Sometimes a worldbuilding is as steampunk as it is folktale, and sometimes a family is an obstinate non-binary artist, a prime duelist and a philosophical mecha dragon, and isn't that just perfect?Phoenix Extravagant is the story of Gyen Jebi, an artist married to their profession (read: kind of... oblivious about anything that isn't art) as they get caught in the middle of political machinations involving a revolutionary movement in Hwaguk, a fantasy country heavily inspired by Korea under Japa...

4.5 stars.Dragons. Art. Revolution.Jebi isn't a revolutionary. They're an artist, and they just want to paint, dammit. So when they're turned away from the painting exams, thrown out of their house after their sister finds out their adoption of another man, and they get an offer from the Ministry of Armor to paint—they take it. Granted, they have little choice, but they take it."If standing on principle means that you lose the people those principles are meant to protect, what's the point?"I. Lo...

See that dragon on the cover? Yep. It definitely stole the show.As for the story, I think I want to classify this as a silkpunk tale feeling quite like the Korean-Japanese occupation, with automatons, a simple magic system, and an overarching theme of rebellion.The main character wasn't one I really grew into, however, and the romance was only slightly interesting to me. I enjoyed the intrigue more. I especially liked the whole thing more when we got to a certain automata.I should mention one th...

maybe more like 3.5 starsCW: familial disownment, colonization, racial supremacy, beatings, descriptions of injury and violencelikes:- JEBI! is a soft enby artist and pacifist who just wants to get paid for their artwork. they're a very ordinary person that stumbles into some extraordinary situations and i like a normal joe protagonist.- the science fiction elements were very accessible and easy to understand and picture while reading- siblings! i love sibling dynamics in stories and Jebi's and

It pained me to give three stars to a Yoon Ha Lee work. Maybe because I read many better stuff from him. It might not be fair to compare this with his Machineries of Empire series, but it is just not as enthralling or engaging. It has no level of complexities like in MoE. The main character, Jebi, was not as colorful as Jedao, to say the least. In fact, they made me feel morose from start to finish. If I have to treat it as an individual book, giving it another star would be a huge stretch.The s...

I badly wanted Phoenix Extravagant to be an awesome dragon fantasy but unfortunately it just isn't. Despite a few bright spots like a nonbinary main character, it’s hard to recommend it. The bits of quality writing and world buildup that make up the core of it are overwhelmingly obscured by flat characters who I personally never cared for then layered over by a thick paste of inconsistent rules, (story convenience was an issue for me as you can bribe literally any guard in this world to get away...

I was sent this book as an advance copy by the publisher via NetGalley for reviewing purposes, but all opinions are my own. 3.75 starsI can finally say I've read my first Yoon Ha Lee book! And I thought it could have gone a lot worse, considering the short stories I've read by him, but also it could have gone slightly better? I confess I was hoping to give this book 5 stars.But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I am not good at summarizing what this story is about because there's many themes

That cover gives me BSL (Big Shen Long) energy and I'm here for it.*Imgur is down so please hold for a Shen Long gif*

More than just a beautiful story of a nonbinary protagonist and their mechanical dragon, Phoenix Extravagant is a powerful tale of art, identity, imperialism, and family. Yoon Ha Lee deftly juxtaposes the beauty of words with the starkness of plot, the hard edges of his characters with the soft edges of his monster, creating a reading experience that’s as unique as the story being read.Jebi is an artist and a sibling, inspired by the need to create, but increasingly driven by the need to share t...

This was absolutely wonderful.Having read the Machineries of Empire, which I describe as a New Weird space opera, I was expecting the same kind of mind twisting here. Don't get me wrong, I *like* New Weird, so I wouldn't have been upset, but I was nevertheless surprised by how easy to read this was.This book is set in a thinly disguised secondary world version of Korea, occupied by a thinly disguised secondary world Japanese Empire. The protagonist is Jebi, a not-Korean artist just trying to get...

