Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Celle qui devint le soleil by Shelley Parker-Chan

298 reviews

viktorsboy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

This story was tense, scrappy, poetic, and luscious all at the same time. Incredible queer rep as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, and War

Moderate: Blood, Gore, Sexual content, and Violence

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

heckin_hello's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Body horror, and Blood

bashsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

Sometimes when I hear a bunch of hype for a book, I find that it makes my expectations so high that I can be nothing but disappointed when I read it. Thankfully, She Who Became the Sun well-earned its praise. I was blown away by how immersed in the time and setting it was, as well as the carefully-considered jumps between character perspectives. All of the characters were undeniably bad people... but they were also so easy to understand and sympathize with. And don't even get me started about all the deliciously complicated gender stuff happening for Zhu and Ouyang. I Love This Book, and I can't wait to read the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Xenophobia, Ableism, Violence, War, Homophobia, Transphobia, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Classism, Death, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death, Alcohol, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Excrement and Vomit

teriodvarkova88's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

forget the whole song of achilles crossover with mulan its more like the poppy war - she will do whaever it takes to get what she wants
there is a little bit of romance tho 

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 zhu and ma have my heart<33

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, Torture, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Grief, and War

gabefish's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

Gender fucky ancient Chinese historical figures commiting war crimes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, War, Violence, and Misogyny

Moderate: Homophobia

All misogyny and homophobia is time period specific and at times deeply related to internal character struggles.

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

I really do love books that explore the complexity of human emotions. This book picks at the hangnail of your soul and then pulls. It blurs the line between who you were and who you are and who you will become. It features ghosts, monks, fate, revenge, pining, and there’s gender fuckery afoot; what more could you ask for? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Ableism, Death, War, Violence, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Death of parent, Child death, Classism, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, and Colonisation

Minor: Alcohol and Animal death

cvbattum's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I'm having a hard time collecting my thoughts on this book. On one hand, the writing is quite sublime, but on the other, it didn't quite go the places I was hoping it would go.

The most interesting aspect of the book is how the protagonist deals with their gender, and how this is reflected in the antagonist. There are some insanely good and powerful scenes written about this, which deserve all the praise coming their way and then some. This especially picked up speed toward the end of the second part, and I was totally engrossed by that point, even through a lot of the boring war-politics I didn't care much for.

But then, the final part of the book felt like a sore let-down. After much of the inner conflict in characters got resolved in the second part, in the next part it felt like all of it had been undone and reverted, and some characters lost their entire depth and appeal. It's not that I'm upset that these characters didn't become better people in the end. Not all books are about that and this one certainly isn't either. Some of it definitely has thematic purpose and executes it well. But I didn't feel this makes up for the complete lack of depth by the end.

Despite this, I would recommend this book, even if only for its middle part. There are many compelling explorations that make it worth a shot, and other people than me could maybe see the end in a slightly brighter or more nuanced light :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

At the time of writing this, I have finished both She Who Became the Sun and He Who Drowned the World. I have no intention of spoiling either book in this review; I had just wanted to wait to write this after finishing the duology as I was interested if any of my opinions of the writing and characters would change.

I have heard a lot about this book online. I know it's fairly popular and heralded as a Sapphic masterpiece. It is definitely good, that's for certain. I don't feel like it was too over-hyped, though the Sapphic elements were not what expected. However, I still loved the Sapphic relationship and the dynamics between the two characters. It was interesting to see how they balanced each other.

I really really enjoyed the worldbuilding and characters, both were big strengths for the novel and what drew me in the most. Though sometimes I felt lost in the different cultures portrayed, it wasn't a constant feeling and the writing emphasized the important themes and points that meant that total understanding wasn't entirely necessary.

Zhu's POV was my favorite part of the book. While Ouyang had interesting sections as well, especially as we got to know his character and motivations, I'm a total sucker for "chosen one" tropes and Zhu is very similar to that in the way she chases her fate. Because of this, I definitely felt like there was a bit of an odd balance to the POVs and pacing, in addition to the fact that the book is overall a slow book. But I didn't mind once I got to the end. The end was so perfect to keep readers on their toes and maintain intrigue for the sequel, which is part of the reason I waited to write this: so that I could read the sequel right away!

Reading this actually made me want to reread similar books, like Wesley Chu's The Art of Prophecy and Sue Lynn Tan's Daughter of the Moon Goddess. Anyways, if you're curious about She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan now that the sequel is out, I definitely think it is worth the read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Vomit, Homophobia, Transphobia, Sexism, Violence, War, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Xenophobia, Racism, and Animal death

Minor: Sexual harassment and Religious bigotry

ling_prof's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

mpbookreviews's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Torture, Death of parent, Racism, Murder, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Vomit, War, Death, and Violence