Lee was working with a fascinating setting and powerful themes that all felt underdeveloped. I wanted to learn more about the politics of what was happening; a better understanding of the magic system and mechanical dragons; as well as a stronger idea of characters' motives and desires. Regarding the last point, Jebi (the protagonist) was clearest in what they wanted, even if what they wanted wasn't particularly revolutionary. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but in a fantasy novel that demanded action, it conflicted with Jebi's interests and made the overarching story less interesting.

I think there's still a lot to take from this novel, and I know many readers would love the incredible queer representation (and seamlessly woven into the world) that is present. The novel had a lot of potential across the board and, unfortunately, they weren't fully realized.

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jessthanthree's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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therainbowshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I was hesitant to read this because of how dark the last Yoon Ha Lee book I read was, but I’m glad I did because I loved it. The paint magic system was alarming and awesome, and the unexpected connections were interesting throughout. Loved the tie-ins with Korean folklore and the non-binary rep. I wish things with Hawk had been a little more developed.

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emily_mh's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

The central theme of this book was colonisation, being an allusion, I believe, to Japan’s colonisation of Korea, and also Western colonisation. Lee specifically focusses on how colonisation leads to the destruction of indigenous art and therefore culture, empowering the colonisers and disempowering the colonised. In this book this is shown in a literal, direct way that really draws attention to the concept.

Lee also explores how different people navigate being colonised depending on personal circumstance and values. It was especially striking reading about Arazi, the dragon automaton, trying to reconcile their morals with real-life situations. Jebi, the MC, also undergoes character development in relation to this theme, beginning the book not really seeing the issue with Razanei occupation, and adding to and changing this opinion as the story progresses. (In terms of craft, I think this development could have flowed better.) And these are just two perspectives on the topic of a wide range that are presented by Lee.

Jebi was a great MC. They were funny and sort of played into the “reluctant hero” trope which is one that I enjoy. Their insights into art were so thoughtful and informative, too. Their relationship with their sister Bongsunga was so complex; I really appreciated the nuance there. With regards to their romance with Vei, I still don’t know how I feel given some background information. However, I totally got their romantic and sexual chemistry (although more work could have gone into the emotional side of things).

The plot was engaging with fairly good pacing, and I appreciated that it wasn’t trying to cover the entire revolution but only a part of it. It was grounded in some interesting world-building, with the interplay of fantasy and sci-fi elements emerging especially in how art and engineering combined to give shape to the automata. This particular concept was harrowing, and truly tied into the motif of the power of art, a motif which I loved. I generally loved the detail given regarding the art and artistic practice of Jebi’s world.

I will end on a quote I found quite thought-provoking:

“’If standing on principle means that you lose the people those principles are meant to protect,’ it said, ‘what’s the point?’”

Rep: Korean nonbinary MC, Japanese/Korean queer LI, Korean sapphic SC, Japanese SC who is a cane user, polyamorous throuple side relationship (nonbinary Korean SC, queer Korean SC, queer Japanese SC who is a crutch user), queer nonbinary SC, Korean and Japanese minor characters of different abilities and orientations

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bluejayreads's review against another edition

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slow-paced

3.0

I really like the idea of magical art. That, and the idea of stealing a magical dragon automaton to fight against an invading government sounded hopelessly cool. Plus a nonbinary protagonist in a magical East Asian setting had to be great. I had pretty high hopes for this book.

And overall, it was … fine. It was good enough to finish and had some interesting ideas, but it never fully grabbed me.

The world was interesting, although I spent more time than was good for my story comprehension trying to place exactly what the setting was. (It took me a while to determine it was probably a fantasy version of the Japanese occupation of Korea, but I still wasn’t completely sure of that until I checked the author’s site.) I also found the societal structure and the role of an artist in how society was set up interesting. I don’t know how much was historically accurate and how much was made up for the story (besides the obvious), but it was interesting regardless.

Normally I spend some time in my reviews talking about the characters. But that’s hard to do here because there’s not a lot to them. Jebi gets into conflict with their sister because of differing values – their sister values patriotism and ideals, while Jebi values survival more. (And that made it easy to dislike their sister, since I also value survival more.) Jebi enjoyed painting and art, and that’s about it. From the back cover, I expected them to have a bit more revolutionary spirit. But in fact, Jebi can’t fight at all and actively avoids political involvement.

That strongly contributed to the fact that very little happens in the book. The whole stealing-the-dragon part doesn’t happen until nearly three quarters of the way through. It had its moments of awesomeness, but overall it was incredibly slow and tipped over into dull and boring several times. Jebi spends a lot of time feeling guilty and sorry for themself, and even the bits about the value of art as a cultural artifact and for its own sake felt like an aside that never really got fleshed out.

I like a lot of the ideas here. The ideas were why I picked up the book, and the foundations here are solid. As it is, Phoenix Extravagant isn’t bad. I enjoyed it enough to finish it, and there were some genuinely great moments. But on the whole, I think I would have liked it more as a faster, more action-based story with a more dynamic protagonist.

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laurareads87's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Thoroughly enjoyed this. The world-building -- political dynamics, magical pigments & painting, automatons given personality characteristics and capacities with magical masks -- was impeccable, and the plot exciting without feeling hurried. I adore the representation in this story: a non-binary protagonist and an array of relationships depicted. The ending felt slightly rushed, and I do wish there were going to be more stories in this world. This is not complex in the ways that Lee's <i>Machineries of Empire</i> books are, but it's a satisfying read. The dragon is not as central as some of the book descriptions make it out to be, so those most excited for a dragon story might feel a bit disappointed, but I really liked this novel.

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some_random_person_hi's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

The writing really sucked me in and was that

pearl harbour reference at the end?

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careinthelibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Come for the worldbuilding, stay for the soul-crushing conclusion.

This was epic, expansive, yet somehow it remained so intimate and almost claustrophobic being in this one character's mind trying to interpret the grand scale of this novel. Fantastical and imaginative. I loved that our protagonist was not a warrior, not a hero (in the traditional sense). They are an artist who isn't that invested in politics and activism yet gets drawn into war.

The last couple of chapters sold me on this novel, the last two sentences crushed me into tiny, sad pieces. It was a pleasure to read.

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radtastical's review

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adventurous hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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