Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

82 reviews

caitlinbutcher's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

I’m honestly speechless. This was one of the most elaborate, sweeping, and epic books I have ever read. 
I was hoping for a little bit more fantasy elements, but with how amazing this book was I honestly didn’t mind at all. 
This book has it all: politics, complex characters, character growth, sapphic romance, mystery, inspiration, beautiful action sequences, and plot twists. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, War, Body shaming, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Murder, Sexual content, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol and Misogyny

Minor: Cursing and Sexual violence

cerilouisereads's review

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Child death, War, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

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

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

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

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, and Vomit

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

antimonium's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Epic historical fantasy. A good read, but dark.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, War, Violence, Murder, Death of parent, Genocide, and Child death

ye_li's review

adventurous dark reflective 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

5.0

It's a very speculative story. Fate, desire—it drives them to the ground. The higher they climb, the longer the fall will be.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, Body horror, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Classism, War, Child abuse, Death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexual content

serena_hien's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, Misogyny, Violence, War, Ableism, Alcohol, Murder, Classism, Dysphoria, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body horror and Torture

Minor: Child death

nebulasaurus's review

adventurous dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, and Violence

katebird's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, Murder, Violence, Sexual content, and Body horror

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Suicide