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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I usually dont like dystopian fantasy but this was really good
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Read it for:
-An automaton DRAGON!
-A nonbinary protagonist who uses they/them pronouns. Truly, it is always such a delight to find this in sci-fi and elsewhere, and I’m so grateful to Yoon Ha Lee for always writing such gender expansive worlds!
-An exploration of the political potential of art and artists (a theme that feels particularly salient lately).
-Sci-fi allegory for the Japanese occupation of Korea. If you know me, you know I love the potential of sci-fi and fantasy to reveal new things about history and present, and that definitely comes through in this one.
-Writing that is original, vivid, and wholly engaging.
-Rebellion! Adventures! Politics! More!
-An automaton DRAGON!
-A nonbinary protagonist who uses they/them pronouns. Truly, it is always such a delight to find this in sci-fi and elsewhere, and I’m so grateful to Yoon Ha Lee for always writing such gender expansive worlds!
-An exploration of the political potential of art and artists (a theme that feels particularly salient lately).
-Sci-fi allegory for the Japanese occupation of Korea. If you know me, you know I love the potential of sci-fi and fantasy to reveal new things about history and present, and that definitely comes through in this one.
-Writing that is original, vivid, and wholly engaging.
-Rebellion! Adventures! Politics! More!
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
🐉 Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🐉
Jebi a painter, finds themselves jobless and has to turn to their people’s enemy - the Razanei - who occupied their country, for work. Jebi works for the government by painting mystical sigils on the automaton soldiers masks which animate them. Jebi also has to help fix the dragon automaton Arazi for the leaders. But Jebi uncovers the horror of what the Razeni government has done, and plans to help the dragon - a pacifist - to escape.
What I liked:
✨Jebi is non binary
✨ There is a queer romance
✨World was super interesting
✨Arazi the talking dragon was my FAVE!!
✨The integration of art, war, rebellion and politics merged into one made the plot really interesting and you wanted to know what happened next.
✨Set up nicely for the next book in the series
✨Poetic writing style
What I disliked:
✨At the beginning there was lots of world building, and so it confused me at first - but is the same with any epic fantasy book (especially the first in the series)
✨Lots of characters were introduced at once, and was difficult to keep track of them.
Overall I’m really excited to see what happens in the next book! This story was really interesting and I’d reccomend to anyone who likes Leigh bardugo or books about technology, with a hint of rebellion on the side!
Jebi a painter, finds themselves jobless and has to turn to their people’s enemy - the Razanei - who occupied their country, for work. Jebi works for the government by painting mystical sigils on the automaton soldiers masks which animate them. Jebi also has to help fix the dragon automaton Arazi for the leaders. But Jebi uncovers the horror of what the Razeni government has done, and plans to help the dragon - a pacifist - to escape.
What I liked:
✨Jebi is non binary
✨ There is a queer romance
✨World was super interesting
✨Arazi the talking dragon was my FAVE!!
✨The integration of art, war, rebellion and politics merged into one made the plot really interesting and you wanted to know what happened next.
✨Set up nicely for the next book in the series
✨Poetic writing style
What I disliked:
✨At the beginning there was lots of world building, and so it confused me at first - but is the same with any epic fantasy book (especially the first in the series)
✨Lots of characters were introduced at once, and was difficult to keep track of them.
Overall I’m really excited to see what happens in the next book! This story was really interesting and I’d reccomend to anyone who likes Leigh bardugo or books about technology, with a hint of rebellion on the side!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, War
This was so incredibly refreshing after the dirge of boring scifi/fantasy from majority white authors for the past few years and Jebi is a great MC for this novel, even when I want to shake them for their bad choices sometimes. The only reason I do not give this five stars is because I'm still not convinced by the love story all that much, although it improves in the first half, and the ending really screams, 'possible sequel/series.' It'd be lovely to see that be the case, if Yoon Ha Lee chooses to do that. Such a fun read!
Unfortunately I ended up dnfing this book at 21%, I tried a few times to get into it but I just couldn't. I struggled with the writing style and that ultimately made me DNF.
This doesn't reflect on the story as I didn't get far enough in. This may be the perfect read for somebody else but did not work for me.
This doesn't reflect on the story as I didn't get far enough in. This may be the perfect read for somebody else but did not work for me.
I honestly cannot describe this book in any semblance beyond: a non-binary 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!
