Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

86 reviews

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

CW: war, sexual content

I read this book as part of a book club. It was one the club read before I joined but I am playing catch up.
Set in China in the 1300s this was a welcome departure from the Anglo-centric middle ages stories that I typically read based in that time period.

As a girl growing up in the middle of a famine, the main character learns that if you really have the want, you will survive at all costs. It's an exploration of the idea that desire is the root of suffering, and the main character is set up to be one who wants a lot and is thus likely to suffer a lot... there is a lot going on psychologically and philosophically, but I don't think the story gets bogged down by it.

I found myself really excited by some of the cinematic style happenings. An entire army taken out by cleverness and natural forces was a lot more exciting to me than blow by blow battles. I am constantly left under-enthused by battles in general, and this story doesn't make me wade through them unnecessarily. War is ugly.

The relationships in the tale are really nuanced and interesting. Best friends hide secrets from each other, or keep each other's secrets. Rivals respect each other, or feign being dignified. People feel attached to those who have hurt them. It's all a very human dysfunctional mess of trust, betrayal, love, romance, and misplaced presumptions. There's lesbian sex, and homoerotic sexual tension. Love without sex, sex without love. And there's dysphoria and mutilation...

There is a mystical element to the story. It leaves you to wonder about the Fates of the main characters and whose sides the gods are on. I really wanted to love this book more, but it's long and maybe I was just tired.. but I find it hard to root for a main character who is ambitious for its own sake. It's sort of good to have an unconventional main character who gets to be a Boss by sheer savvy and luck.. but I don't get a sense of rooting for an underdog so much as watching someone destroy a whole heap of things and climb a pile of bodies, like military might is the way to get a high score.

I'll be interested to read the second book when it comes out (later this year), and hopefully I might like it more if I take my time to invest in the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Cannibalism, and Lesbophobia

wirt's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, and Alcohol

tjmcharg's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Body horror

luhreen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

this was such an amazing book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Slavery, Murder, Dysphoria, and War

Moderate: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

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

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

rbeccamaec's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Excrement, and Vomit

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

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

leonormsousa's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism