Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - She Who Became the Sun

Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

70 reviews

readwithria's review

adventurous dark sad tense

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

3.0

She Who Became the Sun was a slow, steady journey from nothing to greatness. Here's the problem with that: greatness as a desire doesn't really lead to a strong plot.

Okay, so here's the thing, character stories are not my jam. Slow pacing is not my favorite. Stories baked in religion are my least favorite thing in the world. She Who Became the Sun is all of those things. That makes it a book that is obviously not aimed at me as its primary audience of choice. None of those are things that make the book objectively bad, they're just things I don't like.

What I did find interesting was the exploration of gender, and Ma. Ma is great, she deserves the world, and she's too good for Zhu.

All in all, not my cup of tea. If I read the sequel it will be either for book club or because I've heard it's better than the first book. 3 stars.

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aellwy's review

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adventurous challenging inspiring 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? Yes

3.75

I was initially very excited about the premise of this book and hooked by the beautiful writing at the beginning. How we meet and come to know the desires of our main character, Zhu, is a masterclass. My main issue with the book is the middle. The beginning and end are deftly composed and tug at the reader's humanity. However, there was a point in the middle that it began to feel like a chore to read. I am not sure if it was a me issue or an issue with the storytelling. So please, give this book a shot. The payout at the end was so very worth it. I am glad I listened to a dear friend and stuck with it.

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julesxyz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

this book had me hooked from the first page, it’s now my favorite istg this book is liquid gold to my eyes

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samugranjo's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.5

The focus of this book is desire, this desire obtains different shapes but usually there's a pursue of power involved. The author wrote about humans relationship with desire incredibly.
The characters are lovable at times but with most of them you are gonna feel annoyed too, feel like they have went too far. You both understand them and want to stop them.
The way the author writes about gender is outstanding, I was surprised by how much I related to this book as a genderqueer person. There's also some representation in the ace spectrum that I think was done well considering how little space it had.
Overall really recommend this read, and have to end this review by praising the writing in this novel.

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mafii's review

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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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I can’t believe how long it took me to read this book considering how much I love it. It has two POV characters who are in order the best and the worst person you’ll ever meet while also being parallels and character foils for each other. I’m still feeling so unhinged over them.

There’s Zhu, who is the *main* main protagonist that the book is named after. First of all, she has so much Gender stuff going on and would totally ID as NB if she subscribed to modern western labels. Alas it is 14th century China and she does not. The author did say they can’t comfortably describe her as a lesbian because of that though.

All I knew about her going in is that she has a fisting scene with another woman. However her main trait is that she’s absolutely ruthless. When you read the book you may think that she’s a normal amount of girlboss (NBboss?) ruthless but then you get to the end and think “holy shit she’s ruthless.” Commits crimes that some people including her own lover would consider irredeemable and she slays for it.

And of course the other POV, the Eunuch General Ouyang….my beloved. He is so bitter and pathetic and full of hate. I am enamored by whatever the hell is wrong with him. He is in love with his boy best friend and also fucking hates him. He is repressed and misogynistic and majorly dysphoric over being the most beautiful man alive. He longs to be understood but also wants to kill anyone who tries to understand him. He is the designer of his own tragedy and would gouge his own eyes out before doing anything that would make his own life remotely better. Ultimate meow-meow material. <3

The two protagonists are on opposite sides of a war being waged between the Mongols and the rebelling Nanren people. One side hates bureaucracy and the few people willing to dedicate themselves to it so much that their entire empire is one assassination away from being in complete shambles. The other side is headed by people who betray and backstab their own leaders faster than they can replace them, also leading one to wonder how they continue to function. Both characters use this situation to facilitate their rise to power within the ranks, and as someone who lives for intrigue and corruption, it is entirely my thing.

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caitlinbutcher's review

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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.

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