I liked the world a lot, and the dragon (once it showed up) was great. The plot was enjoyable, although it got less interesting after . The writing felt clunky for the first 100 pages, I think because of the combination of worldbuilding dumps, some of the addendums to the speech tags--speaking respectfully, deferentially, using different types of pronouns for "you", etc.--and the third-person narration with a they/them PoV character. The last issue got better later as I got used to it (although it seems like this might've been partially because of using pronouns instead of names most of the time early on, judging by other reviews); the addendums start to fade out towards the middle, but the worldbuilding dumps change to long tidbits on Jebi's personal history and really don't stop. The main reason I didn't like this more was because I never really connected with Jebi or any of the other characters, though. There's plenty of development for them and their cohorts, but I didn't really get invested in anyone besides the dragon. Finally, the ending is weird and feels out-of-place with the rest of the story, despite following through on a few points set up earlier in the book.
Overall, a cool book in many of the concepts it brings up and explores but not in execution. There's a lot of queerness here--I really liked that the main character was nonbinary in a third-person PoV story, since the few stories I've read with a nonbinary character either have them as blink-and-you'll-miss-it token characters, side characters, or have a nonbinary PoV but use first-person. There's also a bunch of other nonbinary characters using they/them as well, which I liked. There's also a nonbinary/female romance in the background as Jebi falls in love with another character, and polyamory in the form of the love interest's three parents. But again, the book ultimately fell a bit flat because I couldn't get invested in it.
Spoiler
Jebi, Arazi and Vei escaped the Armor buildingOverall, a cool book in many of the concepts it brings up and explores but not in execution. There's a lot of queerness here--I really liked that the main character was nonbinary in a third-person PoV story, since the few stories I've read with a nonbinary character either have them as blink-and-you'll-miss-it token characters, side characters, or have a nonbinary PoV but use first-person. There's also a bunch of other nonbinary characters using they/them as well, which I liked. There's also a nonbinary/female romance in the background as Jebi falls in love with another character, and polyamory in the form of the love interest's three parents. But again, the book ultimately fell a bit flat because I couldn't get invested in it.
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
Not going to lie, that dragon on the cover is the reason I wanted to read this book and Arazi, you did not disappoint!
We follow our main character Jebi who just wants to paint, and after being kicked out by their sister finds themselves desperate for somewhere to live and a job. Jebi is recruited by the Razanei Ministry of Armor to assist with painting the glyphs that help direct the automaton used by the Razanei army. Automaton are mechanical devices made to appear like living creatures, in this case Arazi the dragon. The Razanei are committing crimes against Jebi's people and what Jebi doesn't expect is to find a dragon pacing the floor, tied down by chains around it's legs. Jebi finds themselves with more involvement in politics than they expected and also... could they save Arazi?
I enjoyed reading Phoenix Extravagant, it was unlike any book I've read before. I've seen other reviewers say this has a steampunk vibe to it and I'd definitely agree. Jebi as a main character is well developed, strong, brave and was generally very likeable. It was also very refreshing to read a book with a non-binary protagonist.
Aside from Jebi and Arazi (the show stealer), I did enjoy reading about Vei but felt other characters were a little under developed.
As a standalone, the book was cleverly finished in that it is left open for a possible sequel; ultimately I did find myself wanting a little more to be fully satisfied with the ending.
An enjoyable, unique read and I hope to read more from Yoon Ha Lee.
Thank you to Pride Book Tours, Solaris and Yoon Ha Lee for the copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
We follow our main character Jebi who just wants to paint, and after being kicked out by their sister finds themselves desperate for somewhere to live and a job. Jebi is recruited by the Razanei Ministry of Armor to assist with painting the glyphs that help direct the automaton used by the Razanei army. Automaton are mechanical devices made to appear like living creatures, in this case Arazi the dragon. The Razanei are committing crimes against Jebi's people and what Jebi doesn't expect is to find a dragon pacing the floor, tied down by chains around it's legs. Jebi finds themselves with more involvement in politics than they expected and also... could they save Arazi?
I enjoyed reading Phoenix Extravagant, it was unlike any book I've read before. I've seen other reviewers say this has a steampunk vibe to it and I'd definitely agree. Jebi as a main character is well developed, strong, brave and was generally very likeable. It was also very refreshing to read a book with a non-binary protagonist.
Aside from Jebi and Arazi (the show stealer), I did enjoy reading about Vei but felt other characters were a little under developed.
As a standalone, the book was cleverly finished in that it is left open for a possible sequel; ultimately I did find myself wanting a little more to be fully satisfied with the ending.
An enjoyable, unique read and I hope to read more from Yoon Ha Lee.
Thank you to Pride Book Tours, Solaris and Yoon Ha Lee for the copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
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
The first 2/3 were best and it faltered a bit in the last act, but this was a very good look at colonization and cultural preservation in the face of forced assimilation/subjugation. Very much enjoyed that the protagonist isn't an action hero - they fear pain and known their limitations very well.