I definitely missed some context reading this book, but I don’t think it impacted my enjoyment of the novel. I think I knew off of the historical era it is riffing off of to get the general context. However, where I missed things, were more in the cultural element – some mythology for example.

The main story involves an occupying force (the Razanei) and the territory they occupy (Hwaguk). But there’s tension, rebels as well as the mysterious ‘Westerners’ who the Razanei perceive as a threat. But that’s the background context, really it’s a story about Jebi, an artist who down on their luck, finds work with the Ministry of Armour. There they meet Vei, a dualist and Arazi, a dragon automaton.

This is where we head into fantasy / sci fi, as the Razanei have at their disposal, automatons. I guess, robots. Most of the ones they see are human automatons, guards and the like, who patrol the cities. However, the Razanei create Arazi, which should be a formidable force to destroy tanks (so they say). But one problem, Arazi’s creation has led to a much more complicated personality for the dragon. I won’t spoil it, as that is part of the delight of that part of the book. Arazi is a really fun character, like a puppy that can talk and is interested in everything.

At the Ministry of Armour, Jebi finds out how they make the automatons – essentially destroying old things, including works of art to create the pigment that gives the automatons life. I think there was going to be some larger point about cultural heritage being destroyed, but then there was a whole theme about resistance to an occupying force, and then maybe pacifism? Anyway, there were a swirl of ideas there, and I’m not sure if the author was trying to point out complexity or just had too many ideas going on at once. It didn’t really bother me, but it definitely wasn’t as clear cut what the main theme was supposed to be.

The most confusing part was definitely the last ten pages, which I’m sure are referencing cultural or mythological elements, which I didn’t understand. So it veers into the utterly fantastic, but it was kind of fun, so I went with it.

I thought overall it was a really quick read, not super complex, something that you can just devour in a couple sittings. The characters for the most part are really good (Jebi is actually the most annoying, but not in a distracting way), with Vei, Arazi and Jebi’s sister Bongsunga having the more complex characteristics. It was fun and enjoyable, is what I’m saying.