Take a photo of a barcode or cover
1.26k reviews by:
inkandplasma
4.5 rounded up!
Trigger Warnings: colonialisation, invasion and occupation, oppression, destruction of art and suppression of indigenous cultures, blackmail, earthquakes, violence, death, war, imprisonment, torture, fatphobia, non-explicit sex, grief.
My favourite thing about Phoenix Extravagant was Jebi themself. As a main character they were engaging and loveable. It was refreshing to read about a protagonist who wasn't interested in fighting and rebellion. Instead they want to paint. They're an artist, and that's all they want to do. I'm so used to warrior characters that I immediately fell in love with Jebi and wanted to wrap them in cotton wool and tuck them away somewhere safe. And then there's Arazi! My baby! The very focal dragon from the cover! Arazi is an absolute delight. It took about 40% of the book for it to show up, but once it did it stole literally every scene it was in. Not to imply that the book was slow in the lead up to Arazi. I was engaged in Phoenix Extravagant from the first page, it was the kind of book that one chapter in I just *knew* it was going to be an incredible book. And I was right!
The worldbuilding was unbelievably good. I loved the settings and the magical aspects of the story. The way that the pigments were created (being intentionally vague here) was both terrible and incredible. Using art and paint to power automatons is a really interesting intersect of art and science and magic, and made for a unique magic system I hadn't seen before. I'm a sucker for automaton stories because I think they're cool as hell, and this did not disappoint on that. Phoenix Extravagant had a fascinating perspective on the invader versus rebellion story because the protagonist is so pacifistic. Most of the characters were morally grey and I really liked that. No matter which 'side' the characters were on, they had positive traits and negative traits and both sides had done great and terrible things. The only thing that didn't work for me personally was the Jebi and Vei thing. They were so cute, yes, but I could not move past the Jia thing.
Trigger Warnings: colonialisation, invasion and occupation, oppression, destruction of art and suppression of indigenous cultures, blackmail, earthquakes, violence, death, war, imprisonment, torture, fatphobia, non-explicit sex, grief.
My favourite thing about Phoenix Extravagant was Jebi themself. As a main character they were engaging and loveable. It was refreshing to read about a protagonist who wasn't interested in fighting and rebellion. Instead they want to paint. They're an artist, and that's all they want to do. I'm so used to warrior characters that I immediately fell in love with Jebi and wanted to wrap them in cotton wool and tuck them away somewhere safe. And then there's Arazi! My baby! The very focal dragon from the cover! Arazi is an absolute delight. It took about 40% of the book for it to show up, but once it did it stole literally every scene it was in. Not to imply that the book was slow in the lead up to Arazi. I was engaged in Phoenix Extravagant from the first page, it was the kind of book that one chapter in I just *knew* it was going to be an incredible book. And I was right!
The worldbuilding was unbelievably good. I loved the settings and the magical aspects of the story. The way that the pigments were created (being intentionally vague here) was both terrible and incredible. Using art and paint to power automatons is a really interesting intersect of art and science and magic, and made for a unique magic system I hadn't seen before. I'm a sucker for automaton stories because I think they're cool as hell, and this did not disappoint on that. Phoenix Extravagant had a fascinating perspective on the invader versus rebellion story because the protagonist is so pacifistic. Most of the characters were morally grey and I really liked that. No matter which 'side' the characters were on, they had positive traits and negative traits and both sides had done great and terrible things. The only thing that didn't work for me personally was the Jebi and Vei thing. They were so cute, yes, but I could not move past the Jia thing.
Full review on my blog from 26th October: https://inkandplasma.com/2020/10/26/domino-strays/
3.5 rounded up to 4 bc this was great fun
trigger warnings: human experimentation, othering (mutants seen as lesser), psychological and emotional abuse/torture, death, gore, mentions of mass suicide, religious cult control.
I loved this book and its entangled plots. There were three separate timelines running concurrently and while I absolutely adored the parallels between the timelines, and the way they interconnected, I would have liked to see them as two separate books. One with Domino's childhood and the Everglades storylines and one with the cult storyline. That's not even *slightly* a criticism of Domino: Strays, I just loved what Tristan Palmgren was doing so much that I wanted to read more of all of it instead of it being constrained to a third of the book. If Palmgren writes more Domino, I'm going to be on it in a heartbeat. Especially if it's in this timeline, where Domino raids the compound of a twisted cult with Black Widow and a squad of powerful superhero mercenaries. I liked Domino's character a lot, particularly the way that she was torn between mercenary and hero, 'good' and neutral and all the spaces in between. I've got a huge soft spot for morally grey characters and the way that they struggle with people's moral expectations on them. Getting a whole superhero team of characters on a scale from 'hero' to 'merc' is a lot of fun and made for interesting interactions.
I also loved the way Domino's luck was used in the narrative. It made sense, was surprisingly balanced and it never felt like a cheap deus ex machina to miraculously save the day. It had rules and constraints and meant that Domino was still the clever, creative mercenary survivor type - just with a little lucky advantage. It was well balanced, with the negative side of Domino's powers shown too. Not that those would stop me from taking her powers in a heart beat.
3.5 rounded up to 4 bc this was great fun
trigger warnings: human experimentation, othering (mutants seen as lesser), psychological and emotional abuse/torture, death, gore, mentions of mass suicide, religious cult control.
I loved this book and its entangled plots. There were three separate timelines running concurrently and while I absolutely adored the parallels between the timelines, and the way they interconnected, I would have liked to see them as two separate books. One with Domino's childhood and the Everglades storylines and one with the cult storyline. That's not even *slightly* a criticism of Domino: Strays, I just loved what Tristan Palmgren was doing so much that I wanted to read more of all of it instead of it being constrained to a third of the book. If Palmgren writes more Domino, I'm going to be on it in a heartbeat. Especially if it's in this timeline, where Domino raids the compound of a twisted cult with Black Widow and a squad of powerful superhero mercenaries. I liked Domino's character a lot, particularly the way that she was torn between mercenary and hero, 'good' and neutral and all the spaces in between. I've got a huge soft spot for morally grey characters and the way that they struggle with people's moral expectations on them. Getting a whole superhero team of characters on a scale from 'hero' to 'merc' is a lot of fun and made for interesting interactions.
I also loved the way Domino's luck was used in the narrative. It made sense, was surprisingly balanced and it never felt like a cheap deus ex machina to miraculously save the day. It had rules and constraints and meant that Domino was still the clever, creative mercenary survivor type - just with a little lucky advantage. It was well balanced, with the negative side of Domino's powers shown too. Not that those would stop me from taking her powers in a heart beat.
