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heartbrekker's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
"Salt is fire, and salt is life, and without it: even an empire falls to nothing."
Note: I will be using she/her pronouns for Zhu because they are the pronouns during her POV. There's a long complication over her identity since she took her brother's name and has pretended to be him for so long. Zhu constantly mentions how she knows she is not a man but also believes herself not to be a woman. While I am a cis-woman, I do think that her identity was handled with care. This is certainly not another cross-dressing Mulan tale, but a complex story about identity, especially when your identity is innate to your survival.
She Who Became the Sun is pitched as The Song of Achilles meets Mulan, and I think that is a marketing genius description. A round of applause for whoever came up with that! Obviously, I think this story is more complicated than that description. The Mulan reference could lead people to think this is simply a crossdressing situation, but it is DEFINITELY not that in the slightest. I mentioned above the complications a bit if you need a refresher. Now I'd personally add The Poppy War as a comparative title because while I don't think this is as grim dark as TPW, SWBTS gets very brutal at times. I'd recommend you look at other content warnings of reviews because it is probable that I missed a few.
Anyway, to be honest, this book was a masterpiece of a debut. Parker-Chan comes in swinging with all of her might, and it pulled on my heart strings in a variety of scenes. It's so interesting to see Zhu take up her brother's identity for survival. From the beginning, we see just how willing Zhu is to live and fight for her life. She's one of the most determined characters that I have ever met, and I cannot wait to see her in action more. Not to mention, the other POVs and side characters are extremely fleshed out. I physically felt like all the characters were visceral and tangible, which I cannot say for many books. Their personalities were completely their own as well as their intense desires.
Going off of the *intense desires* mention, the political game was my favorite part of this book besides Zhu's overall journey. At first, I just wanted to continue on with her story whenever a separate POV showed up, but of course, Ma and Ouyang are quintessential to this plot. I found myself rooting for both of them in different situations. Ma never led me astray because she's such a loyal, gentle soul, and then Ouyang just tugged on the heart strings with his backstory of non-consensual castration. He's constantly torn about his identity and status as a eunuch. He's so damn confused for a variety of reasons (*cough cough* spoilers), and while not all of his decisions are the best, he really needed a hug. It's always a testament to an author's skill when they can make characters on opposing sides enjoyable and sympathetic. Parker-Chan could of very well made Zhu the fan-favorite and left Ouyang out to dry as the evil villain, but she is too good for that. You'll see this world is built off of a foundation of greys, and I certainly prefer my reads that way.
I may add more to this review in the future, but for now, without spoilers, I'll end it here. Thank you to Tor Books for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own!
"There are no kind solutions to cruel situations."
Note: I will be using she/her pronouns for Zhu because they are the pronouns during her POV. There's a long complication over her identity since she took her brother's name and has pretended to be him for so long. Zhu constantly mentions how she knows she is not a man but also believes herself not to be a woman. While I am a cis-woman, I do think that her identity was handled with care. This is certainly not another cross-dressing Mulan tale, but a complex story about identity, especially when your identity is innate to your survival.
She Who Became the Sun is pitched as The Song of Achilles meets Mulan, and I think that is a marketing genius description. A round of applause for whoever came up with that! Obviously, I think this story is more complicated than that description. The Mulan reference could lead people to think this is simply a crossdressing situation, but it is DEFINITELY not that in the slightest. I mentioned above the complications a bit if you need a refresher. Now I'd personally add The Poppy War as a comparative title because while I don't think this is as grim dark as TPW, SWBTS gets very brutal at times. I'd recommend you look at other content warnings of reviews because it is probable that I missed a few.
Anyway, to be honest, this book was a masterpiece of a debut. Parker-Chan comes in swinging with all of her might, and it pulled on my heart strings in a variety of scenes. It's so interesting to see Zhu take up her brother's identity for survival. From the beginning, we see just how willing Zhu is to live and fight for her life. She's one of the most determined characters that I have ever met, and I cannot wait to see her in action more. Not to mention, the other POVs and side characters are extremely fleshed out. I physically felt like all the characters were visceral and tangible, which I cannot say for many books. Their personalities were completely their own as well as their intense desires.
Going off of the *intense desires* mention, the political game was my favorite part of this book besides Zhu's overall journey. At first, I just wanted to continue on with her story whenever a separate POV showed up, but of course, Ma and Ouyang are quintessential to this plot. I found myself rooting for both of them in different situations. Ma never led me astray because she's such a loyal, gentle soul, and then Ouyang just tugged on the heart strings with his backstory of non-consensual castration. He's constantly torn about his identity and status as a eunuch. He's so damn confused for a variety of reasons (*cough cough* spoilers), and while not all of his decisions are the best, he really needed a hug. It's always a testament to an author's skill when they can make characters on opposing sides enjoyable and sympathetic. Parker-Chan could of very well made Zhu the fan-favorite and left Ouyang out to dry as the evil villain, but she is too good for that. You'll see this world is built off of a foundation of greys, and I certainly prefer my reads that way.
I may add more to this review in the future, but for now, without spoilers, I'll end it here. Thank you to Tor Books for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own!
"There are no kind solutions to cruel situations."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Gore, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Physical abuse
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, and Cannibalism
More content warnings: non-consensual castration (sexual violence), starvation, public execution, depression, mass death (war themes), misgendering, dysphoria, and the physical abuse/ violence partly refer to a life-altering injury. One of the child deaths is offscreen whereas another is suicide.
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