Reviews with content warning for Murder - She Who Became the Sun

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

338 reviews

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.

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kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

Turns out political intrigue is interesting when it’s not white people in castles!!! should’ve known

what can I say about this: deliciously ruthless, so many characters to love and hate and root for anyway, SAPPHICS!!!!, ~gender~…

that “support women’s rights and women’s wrongs” meme was made with this book in mind. incredibly fun and so hard to put down, sorry to the author for waiting this long. buying the next one asap 🫡

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dianlyyaliz's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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madscientistcat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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klbreyfogle's review against another edition

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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.

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saltyseakitten's review against another edition

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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

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mariebrunelm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense slow-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? No

4.5

Une fille grandit dans la poussière d’une terre desséchée auprès d’un père négligent et d’un frère destiné à la grandeur. Lorsque ce dernier meurt avant d’avoir accompli son destin, elle décide que c’est elle qui touchera la grandeur. Elle vole le nom de son frère et se met en route vers la première étape de son destin : le monastère interdit aux femmes.

Il souffle un vent épique sur ce roman de fantasy historique. J’ai bien apprécié la courte introduction éclairant le contexte historique dans lequel se déroule l’intrigue. Sans noyer le lectorat dans les informations, elle donne des repères bienvenus.

A mon sens, le plus grand succès de ce livre, c’est son personnage principal et toute sa complexité. Alors qu’elle n’est même pas nommée au début de l’histoire, Zhu s’impose assez rapidement comme une figure magnétique, dont la volonté inébranlable semble pouvoir déplacer des montagnes. Pourtant, rien n’est aisé. Son parcours est fascinant à suivre et m’a fait tourner les pages à toute vitesse. J’avoue avoir été moins captivée par les autres points de vue, même si j’ai aimé la nuance qu’ils apportaient. Le fait est que la dimension géopolitique du texte et ses nombreux personnages m’ont perdue. J’ai suivi les grandes lignes de l’intrigue, mais au bout d’un tiers du livre je ne savais plus quel personnage secondaire était qui et où allait son allégeance. J’ai pourtant continué, charmée par le personnage de Zhu. La fin, un peu rapide à mon goût, est clairement écrite pour donner envie de lire la suite de cette duologie. Je ne suis pas sûre de poursuivre car les machinations ne vont que se compliquer, mais je recommande chaudement ce roman aux amateurices de fantasy ou de fiction historique qui ne reculent pas devant la multiplicité des personnages.

Rep : personnage principal non-binaire, relation sapphique.

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