Ahoy there me mateys! I received this fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .I read this because mechanical dragon and Yoon Ha Lee.  While I loved the dragon and the art magic, I didn't really find meself enthralled with the story itself.  I am not sure why.  The book was well-written but I didn't get the sense of magic that I received from his other works even when they made me noggin ache.  I liked the main character Jebi but think I wo...

I'll discuss this book more in depth in an upcoming video review! Subscribe here!Having read Lee's Ninefox Gambit, I knew that I should expect a few things from Phoenix Extravagant: an incredibly immersive and original world, great characters, and a compelling read. While I enjoyed Ninefox Gambit, his latest novel absolutely blows it out of the water for me.Lee manages to strike a fantastic balance between darker themes and lightness and humor that makes this book a fast-paced and incredibly fun...

CWs: Familial disownment, depictions of colonization, incurred notions of racial supremacy, instances of beating, descriptions of injury and violenceYoon Ha Lee has an incredible, beautiful mind, and I always feel lucky for any span of time that I get to live inside it. Phoenix Extravagant is a unique and ambitious story about non-binary artist and life-long pacifist, Gyen Jebi, wanting to be paid for their art when they're unceremoniously drafted into the Razanei's military to paint the gly

I wanted to read this book because of the mechanical dragon (Arazi). Unfortunately, we didn’t get to the dragon parts until almost 40%. But after that, it was pretty much ongoing. I loved Arazi so much!I enjoyed some of the characters but wasn’t pulled in by anyone really. I did love Jebi and some others but I still wasn’t totally pulled into the story. I also got confused a lot as Jebi was either, Jebi or they. I have read a few books like that and it was fine but this one was a bit more confus...

“Gyen 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 by the Ministry of Armor to paint the mystical sigils that animate the occupying government’s automaton soldiers.“My first thought was that this was inspired by China, maybe HongKong, but I adjusted that thought to Korea, after having come across a Kimchi pot. And that turned out to be right, when I looked up the author‘s website.“It’s about a nonbina...

4.0 StarsVideo Review: https://youtu.be/ehEWq2Y7vC8I  basically loved every aspect of this novel. As a rare standalone in the fantasy genre, this book held a wonderful complete, satisfying story.  I almost felt it could have been longer, but mostly because I enjoyed it so much that I would have loved to spend more time with the characters in this world.The main characters were complex, well developed and generally quite likeable. I appreciated reading from the perspective of a nonbinary person,

ARC received from the publisher (Solaris) in exchange for an honest review.Wow. This was just as great as the cover and the blurb suggested it would be. I loved following Jebi as a protagonist, even if it took some time to get used to the name since it's a rude word in my native language. Having someone who wasn't brave or 100% dedicated to the cause right from the start felt like a real breath of fresh air. They were just an ordinary person with plenty of flaws and blind spots caught in somethi...

Finally read this 6 months later than I intended to! This was such a captivating read. This is my first adult book by Yoon Ha Lee, the other one being Dragon Pearl which was fantastic. Phoenix Extravagant is about artist Gyen Jebi, who finds themselves jobless one day and forced into the service of the Razanei's Minister of Armor to help animate their automaton army with glyphs. Basically a magical coder, I loved it. Jebi is a pacifist and while they cooperate to keep their sister safe, they als...

This tale of a reluctant revolutionary, unsuited for rebellion but burdened by guilty debts and a compassionate heart, is unexpectedly wholesome for a book about overthrowing a repressive government. A secondary-world fantasy, Phoenix Extravagant is inspired by the Japanese occupation of Korea, but with 100% more mechanical dragons and a delightfully queer society that includes a non-binary protagonist, non-heterosexual on-page relationships and an adorable poly family.The highlight is Arazi the...

this isn’t a review, but it is very important to me, so i’m just gonna casually @ the reviewers of this book.now, in case you didn’t know, i’m non-binary (agender) and use they/them pronouns, like this book’s protagonist (jebi). in a fuck of a lot of reviews, i’ve seen people say things varying from finding jebi’s use of exclusively they/them pronouns odd, to grammatically incorrect, to something that confused them, to something they had to get used to. nothing obviously transphobic, but honestl...