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A review by tshepiso
Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee
2.5
I really wanted to like Phoenix Extravagant. Not only is Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of the Empire series one of my favourites the premise alone of this book was fascinating. The tagline says it all, "Dragons. Art. Revolution." I was excited to see Lee's exploration of colonization and an artist's place in revolution with mecha dragons to boot. Unfortunately it didn't quite deliver.
But let's start with the positives. The crowning jewel of Phoenix Extravagant was its worldbuilding. Lee is clearly inspired my early 20th century Korean history. The way this setting blends with magical and steampunk elements was fun to see explored. Silkpunk fantasy is one of my favourite sub genres and the way its utilized here was so well executed. The art and calligraphy based magic system of this world is fascinating.
Unfortunately I deeply struggled with Phoenix Extravagant's protagonist. The book is told from the perspective of Jebi a 26 year old artists who's deeply uninvested in the colonial politics of their country but gets wrapped up in the work of the military and eventually the rebellion. Jebi's ignorance and lack of care about the colonial project being waged on their country made it hard to like them as a protagonist. They were frequently shown to be deeply ignorant of the world in a way that made them feel much younger than their stated age. While on paper I can appreciate the concept of a character learning about the injustice around them and figuring our their place in it, this version of that story arc oscillated between boring and frustrating because of Jebi's reticence to involve themselves in the political realities of their world.
This is unfortunate because I found many of the side characters really gripping. From Bongsunga Jebi's militant revolutionary older sister, to Vei, Jebi's love interest, a duelist working for the ministry with split loyalties and even Araki the automaton dragon at the centre of it all caught between a personal belief in pacifism and the realities of the suffering bought by colonialist forces. I found their relationships to the revolution and perspective on the occupation so fascinating which only highlighted more how dull I found Jebi in contrast.
I do respect some of the themes Lee was attempting to explore in this story. Jebi brings their perspective as an artist to all that they do throughout the novel. We contemplate the philosophy of art the place of artists and their work in wider culture and the process of cultural genocide. But ultimately I found Jebi's general passivity made them an uninteresting character to explore these themes through.
This book's structure and pacing also made it an uneven read. The first half of the book is pretty slow paced. We get the minute details of Jebi's time in the ministry and this section of the book lack any real intrigue . Eventually the plot picks up especially after the introduction to Araki at around the 40% mark but the back half of the novel consequently felt rushed. We speed through the second half of the book and imo rush through a lot of the relationship development fo Jebi and Vei and Jebi and Araki making some of the emotional beats of the third act fall flat.
Ultimately while I respect a lot of what Yoon Ha Lee was doing in Phoenix Extravagant I found the lens we saw the story through and its plotting and pacing overall to be a let down.
But let's start with the positives. The crowning jewel of Phoenix Extravagant was its worldbuilding. Lee is clearly inspired my early 20th century Korean history. The way this setting blends with magical and steampunk elements was fun to see explored. Silkpunk fantasy is one of my favourite sub genres and the way its utilized here was so well executed. The art and calligraphy based magic system of this world is fascinating.
Unfortunately I deeply struggled with Phoenix Extravagant's protagonist. The book is told from the perspective of Jebi a 26 year old artists who's deeply uninvested in the colonial politics of their country but gets wrapped up in the work of the military and eventually the rebellion. Jebi's ignorance and lack of care about the colonial project being waged on their country made it hard to like them as a protagonist. They were frequently shown to be deeply ignorant of the world in a way that made them feel much younger than their stated age. While on paper I can appreciate the concept of a character learning about the injustice around them and figuring our their place in it, this version of that story arc oscillated between boring and frustrating because of Jebi's reticence to involve themselves in the political realities of their world.
This is unfortunate because I found many of the side characters really gripping. From Bongsunga Jebi's militant revolutionary older sister, to Vei, Jebi's love interest, a duelist working for the ministry with split loyalties and even Araki the automaton dragon at the centre of it all caught between a personal belief in pacifism and the realities of the suffering bought by colonialist forces. I found their relationships to the revolution and perspective on the occupation so fascinating which only highlighted more how dull I found Jebi in contrast.
I do respect some of the themes Lee was attempting to explore in this story. Jebi brings their perspective as an artist to all that they do throughout the novel. We contemplate the philosophy of art the place of artists and their work in wider culture and the process of cultural genocide. But ultimately I found Jebi's general passivity made them an uninteresting character to explore these themes through.
This book's structure and pacing also made it an uneven read. The first half of the book is pretty slow paced. We get the minute details of Jebi's time in the ministry and this section of the book lack any real intrigue . Eventually the plot picks up especially after the introduction to Araki at around the 40% mark but the back half of the novel consequently felt rushed. We speed through the second half of the book and imo rush through a lot of the relationship development fo Jebi and Vei and Jebi and Araki making some of the emotional beats of the third act fall flat.
Ultimately while I respect a lot of what Yoon Ha Lee was doing in Phoenix Extravagant I found the lens we saw the story through and its plotting and pacing overall to be a let down.