A review by storytimed
Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

4.0

I read all this in a night and quite enjoyed it, but my brother is Struggling trying to read it and I can see why
Phoenix Extravagant is about Jebi, an artist who gets blackmailed into working on a magic calligraphy that animates robots
Including a dragon that may or may not be sentient!
This is one of the cases where I respect what Lee is doing but I don't actually necessarily Feel it yk
I like the idea of the
fantasy setting based on 1800s/1900s Korea occupied by Japan, themes of colonialism without Western influence
artist protagonist who really isn't involved in politics and kind of a casual colonial collaborator
DRAGON MECH
metaphor for cultural erasure/appropriation by having the colonizers literally grind up old art to make the paint that animates their mechs
 
But Yoon Ha Lee's writing can be kinda distant and he doesn't do much worldbuilding. Vibe is a little tell not show which makes the metaphors clunky ig
I enjoyed it because I just sat there for a night and raced through the whole thing but my lil bro has been on it for a week (which is wild bc usually he's done with a book in a day like me as he is currently job-hunting)
I did really like it though! And I thought the ending was very funny: the whole book the evil Japanese guy is warning about Westerners coming to invade them, and then literally as Jebi and dragon fly to the moon with all the art to preserve (don't ask) they see a bunch of black ships
OH and Jebi is causally non-binary & I thought the worldbuilding around having non-binary people be a Thing in the culture made a lot of sense