Reviews

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

trash_candra's review

3.0

The book was definitely fun, but the world-building just wasn't good enough to support the moving parts of the story. The political tension was well done and destroying art to fuel magic was thematically appropriate, but the magic system and technology were not up to the same standard. I honestly can't say much about the magic system besides "it's done through using differently colored pigments from crushing art." because it felt like it just happened. There was a Chekov's gun get-introduced-and-used-later aspect to it but it didn't seem to have limits or rules that governed it.

There were also multiple times where I was confused whether something was literal or not because fantastic elements were just sprinkled into the world and didn't get any explanation and didn't ever feel like they were actually a part of a living, breathing world and were just like accessories to spruce up the setting.

dododenise's review

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

I really thought this book would get to me but sadly it never quite got there. The world building is amazing with a really intriguing magic system. I loved that the main character was nonbinary and used they/them pronouns. Everything was set up for this to blow me away. 
Where it fell flat for me were the characters and the plot. The story starts quite cosy, which was unexpected but I liked. But then the world building expanded and I saw the possibilities of a big scale plot. The story gave me hints of that, but then immediately retreated again. Most of the story stayed pretty slow paced until there were weirdly short action scenes. That change of pace was disorienting and pulled me out. 
None of the characters and their relationships were particularly interesting either. None of them grew close to my heart and their arcs weren’t enticing either.
This ended up being a great concept with an execution that fell flat for me. 

excavatinglizard's review

medium-paced

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

3.0

I loved ninefox gambit and really wanted to like this, but while the discussions of imperialism, art and rebellion interested me, as well as the magic system, I found all of the characters so incredibly boring. Jebi irritated me at the best of times, and while I did like Vei I felt we didn’t truly get enough insight into her. The pacing was also a bit of a mess. Fine book, but not one I’d read again. 

kmowery's review

adventurous 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

2.75

Far more YA than I expected.

alana_readsbooks's review

It was going to end up a 3 and I just couldn’t be bothered reading the rest 

leonidskies's review

adventurous fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

I wish I could say I really loved this book (I was so excited to read something with a nonbinary main character!), but unfortunately I didn't. The premise was really strong, and I liked the characters quite a lot, but the book as it was felt distinctly under-edited. The plot was unsubtle and ended with a few unsatisfying and unresolved plot points, and the pacing felt strange. I liked the setting and adored the themes and relationship arcs, but it absolutely could have done with another 50-100 pages to flesh out what it was going for. The magic system and world building was interesting, and the prose was strong enough to keep me all the way to the end, but I couldn't help but want more.

yuck1209's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

I thought the premise sounded interesting, but I struggled with the main character. The first two sentences of the book description are completely right.  

Gyen Jebi isn’t a fighter or a subversive. They just want to paint.

Like that’s exactly it. My challenge with Jebi is how little they care about the whole revolution thing. And while I suppose that’s a legitimate response to committing erasure on behalf of your colonizer government, it’s not a particularly compelling character arc to follow. 

girlreactionreads's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

There was a lot I liked about this. The magic had such cool (and yet disturbing!) elements (even just the idea between how the glyphs are created and what they can do). But the tone had a weird mix of adult topics (sexy sex scenes, dissection of colonialism, empire, race/class) and teenage feelings (Jebi seems like SUCH an 8th grader, a lot of the conversations have a very silly feel, there’s a bit of “here we go on our grand adventure” tweeness to it). I felt like the tone wasn’t quite consistent about who its audience is/was. AND although I did like it, it QUITE pales in comparison intellectually to the Ninefox Gambit. Then again, ALL one’s novels can’t be the world’s most intriguing mindfuck, can they. 
Also Arazi was so by far my favorite character…but his conversation while delightful often felt so juvenile. But then…perhaps it should? Does gifted sentience need time to mature? I don’t know. Something to think about.

stonehedger's review

4.0

I really love the concept of the book and storyline, but whether because the lead character was non-binary or it was poorly translated, there are no true personal pronouns. So every reference to characters used they, their, them throughout the book. No she or her. This is further compounded by a second main character called Vei, pronounced vay. I hope it is the translation and not something I missed that caused this. Perhaps the book can be further transcribed to put these vital references in.
Great story though.

nerdbrarian's review

5.0

Nonbinary representation. Magic system based in the power of art. Rebels opposing an oppressive and racist regime of invaders. And an automaton dragon. Yoon Ha Lee had me at all of the above, but then delivered with beautiful, lyrical writing that among other things sneakily considers the ethics of violence and personhood without you realizing it's happening. For those who don't like this sort of thing, there is romance, and though it's not initially the center of the story, it's complex and earns its place is the narrative, I promise.