Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - He Who Drowned the World

Wow. A surprising but also seemingly fateful end to this epic duology. There were several moment in this book that made me audibly gasp in horror at the brutality and gruesomeness of the characters’ actions, but nothing felt out of place or inserted for shock value. The events build on each other until the tension feels almost too much and you are wondering if what you felt was fated to happen this whole time might not actually occur. There were some lulls that felt a bit drawn out but overall I was just as rapt and invested as I was in the first book. It didn’t feel like a second book but rather a natural second part to the first, and the ending was satisfying.

Although the story ending with Zhu on the throne feels inevitable and does not come as a surprise, the path taken and the characters you get to know along the way are richly developed and interesting, which keeps the reading experience interesting and worthwhile.

It didn’t seem to matter that I never truly grasped the movement of the armies or the complete geography—the focus on the characters and their motivations and interactions was engaging on its own and the characters’ intertwined arcs were logical, satisfying, and moving.

Read if you like sweeping political drama and brutal historical fantasy.

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shibh's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

A bittersweet end to the duology. These books look at gender and the human experience of it in a way that has left me feeling exposed and crying. In a good way though.

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wtheriac's review against another edition

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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? No

4.5

An excellent follow up to finish the duology. I loved the story even as this entry focused a lot more on sex-as-politics/power and had a lot of scenes that technically are not consensual sexual encounters according to modern definitions.

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jennda's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Just wow.

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spootilious's review against another edition

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dark reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

Read: December 22, 2023
Title: He Who Drowned the World

Series: The Radiant Emperor #2

Genre: Fantasy / Historical Fiction / LGBT

Rating: 4 / 5
Review:

I occasionally come across a book that I really struggle rating and I was shocked to find that this is one of those books.

I came into He Who Drowned the World with very low expectations. I didn’t care for She Who Became the Sun, for a number of reason listed in my previous review.

However, almost everything that made me dislike She who Became the Sun didn’t make it into the sequel which I am very thankful for. To be honest, I was concerned with the massive amounts of recommendations I received in regard to this series and how many awards She Who Became the Sun has won. I was praying that He Who Drowned the World would make up for what (I felt) was an extremely lacking novel. I was not disappointed.

Parker-Chan is a beautifully talented writer (Which I knew from book 1) and tends to lean towards the very dark and morose. In fact, a bit too dark for my usual taste which may be why I wanted to give this book (He Who Drowned the World) a 3.5 and not a 4. However, Parker-Chan’s ability to write horrific imagery in a such a simplistic and straightforward manner makes the imagery all the more effective. This includes a number of sexually explicit scene, which paints sex as nothing more than a tool, punishment, or means to an end which, while I once again did not like, I can respect. The reader’s response to a story is just as much of a plot device as the sentences on a page. I was appropriately repulsed.

I will also say that I didn’t care much for the lack of morality in ALL the characters in the novel. It left me without a ship to sail and was, perhaps, the main issue that I still hold over from She Who Became the Sun.

All that being said, the fast pace and action-packed plot had me devouring this book, and I could not in good faith rate it lower than 4 simply due to my distaste. (i.e. the 4 star rating is more my personal rating of 3.5 and the acknowledging that some of the reasons it’s a 3.5 is because of my own personal biases against the lack of moral characters, rape, and very dark tones).

Overall, one of the best books I’ve read this year. I will definitely recommend to individuals who love reading Dark Fantasy and Historical Fiction.

QUOTES:

“The most dangerous person in a game is the one nobody knows is playing.”

“Nobody would lift a finger to change the world for us. To make a place for us. What choice did we ever have, but to do it ourselves?”

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samants's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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

4.25

Better than She Who Became the Sun, this book really picked up at around the 20-30% mark. I was struggling for the first part of the book, especially because I didn't remember the plot of She Who Became the Sun very well, but once I got in the groove of things it trotted along nicely.

Take a shot every time you read:

"Hungry ghosts"
"Trotted"
"Behatted"
"Curious"

Also: I think I would have liked this more if the absolute psychological torment undergone by the characters wasn't described so lushly. The prose got a little purple at times, describing people's internal suffering. It was a bit much.

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careliza14's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

4.75/5 stars

An incredible conclusion to this gruesome, heartbreaking story of resilience, determination, and revenge against all odds (especially when the odds are definitely *not* in your favor).

This sequel hit all of the best notes in character development and continuation of the plot. The interpersonal relationships grew significantly and the action scenes where even better (and more gruesome) than the first book. I really enjoyed adding more POVs and really getting into the heads of our main characters.

The "mandate of heaven" was still not super well explained, which I think was probably intentional. Also Shelley did us dirty with the deaths in this one, and I'll leave it at that.

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