A review by fox_at_the_circus
Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

adventurous challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I enjoyed this book. The way it depicted collonialism and revolution and it's necessity for violence was well written. Especially the focus on art and what counts as valuable art and for what reasons was really interesting. Seeing everything from an artists point of view really gave a different take on it and I loved the very artsy and flowery discriptions of things, landscapes, fighting, war,..
I also really liked that the main character, Jebi, didn't just suddenly become good at being a revolutionary, when they decided to join the revolution. They were clumsy and made mistakes and were unsure about, what the right thing to do was. It made it much more relatable and realistic.
And I loved Arazi! It was like an excited toddler exploring a new place, but also really wise, so much fun to read.
The relationships were really well-written, too. I especially enjoyed the sibling relationship between Jebi and their sister. Having vastly different goals, hobbies, opinions, but still accepting and loving each other without understanding, that just got to me.
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