Ten years ago, the Empire of Razan invaded and conquered the country of Hwaguk, renaming it Imperial Territory Fourteen. Gyen Jebi is an artist; they have no interest in politics, they just want to paint. But when they find themselves jobless, homeless, and desperate, they’re recruited by the Ministry of Armor to paint the mystical sigils that animate the occupying government’s automaton soldiers. Discovering the hideous truth behind the creation of these magical pigments, and the depth of the Razanei government’s crimes, Jebi finds they find they can’t stay apolitical any longer. Befriending Arazi, the ministry’s mighty dragon automaton, they must find a way to fight back.
Fantasy novels that deal with colonialism and cultural imperialism, even ones that explore them through art, aren’t new, but they seem to tend to skew towards western-inspired settings and western points of view. Author Yoon Ha Lee himself said, in an article for Sci-Fi Now that, initially, the book had trouble coming together and realised that the problem was the setting:
“Coming into this novel, most of my familiarity, thanks to the vicissitudes of a Western education, was with Western art… I got 40,000 words and six months into the draft when it became clear that this approach had backfired. I might paint watercolor as a hobby, more or less in a Western style, and I might admire Renaissance art… but I didn’t feel any personal sense of connection to my setting… I knew of a historical setting I did have some personal connection to, even if I’d been avoiding it: Korea during the Japanese occupation (1910-1945). My family is Korean; one of my grandfathers went to university in Japan during that period.”
Add in a few steampunk elements to this setting, such as the automatons powered by mystical paints, and Phoenix Extravagant is a breath of fresh air. Another great aspect of the worldbuilding is the diversity woven into the fabric of the setting: polyamory, same-sex relationships, and non-binary people (referred to here as “geu-ae” which is what Jebi identifies as) are all normal to varying degrees, with small details like cues certain groups use to recognise each other (such as the asymmetrical haircuts geu-ae prefer). None of it is an afterthought.
Jebi is an interesting protagonist to have as a point of view character: they, initially, don’t have any revolutionary ideals or tendencies like their sister Bongsunga (who is more the type of protagonist you’d expect for this kind of narrative). They’re an artist, someone who is traditionally ‘married to their occupation’. They’re not a collaborator and they’re aware that, despite some of the beneficial things the Razanei government has done, such as the cleaner streets and reduction in crime. However, this has come at a great cost for many (including their own family) and that their culture and people are slowly being assimilated, but they’re willing to keep their head down for a quiet life so they can continue to paint. Their journey over the course of the novel is their gradual realisation that they can no longer continue to be neutral, yet the story never loses sight of the fact that they are an ordinary person caught up in extraordinary circumstances. The rest of the characters are equally well developed, from Arazi, the dragon automaton meant to be a war machine with the soul of a philosopher, to the primary antagonist, who’s made more complex by the fact he feels his actions are justified for the sake of the greater good.
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. By the novel’s end, the scope of the world and conflict have been expanded, so it will be very interesting to see where the story goes next.
Phoenix Extravagant is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of October 15th 2020.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Dragons. Art. Revolution.
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.
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…
