Wednesday, July 1, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on October 15, 2020 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

 Phoenix Extravagant is the 4th novel by author Yoon Ha Lee, the author of the multi-award nominated Machineries of Empire trilogy (Ninefox Gambit) and of a number of shorter stories - may taking place in that same universe (resulting in a collection "Hexarchate Stories") and a few not.  This is the first novel of his taking place in a different world - in this case a fantasy world blatantly inspired by Japan-occupied Korea circa World War 2.  Lee's prior work used complicated (and I mean complicated) SciFi concepts and worldbuilding to create fascinating and entertaining stories dealing with issues of Empire/colonialism, individual rights and autonomy, and identity, in a way that made those works some of my favorite over the past few years (I had him tops on my Hugo Ballot multiple times).  So yeah, when I noticed this book up on Netgalley, I requested it instantly, and I was thrilled to receive an advance copy.

And Phoenix Extravagant is a fascinating and captivating book, reminding me for very obvious reasons of RF Kuang's "The Poppy War" in its themes and setting but more clearly featuring the same deft touches as Lee's own earlier trilogy.  The story features a really strong protagonist to go along with a number of other excellent characters, a plot that takes some incredibly surprising turns, all of which deals with some really strong and often hard to read themes dealing with Occupation and what comes afterward and what really remains, and whether it might ever really end.  It's not a perfect book - honestly some of the fantasy elements feel out of place - but it's very compelling in its own often brutal way, all the way up till its ending.  This is likely to find itself on award ballots next year, and it will be well deserved.


-----------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------------
Six years ago, the archipelago Empire of Razan finished conquering the land of Hwaguk, and now occupy and govern Hwaguk as they see fit, even having changed the name of the country to "Administrative Territory Fourteen".  Jebi is an Hwagugin artist, who may dislike what the Razanei are doing to their country, but really just wants desperately to find a steady job and survive.  To that end, Jebi has even obtained a name change to a Razanei name and is even willing to apply for a job at the Razanei Ministry of Art.  But Jebi's sister, whose wife was killed in the war, refuses to accept anything Razanei, and the revelation of these actions by Jebi results in Jebi being forced out onto the street.

As a result, Jebi winds up on the radar of not the Razanei Ministry of Art, but its Ministry of Armor, responsible for the weapons and their special Automata which allowed them to conquer the country.  Forced into serving the Ministry of Armor by a threat on their sister's life, Jebi discovers the true nature of what the Razanei have been doing to Hwaguk's historic treasures, and just how art has been powering the Razanei Automata.  Suddenly Jebi finds themselves unable to stand aside any longer, but their act of rebellion will throw everything they know about the world into doubt and lead to a change that cannot be stopped.....
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Phoenix Extravagant's setting is a not-that-disguised fantasy version of Japan-occupied Korea during World War 2.  For the natives of Hwaguk (Korea), that's not an easy place to live - not only have the Razanei (Japanese) instilled a curfew, but they discriminate in favor of their own people in terms of hiring, forcing many Hawgugin (Korean) individuals to change their names and try to blend in with their conquerors in order to avoid such prejudice - but such acts can of course only go so far.  And of course, the Hwagugin's historical treasures - their art, their history, their very culture - are trodded on by their conquerors as they see fit - sometimes in very literal ways (more on that in a bit).  In such a land, some people will try to resist in any way they can, and others will try instead to find a way to live out their lives in this new normal as happily as they can.

Our protagonist in this book, Jebi, is one of the latter.  They care about three things at the start of this novel:  1.  Art, particularly their painting/drawing skills; 2.  Surviving and making a living in a world that's turned against them and their people; and 3. the wellbeing of their sister.  As such, resistance is the furthest thing from their mind - what they want is to find any way possible to make a living for them and their sister via their art, which is not an easy goal even in a world that hasn't been overturned by a conquering force, and is even harder now.  And the latter goal is made difficult because their sister is one of those who wishes to resist - even if Jebi doesn't quite understand how much - and thus any sacrifices Jebi might want to make of their cultural identity for survival's sake are an utter betrayal to her.  It's easy to see Jebi's point of view: what can an artist really do to resist?

But as the plot goes on, Jebi finds that the answer isn't "nothing", because Jebi's own talents dovetail exactly into the Razanei's needs: for their automata are created by the painting of various sigils onto their faces, sigils painted with particular paints.  And those paints are atrocities themselves, created from historical art/artifacts of the dead - which means the Razanei are raiding Hwagukin historical sites in order to obtain the raw materials.  And thus Jebi finds themselves complicit to in the Razanei's own atrocities, and is unable to take it for very long: first through an act of sabotage to find the truth, and then to try and help the dragon automata (yes, Dragon) escape instead of to help it be used as a weapon of war.  But Jebi finds themselves more conflicted because their need to act contrasts with the attraction they begin to feel to one of their jailers - a master duelist woman named Vei, who they would be betraying by acting.

And that's just the first act of this story, which features a number of really well done characters who I've barely mentioned, from Jebi's sister Bongsunga, to Vei, to the dragon automata Arazi itself.  It's a story that dives strongly into not just the themes of what happens to a conquered people, but whether those people can really ever be the same again - especially if it take the aid of other foreigners to regain their "Freedom."  Moreover, it deals of course with the themes of what exactly are the right means, if any, to try and fight back, as Jebi finds themselves caught between their own morals, their family, and their country without any easy solution.  Lee does a phenomenal job showcasing the conflicts these cause in Jebi and will also cause for the reader in their place, with Lee rarely providing easy answers....because there aren't any (the one time Lee sort of does do so, Lee pivots to a different ethical conflict which makes it all work).  It all leads up until an ending that is brutal in its own way, in how it dares to leave the reader with a potential future of potential despair, even if it isn't as directly brutal as say the book I compared it to above (The Poppy War).  There is some charm in this book, but still this is a book that is not a happy one, and the words "The End" have rarely had as much crushing impact as they do here.

Still the book isn't perfect and some of its fantasy elements just seem out of place.  For the most part this is a fairly close approximation of our world, except that through painting various symbols through a secret paint derived from the destruction of historical works, the Razanei are able to create automata which they have used as supplements to their war forces.  But there are other fantasy elements to - for example, one minor character is a Gumiho (Korean Fox Spirit), and there is serious talk about flying to the moon on an automata as if that was viable and space and vacuum isn't a thing.  These elements just feel a bit off the realistic portrayal of everything else, particularly in how they tie in to the book's ending, which otherwise works really well (see above).

Long story short, this is an utterly tremendous novel that I highly recommend from Lee, and continues his streak of utterly tremendous use of the genre to examine some strong and very relevant themes for today.
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