Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

115 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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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

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

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.

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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

kharlan3's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Outing, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Minor: Excrement and Vomit

k_aro's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-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

4.0

Very very good historical fiction/fantasy. I really like the way the book handles gender, the separation of the sexes, and the mirrors that exist within that kind of space.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Child death, Outing, and Abandonment

Minor: Ableism and Animal death

Many questions around these content warnings exist because it's a historical fiction book that pretty violently diverges from real life. Is it transphobia if he's a eunuch?

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

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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

literatehedgehog's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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

4.0

Magical realism historical military drama... That's sort of a genre, right? But who needs to fit into categories anyway?! 
Take the complex conniving of Shogun (with maybe a pinch of the Godfather?), and the military plotting of Ender's Game, and a gloriously queer adult kind of Mulan, and you might get a taste of this sweeping epic. 
I wouldn't have minded a character list with the map, but I eventually turned the pages so fast I couldn't forget who was who. If you have to pick up and put down this 400 pager often, it may be harder to keep track of who is where and how they last betrayed that other person. 

I'm curious about the second book in this duology, but nervous it will be more court intrigue and sexualized power posturing...

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

jlchabotte's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Gore, Racism, Slavery, Outing, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Animal death and Infertility

leannanecdote's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Slavery

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

I really enjoyed the way Shelley Parker-Chan builds characters who are not necessarily sympathetic, in that they're willing to do terrible things to survive, yet familiarizes them in such a way that readers find ourselves rooting for them. I also really enjoyed watching Zhu's journey with gender, and her shift through the identities she embodies. I was invested in this book from start to finish.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Misogyny and Medical content

Minor: Pedophilia