Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

28 reviews

jodean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

everyone should read this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Body horror, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Dysphoria, Death, Child death, War, Violence, Misogyny, Colonisation, Sexism, Body shaming, and Blood

Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Racism, Homophobia, Animal death, Trafficking, and Outing

Minor: Vomit and Excrement

chrisljm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book has been marketed so heavily as a fantasy but it’s really not. There are only two fantastical elements and they’re not even that important to the story.

This is a story about fate and how the main character seeks greatness with hers. Although an interesting premise, I didn’t really enjoy how the story was told. It’s like the meme about Zuko’s honor except it’s a billion times worse because all the main character talks about is her fate/greatness, it was incredibly excessive (fate was mentioned 145 times, greatness 50 times). I think the main character started off interesting, but something about the way we see her through other POVs made me so unattached to her, and I really didn’t care if she succeeded or failed.

I think one of the worst things is that she wanted Ma as a way to remind her of empathy and to keep her from becoming like the men she hated, but at the end that’s who she became anyways. And I especially hate how Ma feared a life where all her thoughts, feelings, and wants are ignored, yet in the end she stays with Zhu because she loves her even though she knows that means a life of pain. I don’t find that romantic at all; I think that’s terribly sad and love shouldn’t contain so much suffering. A line in the end from Zhu’s POV says “Zhu’s desire propelling them higher and higher, until there was nothing left above them but the dazzling vault of Heaven. And for Ma every moment of that ascent would be compromise and heartache and the gradual erosion of her belief that there was always a kinder way. . .  I’ll make it worth it, for both of us.” I just don’t see how anything could possibly make that pain worth it.

I think maybe a large part of why I didn’t enjoy the book that much is because my beliefs/the way I see the world is so vastly different from the main characters, and so my disappointment might just be a me problem. 

But also, the story moves so slowly it’s kind of hard to read in large chunks. A lot happens but it doesn’t feel like it, and I don’t want to say it’s boring, but it was hard not to zone out. There are also times where parts of a scene happen off screen? I don’t know if this is just a writing style or what, but it was confusing because instead of reading what happens, I have to infer for myself because the author likes to describe emotions first and events second.

For instance during the scene where Ouyang cuts off Zhu’s hand, they’re fighting and all of a sudden they’re not fighting because something is clearly wrong and then “her fingers clenched around the sword in her lower body”, and then on the next page his sword flashes and there’s an impact and every feeling is described and then you’re told her hand is missing.

I just feel like this book was more frustrating to read than it had to be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Murder, Child death, Dysphoria, Torture, Death, Body shaming, Violence, War, Death of parent, Grief, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Alcohol, Gore, Slavery, Child abuse, Homophobia, Body horror, and Chronic illness

Minor: Pregnancy

nicnevin's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Honestly stunning prose

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Ableism, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Slavery, Animal death, Body horror, Alcohol, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and War

ladyfie's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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

Say "I am Zhu Chongba" one more time, ... https://www.reshareit.com/wp-content/uploads/pulp-fiction.gif

also really didn't need that

fisting

scene, thanks a lot

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Racism, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and War

Minor: Child death and Animal death

momo916's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

4.5

I had a hard time getting into this book at first but by about 1/3 of the way in it had me. I had a hard time keeping track of all the characters at first, but eventually my brain caught on. It was interesting that the author included some Chinese idioms translated literally into English as a way to make the book feel more **authentic** but also I doubt those idioms were the same hundreds and hundreds of years ago when this book takes place. Points for giving some easter eggs to the Chinese speakers, I guess. I did appreciate how the two main characters, Zhu Chongba and Ouyang were crafted so well as foils for each other, and it was interesting to see how their characters became more complex and morally ambiguous over time.

As someone who knows absolutely nothing about Chinese history prior to 1900, the fantasy aspects of this book appealed more to me than the historical aspects, and for me the book was able to capture that fantastical atmosphere despite the fact that there isn't a whole lot of actual paranormalcy or superhuman abilities, just a lot of woowoo about fate and destiny. Kind of confusing since

by the end the conclusion we're meant to come to is that we can manifest our own destiny but ok

. Agree with another reviewer that there is a sex scene that kind of came out of nowhere and felt like things had ramped up to 100 with no warning and no buildup.  

All that being said will be on the lookout for the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gore, Death, War, Violence, Sexual content, and Blood

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Outing

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

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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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Cursing, Child death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny

literarydumpling's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Sexism, Torture, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Animal death

Minor: Toxic relationship

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-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

4.0

War epics are not my cup of tea, but if they're yours you might enjoy this one! Set in ancient China and packed with destiny, epic battles, political intrigue, betrayal, the occasional ghost, and clashes between Chinese and Mongol powers, this book tells the epic story of a girl who didn't starve to death claiming a name and destiny that might not have been hers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Classism, Death, Dysphoria, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Gore, Torture, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Outing, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual content, Grief, Homophobia, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and War

storykath's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

The monk Zhu Chongba is swept up in an ongoing war between Mongolian rulers and Nanren rebels, but there is much more to the situation, the adversaries, and Zhu herself than meets the eye.

This book felt longer than its 400 pages, which was both a strength and weakness. There's so much that happens - towards the end, I found myself looking back at the beginning with incredulity about how much the situation and characters had changed. I had truly been taken on a journey with the protagonists. On the other hand, I also found that some parts of this book dragged. When the plot became saturated with politics or an ongoing battle, I found it hard to stay invested, but it was always worth it to power through. Parker-Chan guides us through all the intrigues and betrayals fairly well; there's generally enough context to keep up with the revolving cast of characters and their various motivations, but at times there were intentions that were implied and not totally clear.

The changes in perspectives were engaging, and I enjoyed seeing each protagonist from the others' perspectives. Zhu Chongba in particular comes across very differently depending on whether we see her from her own perspective or someone else's. The characters were all enjoyably complex and morally nuanced, and while I can't relate to the overarching themes of fate, greatness, and vengeance, I could clearly see how those factors drove the characters in their every decision and action.

I'm curious to see what comes next in this series, and I hope that we can continue to explore these characters and see their continued redemptions and/or corruptions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Murder, Sexism, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, and War

Moderate: Grief, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, and Slavery

Minor: Alcohol, Medical content, Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, and Xenophobia