Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Lei che divenne il sole by Shelley Parker-Chan

74 reviews

melliedm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I try to be a bit more eloquent with these reviews, but I really have to be honest:  Holy shit this was good. 

Zhu is a young girl living in poverty in Yuan dynasty China who has a fortune of nothingness. Her brother, Zhu Chongba, has a fortune of greatness. But when he and their father dies, Zhu decides to take his fortune for herself, and his identity. She joins a monastery which in short time is destroyed by the wronged Eunuch general of the Yuan army, Ouyang, which sets them both on the path to their fate. 

For Zhu, that means going to Anfeng and working her way through the complexities and dangers of court politics in an attempt to rise through the ranks and achieve the greatness she has stolen for herself, and encountering surprising (sapphic) love along the way. 

For Ouyang, it means accelerating his plans for vengeance against those who ruined him and slaughtered his family...all the while his complex feelings for his Prince, the son of the man he hates, attempt trouble him. 

The pacing of She Who Became the Sun is incredible, delivering information, drama, and tense action in such a way that I kept finding it hard to put the book down for any length of time. The court drama was enthralling and frequently left me unsure of how things would end up—no plan could be certain when everyone has their own interests to serve, and they wait only for the perfect opportunity to take what they need. 

Both of the main characters, Zhu and Ouyang, are incredibly characterized. Though one is protagonist (Zhu) and one is perhaps the antagonist (Ouyang), it is less that they oppose one another and more that they balance one another, something reinforced many times throughout the book. Even in their identities: Zhu with a female body, but living as a man, and feeling like she is neither; and Ouyang who wants to see himself as a man, but as a eunuch knows the world doesn't share that view, and who internalizes it to a painful level, existing somewhere in between. The story hinges on the push and pull of their sides (not just them individually), and they are incredible foils to one another. The chapters tend to alternate between the two, and I never felt disappointed when we switched, because they always felt like the perfect next step in the narrative. 

Both Zhu and Ouyang are saddled with innumerable flaws and exacting ambitions, and their passion makes it easy to care about what they want even if you disagree with the route they choose to try and get it. Zhu may be the protagonist, and she may have many relatable qualities, but she is not a good person. For some, that may be a problem, but I love when female or genderqueer characters can be human--even if it means they do horrible things along the way. Ouyang, as the antagonist, gets more leeway from us with his actions because we accept his role in the story, but also commits truly terrible acts. Like I said: they exist in balance.

All in all, She Who Became the Sun is an incredible feat of storytelling. I devoured every word, and although the end was incredibly satisfying, I was also left wanting more of whatever Shelley Parker-Chan could deign to give me. I cannot wait for the sequel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Infertility, Slavery, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide

thewitchwhoisabook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Grief, and Toxic friendship

vercopaanir's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Sexism, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Homophobia, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

the_bees_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Ignore the tag that says it is Mulan meets The Song of Achilles, it is darker, more complex and far more compelling than the rather basic comparisons. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Gore, Violence, Murder, Dysphoria, and War

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Misogyny, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Genocide and Colonisation

errie's review against another edition

dark

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

cherrycito's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Misogyny, Sexism, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

jodean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

everyone should read this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Outing, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Excrement and Vomit

georgiaisreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

Such a good story! I was entranced by the world building and vivid imagery depicted. The fleshed out characters which all had their own ambitions and flaws seen in their pov was great! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Genocide, Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Alcohol, and War

chrisljm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book has been marketed so heavily as a fantasy but it’s really not. There are only two fantastical elements and they’re not even that important to the story.

This is a story about fate and how the main character seeks greatness with hers. Although an interesting premise, I didn’t really enjoy how the story was told. It’s like the meme about Zuko’s honor except it’s a billion times worse because all the main character talks about is her fate/greatness, it was incredibly excessive (fate was mentioned 145 times, greatness 50 times). I think the main character started off interesting, but something about the way we see her through other POVs made me so unattached to her, and I really didn’t care if she succeeded or failed.

I think one of the worst things is that she wanted Ma as a way to remind her of empathy and to keep her from becoming like the men she hated, but at the end that’s who she became anyways. And I especially hate how Ma feared a life where all her thoughts, feelings, and wants are ignored, yet in the end she stays with Zhu because she loves her even though she knows that means a life of pain. I don’t find that romantic at all; I think that’s terribly sad and love shouldn’t contain so much suffering. A line in the end from Zhu’s POV says “Zhu’s desire propelling them higher and higher, until there was nothing left above them but the dazzling vault of Heaven. And for Ma every moment of that ascent would be compromise and heartache and the gradual erosion of her belief that there was always a kinder way. . .  I’ll make it worth it, for both of us.” I just don’t see how anything could possibly make that pain worth it.

I think maybe a large part of why I didn’t enjoy the book that much is because my beliefs/the way I see the world is so vastly different from the main characters, and so my disappointment might just be a me problem. 

But also, the story moves so slowly it’s kind of hard to read in large chunks. A lot happens but it doesn’t feel like it, and I don’t want to say it’s boring, but it was hard not to zone out. There are also times where parts of a scene happen off screen? I don’t know if this is just a writing style or what, but it was confusing because instead of reading what happens, I have to infer for myself because the author likes to describe emotions first and events second.

For instance during the scene where Ouyang cuts off Zhu’s hand, they’re fighting and all of a sudden they’re not fighting because something is clearly wrong and then “her fingers clenched around the sword in her lower body”, and then on the next page his sword flashes and there’s an impact and every feeling is described and then you’re told her hand is missing.

I just feel like this book was more frustrating to read than it had to be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Gore, Homophobia, Slavery, and Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy