Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

75 reviews

midnightgremlin's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Body shaming, Colonisation, Violence, Death, Homophobia, Murder, Blood, and Racism

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Animal death

qwerty88's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Murder, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Violence, and War

Minor: Homophobia, Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, Ableism, Child death, Animal death, Death, Medical trauma, Outing, and Alcohol

offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, War, Violence, Transphobia, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Xenophobia, War, Child abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Alcohol, Death, Blood, Colonisation, and Misogyny

Minor: Gore, Slavery, Excrement, and Animal death

thedisabledreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Misogyny, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Murder, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Sexism, and War

Minor: Dysphoria

ye_li's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

It's a very speculative story. Fate, desire—it drives them to the ground. The higher they climb, the longer the fall will be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, Body horror, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Classism, War, Child abuse, Death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexual content

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Colonisation

Moderate: Gore, Sexual content, Child death, Death of parent, Cursing, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Grief, and Death

Minor: Animal death, Excrement, Ableism, Bullying, and Vomit

ate_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad 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: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Death, Murder, Sexism, Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death of parent, Alcohol, Animal death, Grief, Sexual content, Violence, and War

solenekeleroux's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death of parent, Violence, Death, Murder, War, Sexual content, Dysphoria, and Gore

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, Body shaming, Genocide, and Colonisation

lowen46's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism

Moderate: Blood, Violence, Colonisation, Death, War, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Child death, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Slavery

artemisg's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

There were aspects of this book I absolutely loved, and aspects I just didn’t.

The story follows a young girl who takes her brother's identity as Zhu Chongba and therefore his prophesied destiny of “greatness” after he dies. We never learn her given name which is a decision I really loved. She grows to lead the rebellion against the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. On the other side of the war (kind of - it’s complicated), we follow Ouyang, the eunuch general.

One of my favourite parts of this book were the explorations of gender and its fluidity that stemmed from these characters. Additionally, Parker-Chan does a wonderful job of making us sympathise with morally reprehensible characters and honestly root for them. Admittedly, at the end of this book, I was less of a fan of Zhu than I started. Alternatively, Ma had my whole heart from start to finish.

On the other hand, this story had pacing issues, with some intense battles taking less than a page, and some unnecessary exposition taking up far too many pages. Also, I felt like some of the destiny and fate discussions were too many and too heavy-handed.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and devoured it in one day. I’m looking forward to seeing where this series and story goes, especially after the conclusion of this book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Homophobia, and Blood