The new blockbuster original fantasy work from Nebula, Hugo and Clarke award nominated author Yoon Ha Lee!“An arresting tale of loyalty, identity, and the power of art… Lee’s masterful storytelling is sure to wow.” – Publishers Weekly, starred reviewGyen Jebi isn’t a fighter or a subversive. They just want to paint.One day they’re jobless and desperate; the next, Jebi finds themself recruited … finds themself recruited by the Ministry of Armor to paint the mystical sigils that animate the occupying government’s automaton soldiers.
But when Jebi discovers the depths of the Razanei government’s horrifying crimes—and the awful source of the magical pigments they use—they find they can no longer stay out of politics.
What they can do is steal Arazi, the ministry’s mighty dragon automaton, and find a way to fight…
“Phoenix Extravagant is a book containing ruminations on imperialism, the function and sanctity of art, acculturation, and the morality of love. It also contains a bloody big and unexpectedly adorable mechanical dragon.” – Jonathan L. Howard, author of the Johannes Cabal books
“The emphasis on art and painting gives the writing a poetic quality, added to by the elements of magic and mythology, which shows the depth of Lee’s research with a deft hand.” — The Nerd Daily
“An elegant, eloquent novel, tense and full of incident.” — Locus
more
First up: if you’re expecting unique sci-fi like Yoon Ha Lee’s brilliant The Machineries of Empire series, this is not it. It’s not sci-fi at all, but historical fantasy that is perfect for the fans of R. F. Kuang’s The Poppy War series. However, even if you’re a diehard sci-fi fan, I recommend you give this book a chance. If for nothing else, to see how an author can pull off such a different genre and writing style so brilliantly. I received a free review copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Phoenix Extravagant is set in a country that resembles turn of the twentieth-century Korea; mostly sticking to its traditions, but with cars and electric light. It has been invaded a decade earlier by a country with different but similar traditions (i.e. Japan) and has since settled into an uneasy relationship with the conqueror that consist of conforming and rebelling.
Gyen Jebi is the sole point of view character. They are an artist and they only want to paint, even if it means working for the invaders. They are ready to conform in other ways too; they have learned the invaders’ language and officially changed their name to fit in better—a decision that causes a break-up with their sister. But when it turns out that what they paint directly helps the enemy to not only oppress their people but to destroy the country’s cultural heritage too, they start having second thoughts. Their journey from an observer to an active agent is fairly fast, but the outcome isn’t entirely what they expected.
Jebi is an interesting character. They don’t identify as a man or a woman but as not gendered. No attention is drawn to this, apart from the pronoun ‘they’ with which Jebi is referred to. There are other people like Jebi and people recognise them for what they are without them having to ever mention it. It doesn’t cause them any grief, nor is it something they have to think about. The author doesn’t tease readers with hints of what they may have started as and there is no explanation given to why such choice was made—or if it was a choice at all. I would’ve liked to know if this stems from actual Korean tradition or if it’s something the author created for this book, but all in all, it worked well, even if it was an unnecessary detail in the character’s development and how the story played out.
The world-building is great. The traditional Korean culture comes alive in small details that are treated as natural facets of Jebi’s life without unnecessary explanations—though they are explained better than the alien cultures in the Machines of the Empire series, making it easier to understand. The fantasy elements are fairly light and woven into the narrative so seamlessly that the reader doesn’t necessarily even notice them. There are automatons, mechanical humanoids that are given life with magic. There is a huge dragon automaton too, the key to the story, as Jebi is tasked with creating the correct magical sentence structure that would operate it. In the end, Jebi learns this magic so well that they become instrumental in a rebellion against the invader. And the poetic ending brings home for good that we’re not dealing with reality after all.
The pace of the narrative is fairly fast. Since this a stand-alone novel and not the first in trilogy, it takes no time at all before Jebi finds themself trying to rebel against the invaders. The story is easy to follow—again, much unlike the Machines of the Empire—and interesting. There’s drama and tragedy, but good and sweet moments too. All in all, it’s excellent historical fantasy.
So rewarding to read something with a different approach than the vast majority of other sci-fi/fantasy books I’ve read over my life. Will add more of their work to my library!
I’m a huge fan of Lee’s military scifi, but this is excellent fantasy about art, imperialism, loyalty, free will, & the terrible decisions of the heart, with a nonbinary main character! This book makes me hope Lee writes even more fantasy while I’m simultaneously stalking the internet for more of his space opera… (This book is very different from the Machineries of Empire trilogy–which I loved–so if you bounced off that series, you might still want to check this out.)
Phoenix Extravagant is a book containing ruminations on imperialism, the function and sanctity of art, acculturation, and the morality of love. It also contains a bloody big and unexpectedly adorable mechanical dragon.
Having a non-binary main character really made this novel for me. Normalizing gender fluidity one book at a time.