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4.3 AVERAGE
4.3 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i think 3.5. the writing is more confident than the first book & i enjoyed seeing the author really go for what they wanted; there's some very strong stuff in here () and i generally had a good time reading this.
as is almost always the case in long series-enders i think the book is weaker towards the end e.g. the ending wasn't really satisying to me either but i think that's just my taste
regardless! it was a pretty good read & i am looking forward to what the author does next
Spoiler
the chen fight and a lot of the part 1/2 baoxiang scenes are my highlightsas is almost always the case in long series-enders i think the book is weaker towards the end e.g.
Spoiler
i didn't really like the way that ma and madam zhang diminished a little in those sections... i wouldn't call either of them weak characters but ma isn't present for a lot of this book so seeing her step into the role of being the soft and kind woman who can soften the khan's darkness felt bad!! i think this might have been the intent since a lot of this is the khan's own projected feelings i just kind of wish she had been In the book more. + losing zhang's POV makes her feel too distanced and doesn't allow for seeing her dissatisfaction the same way that the khan's is glimpsed. this one too i can see the moves made to mitigate it i just don't think it works.regardless! it was a pretty good read & i am looking forward to what the author does next
i really liked how this book showed how even people who make wrong choice after wrong choice are people you can empathize with. characters i hated i also cared about. very interesting book
Hands down the best series I've read this year. I'm so sad it's over. After She Who Became the Sun, I thought Shelley's sequel couldn't possibly live up to the first book, but boy was I wrong.
Sometimes you feel such proximity to a character that when you stop reading, you feel hollow. How can someone else, someone who isn't even actually real, feel so much like myself? It hurts to read yourself on the page and yet you feel seen. The ordeal of being known truly is mortifying (and that feeling is also one shared by the characters of this book)
Sometimes you feel such proximity to a character that when you stop reading, you feel hollow. How can someone else, someone who isn't even actually real, feel so much like myself? It hurts to read yourself on the page and yet you feel seen. The ordeal of being known truly is mortifying (and that feeling is also one shared by the characters of this book)
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The rare case where the second book is better than the first!
He Who Drowned the World is everything I loved about She Who Became the Sun, but with an even deeper exploration of gender and great new perspectives. What stood out to me the most is that, even though it delves into femininity in 14th-century China, we can still recognize the roots of those behaviors in the present day. We see gender non-conformance, someone wielding femininity as both weapon and shield (because even nowadays, it’s often overlooked), someone who despises a part of themselves due to how others perceive it, and even a woman who holds power only over other women—and exercises it tyrannically, becoming the villain in their stories.
I feel like Ma Xiuying is the one who sees the relationship between gender and power most clearly. And isn’t that another brilliant point of reflection? The woman who abstains from the pursuit of power is the one who understands it most deeply. What a queen! Still, I was heartbroken over Ouyang's story and had a lot of fun(? not sure that's the exact word, perhaps a sense of OMG he's pulling all the strings) following Wang Baoxiang's plots. I feel like their tragedy is that, as opposed to Ma Xiuying, they don't have a full understanding and acceptance of themselves and, therefore, can't live full lives.
All in all, my main critique of the first book was its occasionally inconsistent pacing, and I think that’s largely fixed here. That said, a few middle chapters could still have moved along a bit faster. But I’d absolutely recommend this to any and all fans of gender/history nerds like myself.
He Who Drowned the World is everything I loved about She Who Became the Sun, but with an even deeper exploration of gender and great new perspectives. What stood out to me the most is that, even though it delves into femininity in 14th-century China, we can still recognize the roots of those behaviors in the present day. We see gender non-conformance, someone wielding femininity as both weapon and shield (because even nowadays, it’s often overlooked), someone who despises a part of themselves due to how others perceive it, and even a woman who holds power only over other women—and exercises it tyrannically, becoming the villain in their stories.
I feel like Ma Xiuying is the one who sees the relationship between gender and power most clearly. And isn’t that another brilliant point of reflection? The woman who abstains from the pursuit of power is the one who understands it most deeply. What a queen! Still, I was heartbroken over Ouyang's story and had a lot of fun(? not sure that's the exact word, perhaps a sense of OMG he's pulling all the strings) following Wang Baoxiang's plots. I feel like their tragedy is that, as opposed to Ma Xiuying, they don't have a full understanding and acceptance of themselves and, therefore, can't live full lives.
All in all, my main critique of the first book was its occasionally inconsistent pacing, and I think that’s largely fixed here. That said, a few middle chapters could still have moved along a bit faster. But I’d absolutely recommend this to any and all fans of gender/history nerds like myself.
medium-paced
What a ride! Loved both books. They are different in a good way and well written. Very dark though. They're about the good and ugly (ok, mostly ugly) in people (take note of the TW!) and how far people are willing to go for what they want.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated