Scan barcode
megafish's review against another edition
adventurous
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
4.5
I absolutely loved how the characters are ambiguous, imprisoned in their own grey morality and overcome by fate or, sometimes, having to break through fate
This novel is historical fantasy, so while it follows historical events, it takes liberties with everything, down to changing genders or identities. I personally did not mind this because I knew it going in and I have to be honest - I don't know all that much about Mongol and Nanren history in the first place. There are a couple of plot points that at first I felt were out of place, a little "convenient" but for me it all made sense in the end. The beginning started out a little mediocre to me, but the rest of the novel is just so well paced and interesting that thinking back to it it just was the way that this had to be set up. Ultimately, it is a story about fate.
There are very low fantasy elements in this, all connected to Chinese history and believes. It is a brutal book taking place in war times, so beware of that if you want to read this.
This novel is historical fantasy, so while it follows historical events, it takes liberties with everything, down to changing genders or identities. I personally did not mind this because I knew it going in and I have to be honest - I don't know all that much about Mongol and Nanren history in the first place. There are a couple of plot points that at first I felt were out of place, a little "convenient" but for me it all made sense in the end. The beginning started out a little mediocre to me, but the rest of the novel is just so well paced and interesting that thinking back to it it just was the way that this had to be set up. Ultimately, it is a story about fate.
There are very low fantasy elements in this, all connected to Chinese history and believes. It is a brutal book taking place in war times, so beware of that if you want to read this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Violence, Excrement, and Grief
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
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
5.0
SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN is a queer reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, featuring a female monk (disguised) whose fate is intertwined with an eunuch who commands an army. It explores destiny, longing, and the weight of expectations which are often inextricable from gender, but also the adaptability of those who side-step that binary by choice, inclination, birth, or trauma. It’s subtle, nuanced, and occasionally blunt in just the right places to make sure the theme is unmistakable.
The characters are vibrant and the politics are intricate without being overwhelming. Part of what keeps that balance is that different characters will think about the same events differently, providing for natural refreshers of what's happened and what's important, but without reusing descriptions. The rotation between Zhu, Ouyang, and (eventually) Ma is occasionally broken by brief sections following secondary or minor characters. Each change in perspective brings something to the scene that a different narrator wouldn't have noticed, or, occasionally, is used to make a revelation more poignant when shown through someone who doesn't initially understand what they're seeing (there's a particular reunion which uses this to great advantage). This has discussions of power, position, sacrifice, and cost, along with who pays what prices for which power. It frequently takes note of which language is being spoken, and how the character feels about switching from one language to another, particularly but not only when Ouyang is narrating. It creates these little moments where the language spoken in the room changes the feeling of the moment and affects how the other characters react. It's a small detail, but one I really like. The approach to depicting the horrors of war is very deft, it tends to focus on the emotional impact of whatever violence or death occurred rather than gory descriptions of the event itself.
I love this and I want more. The ending is satisfying, poised on the eve of the next step for certain events. This definitely feels like phase one of a much larger story, and I'm ready for the next one.
The characters are vibrant and the politics are intricate without being overwhelming. Part of what keeps that balance is that different characters will think about the same events differently, providing for natural refreshers of what's happened and what's important, but without reusing descriptions. The rotation between Zhu, Ouyang, and (eventually) Ma is occasionally broken by brief sections following secondary or minor characters. Each change in perspective brings something to the scene that a different narrator wouldn't have noticed, or, occasionally, is used to make a revelation more poignant when shown through someone who doesn't initially understand what they're seeing (there's a particular reunion which uses this to great advantage). This has discussions of power, position, sacrifice, and cost, along with who pays what prices for which power. It frequently takes note of which language is being spoken, and how the character feels about switching from one language to another, particularly but not only when Ouyang is narrating. It creates these little moments where the language spoken in the room changes the feeling of the moment and affects how the other characters react. It's a small detail, but one I really like. The approach to depicting the horrors of war is very deft, it tends to focus on the emotional impact of whatever violence or death occurred rather than gory descriptions of the event itself.
I love this and I want more. The ending is satisfying, poised on the eve of the next step for certain events. This definitely feels like phase one of a much larger story, and I'm ready for the next one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Sexual content
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Homophobia
CW for dysphoria, dysmorphia, plague, starvation.liteartha's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
3.5
desperate to escape her destiny of nothing, zhu assumes her brother's identity upon his untimely death, setting herself unwaveringly on the path to greatness once foretold to him
it's a deeply queer alternate historical fantasy featuring characters so entirely consumed by ambition and desire that i've rarely seen the likes of them. dark and brutal, thick with strategic and political machinations, complex relationships, ghosts, yearning, and betrayal, she who became the sun is an epic take on the costs of pursuing destiny and personal convictions no matter what it takes
a note on it being pitched as mulan meets the song of achilles: while i can see where it's coming from with both comparisons, i think they do a disservice to the book and don't really capture its essence, especially where tsoa is concerned. there's extremely little room for or time spent on romance, so don't expect that. as for the mulan tie: zhu is afab and does claim the destiny of another in taking on a male identity, but she does this for entirely self-serving reasons and grapples with gender in ways very different (and much more interesting, imo) from mulan
i will also quickly mention that something felt missing in the connective tissue of this book for me, leaving me feeling a little unmoored from the emotional and strategic core of the plot. some sequences just felt hard to follow and i failed to connect as much as it seems to me other reviewers have done. maybe this was a me problem and maybe it's something that had everything to do with the timing with which i read this book, but it's something i'll be curious to reexamine as i continue on with the series (which i'm very keen to do)
it's a deeply queer alternate historical fantasy featuring characters so entirely consumed by ambition and desire that i've rarely seen the likes of them. dark and brutal, thick with strategic and political machinations, complex relationships, ghosts, yearning, and betrayal, she who became the sun is an epic take on the costs of pursuing destiny and personal convictions no matter what it takes
a note on it being pitched as mulan meets the song of achilles: while i can see where it's coming from with both comparisons, i think they do a disservice to the book and don't really capture its essence, especially where tsoa is concerned. there's extremely little room for or time spent on romance, so don't expect that. as for the mulan tie: zhu is afab and does claim the destiny of another in taking on a male identity, but she does this for entirely self-serving reasons and grapples with gender in ways very different (and much more interesting, imo) from mulan
i will also quickly mention that something felt missing in the connective tissue of this book for me, leaving me feeling a little unmoored from the emotional and strategic core of the plot. some sequences just felt hard to follow and i failed to connect as much as it seems to me other reviewers have done. maybe this was a me problem and maybe it's something that had everything to do with the timing with which i read this book, but it's something i'll be curious to reexamine as i continue on with the series (which i'm very keen to do)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Transphobia
ceilidhwilliams's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
meltingpages's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
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? Yes
4.5
First, I would like to point out that although this is labeled as a fantasy, the fantasy elements are very minimal. That did kind of impact my enjoyment of the book because I thought I was going into a book that was more focused on the fantasy aspects in a historical setting, especially seeing as it was compared to Mulan and The Song of Achilles. I would say this is definitely more historical fiction than anything else, so don’t go into this expecting an epic high fantasy. In fact, Shelley Parker-Chan has a great page on her website that explores the inspiration behind the characters for this book. If you don’t want to be spoiled for some of the events in the book, I would wait until after reading to check the website although there are definitely things that happen outside of those descriptions!
Even though I had completely different expectations, I definitely did enjoy reading this book! It reimagines the rise of the Ming Dynasty in 14th century China, specifically the future emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Once I realized that this wasn’t just a book set in the past but actually inspired by historical events, I did a LOT of googling to look things up.
This story follows two main characters: Zhu Chongba (inspired by Zhu Yuanzhang), who at the beginning of the story seizes the identity and fate of her brother for herself, and the eunuch general of the current Mongol rulers, Ouyang. These two characters were just so real and raw, and their drive to survive and reach their fates was so great to read about. We also end up following a few additional side characters, Ma who is Zhu’s whife, and Esen and Wang Baoxiang who are the sons of the Prince of Henan.
Gender identity plays a HUGE role in this novel as well, with Zhu taking the identity of a man (although she is still referred to in her inner monologues as she/her and by those who don’t know her as he/him), Ouyang is a eunuch who appears as gender nonconforming while simultaneously despising femininity, both his own and that of those around him. Ma also struggles with her gender, especially with the way that women in this time period are meant to be quiet and subservient which is not what she wants to be, until Zhu shows her that she can choose her own destiny.
The writing is nothing short of amazing. Parker-Chan explores the emotions of these characters in such a way that makes you really feel for these characters, even if you don’t always know what their goal is or agree with their actions. You can also tell just how much this book means to Parker-Chan and how much love and attention went into writing this book, and it really paid off.
There are also a bunch of trigger warnings that apply to this book that were provided by the author:
- Dysphoria
- Pre-existing non-consensual castration
- Misgendering
- Internalized homophobia
- Life-altering injury (amputation)
- Ableist language
- Non-graphic depictions of death by torture
- Major character death
- Offscreen murder of a child
- Scenes depicting extreme hunger/starvation
- Graphic depiction of a person burning to death
This is the first in a duology, so I’m definitely looking forward to the next book and seeing how things end for these characters. Ultimately, I really enjoyed this book despite the fact that I was expecting a completely different book. Definitely worth the read. so make sure you check it out on it’s release date July 20th!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Torture, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Child death
Dysphoria Pre-existing non-consensual castration Misgendering Internalized homophobia Life-altering injury (amputation) Ableist language Non-graphic depictions of death by torture Major character death Offscreen murder of a child Scenes depicting extreme hunger/starvation Graphic depiction of a person burning to death
More...