Reviews tagging 'Gore'

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

132 reviews

readingelli's review

adventurous medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexism, Violence, and War

Moderate: Sexual content

shaipanda's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was so well done but took me such a long time to read for some reason
Anyways overall I really really enjoyed it and I wanna reread it all in one go when it doesn’t take me 10 months to read it lol 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Sexual content

offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective slow-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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Murder, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Animal death, Gore, Slavery, and Excrement

meg_'s review

challenging dark slow-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

3.0

I have complicated feelings about this book. I do think the overall story is well crafted, but ultimately it felt like there was so much going on at all times it was hard to track what was important and what was not. And I also really struggled with feeling connected to our main characters and their motivations. The only character who I really liked was Ma and she was only present for a very limited portion. 

Overall, I don't think this was bad, I just don't think it is a book for me. I'm starting to realize that maybe I am just too dumb for high fantasy. Maybe it is just not meant for me and that is totally chill. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexism, Sexual content, War, and Injury/Injury detail

yvonne_cl's review

adventurous dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, and Sexual content

bookspaperink's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Slavery, Excrement, Vomit, and Alcohol

ankonyx's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Sexism, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Sexual content

handful_of_frogs's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

andromeda_1998's review

challenging dark 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

4.0

She who became the sun is an epic novel about Zhu’s journey towards greatness. Eventhough the endpoint of the duology is clear, the writer was able to make this book unpredictable. The writing is impeccable and this book is a really good recommendation for lovers of the poppy war. What is it that makes this book so great? 

Characters 
Zhu is a strong character that has come a long way in the journey to find themselves. Eventhough she does some despicable things, you will still find yourself rooting for her. This book has muliple pov’s, and eventhough I liked Ouyangs story less I do think it’s an important pov to have. It transforms Ouyang from a mythical angry general into a hurt and damaged men who’s trying to take revenge for what has been done to his family. 

Ma Yingzi is one of the characters I liked less. She is nothing more than the empathetic woman who follows Zhu trough her troubles and I would have loved for her to have more moments where she would show her desires for life. 

Worldbuilding 
This book is a genderbended retailing of the ascension of Zhu Yuanzhuang, the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. It has fantasy elements, and it has been done beautifully.  The story focuses a lot on political games and can be a bit hard to read but in the end it’s worth it. 

Writing 
The writing is beautifully done. There are some amazing quotes in this book! 

Story
Like I said before the story focuses on political games and war themes. It has some big triggerwarnings and the book can be very heavy to read. 

Recommendations 
If you loved this book I would recommend you the poppy war but also the priory of the orange tree. The poppy war and she who became the sun are closer together but this kind of epic story also fits in very well with the priory of the orange tree 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Classism

zombiezami's review against another edition

emotional tense

• 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

3.75

While I enjoyed the characters and the ways that the author explored gender expressions and identities in this book, the plot lost me several times. I'm learning it's hard for me to pay attention to narratives that revolve around war. I feel like I would have liked this more as a television show or movie. Some aspects were hard to visualize for me. Not sure if I'll read the sequel. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Vomit, and Alcohol

Minor: Fire/Fire injury