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speculativebecky 's review for:
Phoenix Extravagant
by Yoon Ha Lee
Tremendous gratitude to @rebellionpublishing and @netgalley for the opportunity to read this advanced copy of one of my most anticipated 2020 releases, Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee!
Phoenix Extravagant is a stand-alone fantasy novel set in a magical version of Korea during the Japanese occupation. The story follows Gyen Jebi, a nonbinary Hwagugin painter who’s swept into a struggle for revolution against the Razanei Empire alongside an unlikely ally, a delightfully earnest pacifist dragon automoton named Arazi.
I loved reading this book, especially because I instantly resonated with Jebi, through all their flaws and strength. Many fantasy epics center the stories of heroes or revolutionaries, and Lee subverts that expectation in this novel by giving it life through the eyes of a conflict-shy painter. Jebi feels so real in their limited grasp of the large-scale power struggles playing out beyond their purview, and in their interrogation of the role they can/want to play. Arazi’s charming personality adds humor and levity to the story, a dash of buddy-cop vibes in an otherwise often somber tale of colonization and the untidy cost of revolution.
Readers familiar with Lee’s Machineries of Empires trilogy will likely find the world building of Phoenix Extravagant much more straightforward. Ninefox Gambit is one of my all time favorite books but it asks a lot of the reader in understanding complex politics and fantastic magical technologies. The political machinations here are largely off-screen in this novel as Jebi skirts the sidelines of the conflict rather than frontlining it, and the magic is easily digestible, and furthermore completely genius in how Lee calls to account real practices of colonizers throughout human history.
I hope this book finds a wide and well deserved readership. I'd recommend it to fans of epic fantasy, dragons, robots, dragons that are robots, worlds effortlessly populated with queer characters, and maybe even lovers of historical fiction or art history. Mark your calendars for October, 2020!
Phoenix Extravagant is a stand-alone fantasy novel set in a magical version of Korea during the Japanese occupation. The story follows Gyen Jebi, a nonbinary Hwagugin painter who’s swept into a struggle for revolution against the Razanei Empire alongside an unlikely ally, a delightfully earnest pacifist dragon automoton named Arazi.
I loved reading this book, especially because I instantly resonated with Jebi, through all their flaws and strength. Many fantasy epics center the stories of heroes or revolutionaries, and Lee subverts that expectation in this novel by giving it life through the eyes of a conflict-shy painter. Jebi feels so real in their limited grasp of the large-scale power struggles playing out beyond their purview, and in their interrogation of the role they can/want to play. Arazi’s charming personality adds humor and levity to the story, a dash of buddy-cop vibes in an otherwise often somber tale of colonization and the untidy cost of revolution.
Readers familiar with Lee’s Machineries of Empires trilogy will likely find the world building of Phoenix Extravagant much more straightforward. Ninefox Gambit is one of my all time favorite books but it asks a lot of the reader in understanding complex politics and fantastic magical technologies. The political machinations here are largely off-screen in this novel as Jebi skirts the sidelines of the conflict rather than frontlining it, and the magic is easily digestible, and furthermore completely genius in how Lee calls to account real practices of colonizers throughout human history.
I hope this book finds a wide and well deserved readership. I'd recommend it to fans of epic fantasy, dragons, robots, dragons that are robots, worlds effortlessly populated with queer characters, and maybe even lovers of historical fiction or art history. Mark your calendars for October, 2020!