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throwback682's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“Mulan meets The Song of Achilles in Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun, a bold, queer, and lyrical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty from an amazing new voice in literary fantasy.”
Phew. This book was so good and I’m ready to immediately dive into the conclusion of the Radiant Emperor duology - He Who Drowned the World.
This book is about human suffering - due to war, patriarchy, religion, etc. It’s not an easy or lighthearted read. I liked so many of the characters in spite of them all being pretty bad people - some of the best characters are power hungry, blood thirsty, and ruthless - and it gets worse from there.
But I’ll be damned if I wasn’t rooting for them!
This book has some very queer elements (both in terms of sexuality and gender) but very much in a way that’s framed by its setting - you won’t be able to neatly cram these characters into 21st century western boxes and labels, though you might be tempted.
Although the bulk of the “adult” content in this book is the violence of war, there’s also one graphic sex scene, FYI. See also the content warnings.
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Animal death, Excrement, Grief, and Outing
The sex scene involvesvaguely_pink's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexism, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Dysphoria
Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Slavery, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic
kers_tin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gore, Torture, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Eating disorder and Dysphoria
andromeda_1998's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Characters
Zhu is a strong character that has come a long way in the journey to find themselves. Eventhough she does some despicable things, you will still find yourself rooting for her. This book has muliple pov’s, and eventhough I liked Ouyangs story less I do think it’s an important pov to have. It transforms Ouyang from a mythical angry general into a hurt and damaged men who’s trying to take revenge for what has been done to his family.
Ma Yingzi is one of the characters I liked less. She is nothing more than the empathetic woman who follows Zhu trough her troubles and I would have loved for her to have more moments where she would show her desires for life.
Worldbuilding
This book is a genderbended retailing of the ascension of Zhu Yuanzhuang, the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. It has fantasy elements, and it has been done beautifully. The story focuses a lot on political games and can be a bit hard to read but in the end it’s worth it.
Writing
The writing is beautifully done. There are some amazing quotes in this book!
Story
Like I said before the story focuses on political games and war themes. It has some big triggerwarnings and the book can be very heavy to read.
Recommendations
If you loved this book I would recommend you the poppy war but also the priory of the orange tree. The poppy war and she who became the sun are closer together but this kind of epic story also fits in very well with the priory of the orange tree
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Classism