Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

152 reviews

o_mcg318's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Body horror, War, Dysphoria, Murder, Colonisation, and Death

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Excrement, Blood, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Animal death, Ableism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Sexual content, Vomit, Sexism, Grief, Dysphoria, and Child abuse

Minor: Medical content, Sexual violence, Body shaming, and Slavery

lonny05's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Body horror, and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexism, War, and Child death

stormeno's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, War, and Death of parent

Moderate: Dysphoria, Sexual content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Classism

hollowhallow13's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Grief, Death, Ableism, and Animal death

leanne_miron's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Dysphoria, Ableism, Toxic friendship, Grief, and Sexual content

heather_harrison's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

 “Desire is the cause of all suffering. All Zhu had ever desired was to live. Now she felt the pure strength of that desire inside her, as inseparable as her breath or qi, and knew she would suffer from it. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the awful magnitude of the suffering that would be required to achieve greatness in the chaotic, violent world outside.” 

It's Mulan vibes but with more violence, war and treachery, with an element of fantasy. BUT... also a really interesting exploration of destiny, gender identity and gender fluidity. How refreshing to have complex gender-queer relationships in historical fantasy! The prose is great and even the (spicy) scenes are beautifully written. 

I did go into this relatively blind, and didn't know that it reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Parker-Chan takes great effort to build the world, and it does feel deeply rooted in history with many examples of grim reality. 

We meet a young girl, a peasant of the famine-stricken Central Plains of China, who was fated for nothing (literally).  She adopts her brother's identity after he tragically dies, as he was fated for greatness. She decides to take his name, identity and in turn, his greatness, to survive for herself. 

Our main character definitely leans more towards to the anti-hero, and will do anything to survive.

There is a lot of confusion with the pronouns for Zhu's character - as they seem to switch between she/her and he/him depending on the situation. For clarity, I'm going to refer to Zhu as they/them. They are resilient and cunning and you can't help but be enamored. I absolutely adored the part one of this novel - as it centred around Zhu’s survival

and their time in becoming a monk whilst hiding their gender.

. Part two takes an unexpected turn, as we are introduced to our secondary POV - Ouyang, on the opposing side of the the war taking place.

Ouyang is a eunuch and general in the Mongol army, who also happened be enslaved by the Mongols after his entire family were slaughtered by their army. He also happens to have fallen for the Esen, the prince and son of the leader of the Mongols. When his intentions for revenge are first hinted at - I got so excited but I felt this did let me down a little.

I definitely enjoyed Zhu's perspective more and wouldn't have minded just having the story follow her but it wasn't a deal breaker. 

As the narrative progresses, Zhu and Ouyang’s fate become entwined. 

The pacing was a bit uneven, and I did find it a bit of a slog until I reached the final part of the story, that I did feel like a 'missed' parts of this because some seemingly important things are just skimmed over. To make matters worse, a lot of the important parts of the story take place 'off page' so we don't even get to see them. 

I do feel that Parker-Chan does a very good job at not portraying either the Mongols or the Red Turbans as inherently good or bad. There are no morally superior war heroes in this tale, only survival. I am looking forward to the second book being released this year, and closing off the duology. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, War, Dysphoria, Ableism, and Homophobia

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Child death

TW: extreme hunger/starvation, Graphic depiction of a person burning to death

bibliomania_express's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic friendship, Grief, Genocide, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Torture, Racism, Gore, Xenophobia, War, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Sexism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Death, Child death, Body horror, Blood, and Ableism

tbd24's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual violence, War, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, Slavery, and Violence

braveprincess11's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I went into this book with no knowledge and no expectations - and it absolutely blew me away. To think that this is a DEBUT novel… Shelley Parker-Chan is a literary genius.

At the end of the first chapter, I still didn’t quite understand what I was in for, but by the end of Part 1, I was HOOKED. 

Their ability to write such unique and compelling characters who experience gender, desire, and ambition in such similar and yet opposing ways, all while working in the confines of an extremely patriarchal society… 

I’m desperate for the next book already

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Racism and Ableism

Minor: Colonisation