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kitkatkick's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
In her epic retelling of the rise of the Ming Dynasty in China, Shelly Parker-Chan gives us the story of Zhu, a young girl from a village on the brink of starvation, and her utter determination to not only survive, but to become great.
She Who Became the Sun was a fascinating, compelling read. Not being wildly plugged in to the literary community, I wasn’t aware of all the hype surrounding the book, which was apparently one of the most anticipated reads of the year, which I did not realize until finishing it was a historical retelling, and which is a notably queer read. I picked it up because StoryGraph recommended it and the summary sounded good. Knowing what I know now, I’m not surprised at all. It lives up to that excitement on all fronts.
To me, the most standout aspect of the book was the characters. They are not lovable and to me, few were sympathetic. But each one is so unique, and memorable, and in their own way compelling that I enjoyed reading about them all. Zhu, the main character, is written incredibly. At no point in the story do you stop feeling her sheer determination for her- or her brother’s- fate. From the very first chapter, she proves that she will do whatever it takes to survive, and we see her force of will grow from just feeding herself in the early book to creating her own dynasty. Zhu, however, is not the only character. We’re also blessed with Ma Yingzi, a hopeful young woman who refuses to give up on kindness as she eventually becomes Zhu’s love interest, and Xu Da, Zhu’s best friend from the monastery and the first person to know her secret after she leaves her hometown. Following the secondary storyline we are introduced to Esen, a charismatic Mongolian prince, and Ouyang, an enslaved eunuch who has become the most feared general in Esen’s army. And who also happens to be Prince Esen’s closest friend and confidante, despite the stark difference in their stations that Esen tries to ignore even as Ouyang cannot forget it. Ouyang’s quest to avenge the murder of his entire lineage at the hands of the Mongol king brings him face to face with Zhu across the lines of battle, the two stories intertwined but ultimately separating in a shocking twist. His contempt for the world around him and everyone in it is unmistakable, and his struggle with his feelings toward Esen remains engaging despite how long it takes to resolve itself.
On the topic of Ouyang’s feelings for Esen: is he gay? Are any of the characters? Is Zhu trans? These are questions that the author expertly brings forward without ever answering outright. Zhu continues to think of herself with she/her pronouns throughout the book, but clearly struggles with body dysmorphia and the idea of her gender, in a setting where the concept of being transgender, with or without naming it that way, does not seem to even exist to her. Given all these factors, a reader has the opportunity to form their own opinions regarding Zhu’s identity. Similarly, Ouyang and Esen’s relationship has very clear romantic facets, but the way both struggle with it and their relationships outside of each other leave similar room for interpretation. No question of gender, sexuality, or lack thereof is answered outright, and I feel this is a great credit to the book. It certainly shows off Parker-Chan’s skills as an author.
A brief aside because I don’t know where else to put it: there is one very, very detailed female/female sex scene that came up seemingly out of nowhere at the beginning of Part Three, Chapter 21. Personally, it threw me off and felt out-of-place. It’s probably the number one thing I disliked most about the book. These scenes are typically just fine with me, but such graphic detail so abruptly threw me enough that I skipped over it.
On the technical front, Parker-Chan does a phenomenal job keeping an admittedly long book compelling and well-paced. She does not shy away from the complex issues of the period. Topics including starvation, class struggles, religion, and straight-up war are given attention that I rarely see in books, addressing them without either diluting or needlessly glorifying them. The author uses detail judiciously, alternating between visceral and vague. It kept the setting real without making it sickening. At no point did feel left out for my lack of knowledge of Chinese history. As I mentioned previously, I had no idea that this was a retelling of the life of a real person, proving that the book stands perfectly as it’s own story. The added knowledge and subsequent “Ohhhhh” moment was just a plus.
She Who Became the Sun was, hands-down and no question, a worthwhile read. I will highly recommend it to anyone looking for a deeper and more complex story than the average quick read. It is not, however, a book I fell in love with. Instead, it felt like reading one of the great literary classics. It challenges the mind and inspires deeper thought than perhaps a more modern-style or less technical book would. Woe be to university students whose professors find this, because I can see it becoming required reading for years to come. The historical and cultural background, the opportunities for discussion and interpretation around the characters, and the complex themes of fate and survival could fill generations of book reports, analyses, and theses papers. This book blew my humble expectations out of the water and I’m willing to bet it did the same for people with even greater anticipation. A phenomenal experience to read, I can see it becoming a staple of literary discussion for quite a long time to come.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Sexual content, Animal death, Body horror, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Toxic friendship, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Violence, and War
Moderate: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Genocide
its_thekla's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.5
In which a morally gray, nonbinary Buddhist monk sets on a path of greatness. A sprawling story with a wonderfully fleshed out cast of characters, it manages to be insightful without being pandering. There were a few noticable plot points that either seemed important that were just dropped, or that were important that just popped out of the snow! like daisies! of nowhere. I'm not 100% if that would be rectified with a reread or not. While I enjoyed this book (the wit! the growth! Xu Da! sexual empowerment!), I don't see myself revisiting this particular adventure any time soon. That being said, I am looking forward to the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, Death, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Misogyny
Minor: Slavery
readwithria's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, Murder, Dysphoria, and Death
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Death of parent, Suicide, Body shaming, and Child death
burnt_milk's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I feel like I need to read this again immediately to understand the depth of it - which is on me, whenever it comes to conflicts and larger-scale wars I find it hard to grasp everything going on. BUT as it is this is such an interesting exploration of identity and fate and control especially.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, War, Violence, Misogyny, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
orchidd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, War, and Death
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Blood, Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
mossgoblins's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Cursing, Child death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny
kingrosereads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
4.0
An epic political and historical fantasy retelling set in 14th century China? It’s also sapphic, genderqueer and badass? SIGN ME UP! Needless to say, I enjoyed this book, despite struggling through most of it.
I don’t know if this book is anything like The Poppy Wars or The Song of Achilles since I haven’t read them yet, but it is similar to Game of Thrones (at least the show, again, didn’t read the books) in that there are multiple POVs across the country and none of the characters are wholly good or wholly bad. They do what they believe is necessary to obtain their fate. There’s also a lot of (in my opinion) boring political war strategy taking place. Love the drama of politics, but war strategy is a snooze fest. There’s also just a lot of “setting the scene” for the two major characters, Zhu and Ouyang, which is somewhat necessary to understand the characters but it does drag on a bit.
This book does not hold back when it comes to the horrors of violence and war (there’s literally a whole descriptive scene where a man is burned alive). It’s also descriptive in medieval hygiene practice (or lack thereof) so if you’ve ever wondered how smelly everything was back then, this book will tell you in heavy detail. Don’t make the mistake of eating during this book as there’s bound to be something unsettling to occur.
This book starts off following Zhu as a 9 year old girl in a village that’s been suffering through a famine that claimed the lives of her mother and many siblings, leaving just her, her father, and her brother, Zhu Chongba. From the start it’s clear Zhu is very clever and more capable than her father and brother, but they treat her as if she is nothing. One day her father takes her and her brother to this fortune teller who states that her brother’s fate is greatness whereas hers is nothingness. That is until her father is killed by bandits and Chu Chongba kills himself. This is when Zhu assumes her brother’s identity, hellbent on taking his fate since he gave it up, and she takes his place at a monastery to be trained as a monk. She masters her lessons and is even ordained early when she turns 19. We spend the book watching Zhu struggle with her identity, live in fear of people and Heaven discovering her deception, and claim her fate.
However, the Mongol army, led by General Ouyang, burns her monastery to the ground. She ends up joining the rebels and slowly climbs the ranks, constantly running into Ouyang, a eunuch, as it seems their fates are intertwined. Ouyang is Nanren, and his family was killed by the Mongol empire, but he was spared, castrated, and enslaved but was favored by the Prince’s son, Esen, and therefore was able to rise in status and became a general. He’s mistreated since he’s a eunuch and despite being an incredible warrior and successful general, he is denied any respect. Ouyang’s journey is similar to Zhu, but he has postponed his fate for as long as he can, but once events are set in motion, he charges headfirst into his fate.
I LOVE the very obvious similarities between Zhu and Ouyang in terms of their gender identities and sexualities. As well as their backgrounds and social standings as leaders. And I believe they’re both Nanren in this Mongol empire(?), I can’t remember.
This book has a lot of turmoil, physically and emotionally. There are a lot of shocking things, and we see how far both Zhu and Ouyang are willing to go to succeed. They’re both selfish in their own ways and make morally questionable decisions constantly.
This book doesn’t have romance, not really, like it’s not even a subplot. It’s more like a subplot’s subplot. The magic is minimal. Like those that have Heaven’s Mandate can produce flames and Zhu can see ghosts. That’s pretty much it for the magic. It’s also a common misconception that eunuchs don’t have their penis or testicles, most of the time it’s just the testicles that are removed, however, I learned while trying to understand some things about Ouyang that in China the practice of removing everything was common there for eunuchs. So that’s just a little fun fact to take with you.
I liked this book, but it just took forever to get through the first half. It’s definitely a long read and slow-paced. But it’s very interesting. I feel like I’m learning so much about another culture and it’s just so unapologetically authentic. Like Parker-Chen doesn’t waste any ink trying to explain cultural concepts or anything and I really like that. And they just write so beautifully. Like it’s full on poetic. It’s also just so queer. And I really love that Zhu doesn’t know her name, because it doesn’t seem like an accident that she struggles with her gender identity as well as who she is in general.
And (SPOILER) once she DECIDES who she is, she chooses a name for herself.
I’m hoping the next book just has more action in it. I suspect it will be slow-paced, but now that the events at the end of the book have occurred, I’m interested in what this means for Zhu and her relationships with her loved ones and Ouyang. Very good, definitely read if you like political historical fiction.
I don’t know if this book is anything like The Poppy Wars or The Song of Achilles since I haven’t read them yet, but it is similar to Game of Thrones (at least the show, again, didn’t read the books) in that there are multiple POVs across the country and none of the characters are wholly good or wholly bad. They do what they believe is necessary to obtain their fate. There’s also a lot of (in my opinion) boring political war strategy taking place. Love the drama of politics, but war strategy is a snooze fest. There’s also just a lot of “setting the scene” for the two major characters, Zhu and Ouyang, which is somewhat necessary to understand the characters but it does drag on a bit.
This book does not hold back when it comes to the horrors of violence and war (there’s literally a whole descriptive scene where a man is burned alive). It’s also descriptive in medieval hygiene practice (or lack thereof) so if you’ve ever wondered how smelly everything was back then, this book will tell you in heavy detail. Don’t make the mistake of eating during this book as there’s bound to be something unsettling to occur.
This book starts off following Zhu as a 9 year old girl in a village that’s been suffering through a famine that claimed the lives of her mother and many siblings, leaving just her, her father, and her brother, Zhu Chongba. From the start it’s clear Zhu is very clever and more capable than her father and brother, but they treat her as if she is nothing. One day her father takes her and her brother to this fortune teller who states that her brother’s fate is greatness whereas hers is nothingness. That is until her father is killed by bandits and Chu Chongba kills himself. This is when Zhu assumes her brother’s identity, hellbent on taking his fate since he gave it up, and she takes his place at a monastery to be trained as a monk. She masters her lessons and is even ordained early when she turns 19. We spend the book watching Zhu struggle with her identity, live in fear of people and Heaven discovering her deception, and claim her fate.
However, the Mongol army, led by General Ouyang, burns her monastery to the ground. She ends up joining the rebels and slowly climbs the ranks, constantly running into Ouyang, a eunuch, as it seems their fates are intertwined. Ouyang is Nanren, and his family was killed by the Mongol empire, but he was spared, castrated, and enslaved but was favored by the Prince’s son, Esen, and therefore was able to rise in status and became a general. He’s mistreated since he’s a eunuch and despite being an incredible warrior and successful general, he is denied any respect. Ouyang’s journey is similar to Zhu, but he has postponed his fate for as long as he can, but once events are set in motion, he charges headfirst into his fate.
I LOVE the very obvious similarities between Zhu and Ouyang in terms of their gender identities and sexualities. As well as their backgrounds and social standings as leaders. And I believe they’re both Nanren in this Mongol empire(?), I can’t remember.
This book has a lot of turmoil, physically and emotionally. There are a lot of shocking things, and we see how far both Zhu and Ouyang are willing to go to succeed. They’re both selfish in their own ways and make morally questionable decisions constantly.
This book doesn’t have romance, not really, like it’s not even a subplot. It’s more like a subplot’s subplot. The magic is minimal. Like those that have Heaven’s Mandate can produce flames and Zhu can see ghosts. That’s pretty much it for the magic. It’s also a common misconception that eunuchs don’t have their penis or testicles, most of the time it’s just the testicles that are removed, however, I learned while trying to understand some things about Ouyang that in China the practice of removing everything was common there for eunuchs. So that’s just a little fun fact to take with you.
I liked this book, but it just took forever to get through the first half. It’s definitely a long read and slow-paced. But it’s very interesting. I feel like I’m learning so much about another culture and it’s just so unapologetically authentic. Like Parker-Chen doesn’t waste any ink trying to explain cultural concepts or anything and I really like that. And they just write so beautifully. Like it’s full on poetic. It’s also just so queer. And I really love that Zhu doesn’t know her name, because it doesn’t seem like an accident that she struggles with her gender identity as well as who she is in general.
And (SPOILER) once she DECIDES who she is, she chooses a name for herself.
I’m hoping the next book just has more action in it. I suspect it will be slow-paced, but now that the events at the end of the book have occurred, I’m interested in what this means for Zhu and her relationships with her loved ones and Ouyang. Very good, definitely read if you like political historical fiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and War
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Homophobia and Transphobia
sparklingginger's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Child death, and Dysphoria
Moderate: War, Misogyny, Sexism, and Fire/Fire injury
julesxyz's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Transphobia, Vomit, War, and Violence
samugranjo's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, War, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Slavery, Torture, Alcohol, Body horror, Classism, Cursing, Genocide, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infertility, and Vomit