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mycarefulcardinal's review against another edition
3.5
i really liked ouyang's side of the story, him and esen ... ouch. the characters are all complicated and flawed and i like how all of them connect (ouyang and zhu, ouyang and lord wang, like knows like). i do unfortunately have mixed feelings about zhu's side though.. i liked her story in the beginning but by the end i didn't really believe or quite understand her motivations. i also don't know how i feel about some of the ... explorations of gender ig? it veered a bit into bioessentialist territory imo.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Misogyny, Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
klbreyfogle's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I enjoyed it and am going to read the second one! The characters are super morally grey, which can be frustrating when you want to root for them and they do something awful, but it also makes them really interesting to think about! I enjoyed both main characters - I have a little more sympathy for Ouyang’s moral greyness because of his traumatic past but I think I have too much Ma in me to get on board with everything Zhu does. Lots of compelling queerness, which I deeply enjoy! Plenty of action, also lots of politics. Clearly inspired by c-dramas, so if you like those you’ll probably like this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death and Slavery
adoto's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
5.0
You know a book is good when you marvel at how well every single aspect of it was carried out and think "I could never do this" like this gave me the same feeling that Percy Jackson did.... absolutely legendary
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Blood, Dysphoria, and War
saltyseakitten's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
chrisb913's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was everything I was expecting and more.
From page one I was hooked and could not stop turning the page. I absolutely loved the darker tones in this book. I couldn't help cheering on the main characters even though I wasn't sure if they were the hero or the villain.
I also really loved the way Shelley also talked about the social construct surrounding gender not only with Zhu but also Ouyang.
I will definitely be picking up book 2 and looking into future works by this author.
From page one I was hooked and could not stop turning the page. I absolutely loved the darker tones in this book. I couldn't help cheering on the main characters even though I wasn't sure if they were the hero or the villain.
I also really loved the way Shelley also talked about the social construct surrounding gender not only with Zhu but also Ouyang.
I will definitely be picking up book 2 and looking into future works by this author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, and War
Moderate: Child death and Sexual content
Minor: Animal death, Slavery, and Death of parent
bookworm513's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Genocide, Slavery, Grief, Dysphoria, and Classism
Minor: Cannibalism
hello_lovely13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Slavery, Suicide, and Cannibalism
amberreadsgood's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
There seems to be a slight divide of readers on whether they were more interested in the first half of the book and then feeling it dragged on the second half, or the other way around. For me, I was the latter; I found it hard to get invested at the beginning of the book. The world building felt a little too much like a history book, and I struggle to hold those sorts of facts in my brain. I started to enjoy the book more when we move past all of that and Zhu begins to truly chase the fate she wants. She is an interesting character as she is growing up in the monastery, for sure, but I think we really start to understand and know her and she learns herself who she is and what she wants, and the extent she will go to to get what she wants, after she leaves it.
While I did feel compelled by Zhu's character and her ambitions, I also found her oddly emotionally detached for someone who wants so much. By comparison, all the supporting characters felt extremely emotional - which is not a bad thing, in fact I think it was probably necessary given how Zhu was written. She is not meant to be portrayed as a "good" person; she knows she is not, and she is not trying to be, or saying that she is better than anyone else. She identifies what she needs to do to survive, and then thrive, and then pursues it with her whole heart. I think what's better than writing a character that is (morally) good is writing one that is understood. Besides the emotional detachedness (which I think I will chalk up to an adolescence spent in the monastery, in which they practice detachedness from the material world, etc), I completely got why she did/said the things she did, the conclusions she came to even if it hurt the people she loved, and what drove her.
This reminded me a lot of The Poppy Wars, but on a much less horrifying level. Terrible things still happen and awful choices have to be made - war is war, after all - but it's not as frighteningly descriptive. If you had trouble reading The Poppy Wars for the graphic depictions of war and war crimes, but still want to read something like it, you might do better with this. The depictions of war are matter-of-fact and vaguely described rather than going into extreme detail. This book is also labelled as fantasy however, and I didn't find the fantasy element particularly strong in my opinion. It portrays the idea of fate as something somewhat tangible, proof of the right to rule that you can see with your own eyes. But that is about the extent of it, in this book at least. I think maybe "light supernatural" would have been a better genre tag for She Who Became the Sun, personally.
The queer rep in this book was nice, and done in a way that I didn't think was inauthentic. Zhu and Ma were surprisingly sweet at times, I enjoyed their banter and general interactions, and I could see why they would be drawn to each other as they were. I think their chemistry could have definitely been stronger somehow, but I don't believe that they were chemistry-less either. Also, since everyone is bringing it up as a dislike, I'll weigh in and say I had no issues withthe fisting scene. It was kinda random, sure, but Ma was pretty obviously into it. Zhu made sure she was okay and wanted to keep going, Ma gave her consent clearly and had what seemed like multiple orgasms from it, like what's ya problem?? On the other side of the spectrum, Ouyang and Esen were classic historical tragedy boyfriends. There was a lot of complexity and trauma around them, I'm not surprised or mad it went the way it did. I'm interested in how both Ouyang and Ma will develop in the second book after the events of this one.
While I did feel compelled by Zhu's character and her ambitions, I also found her oddly emotionally detached for someone who wants so much. By comparison, all the supporting characters felt extremely emotional - which is not a bad thing, in fact I think it was probably necessary given how Zhu was written. She is not meant to be portrayed as a "good" person; she knows she is not, and she is not trying to be, or saying that she is better than anyone else. She identifies what she needs to do to survive, and then thrive, and then pursues it with her whole heart. I think what's better than writing a character that is (morally) good is writing one that is understood. Besides the emotional detachedness (which I think I will chalk up to an adolescence spent in the monastery, in which they practice detachedness from the material world, etc), I completely got why she did/said the things she did, the conclusions she came to even if it hurt the people she loved, and what drove her.
This reminded me a lot of The Poppy Wars, but on a much less horrifying level. Terrible things still happen and awful choices have to be made - war is war, after all - but it's not as frighteningly descriptive. If you had trouble reading The Poppy Wars for the graphic depictions of war and war crimes, but still want to read something like it, you might do better with this. The depictions of war are matter-of-fact and vaguely described rather than going into extreme detail. This book is also labelled as fantasy however, and I didn't find the fantasy element particularly strong in my opinion. It portrays the idea of fate as something somewhat tangible, proof of the right to rule that you can see with your own eyes. But that is about the extent of it, in this book at least. I think maybe "light supernatural" would have been a better genre tag for She Who Became the Sun, personally.
The queer rep in this book was nice, and done in a way that I didn't think was inauthentic. Zhu and Ma were surprisingly sweet at times, I enjoyed their banter and general interactions, and I could see why they would be drawn to each other as they were. I think their chemistry could have definitely been stronger somehow, but I don't believe that they were chemistry-less either. Also, since everyone is bringing it up as a dislike, I'll weigh in and say I had no issues with
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Minor: Child death and Torture
sonovahades's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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? Yes
5.0
This was incredible. I enjoyed every second of it. I don't even know what to say. The MC was something else. The raw need for survival... I've never seen anything like that. They won't stop at anything to get what they want.... It's beautiful. I also feel like the other characters were realistic, although ofc i can't say i know anything about all the themes we see in that book. I am very impressed by this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content and Murder
Minor: Slavery
elliya's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This had so many elements that I loved, but I have so much trouble with unlikeable protagonists. And here I am racing into the next book of the series, so 🤷🏻 Good audiobook narration, but the pacing was very slow at times for me — a little bogged down in military strategy and 1300s warfare tactics. But I do appreciate being exposed to historical information (in this case, a re-imagining of the transition into the Ming dynasty) through novels :)
Also this book has a sapphic relationship which gets nearly zero page time — except for a full-on FISTING SCENE that occupies half of the couple’s overall page time??? Honestly though it was tender and I was not mad.
Also this book has a sapphic relationship which gets nearly zero page time — except for a full-on FISTING SCENE that occupies half of the couple’s overall page time??? Honestly though it was tender and I was not mad.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Violence, Murder, and War
Moderate: Slavery and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity