Reviews with content warning for Child death - Ta, która stała się słońcem

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Ta, która stała się słońcem by Shelley Parker-Chan

352 reviews

river_jean_sterling's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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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literatehedgehog's review against another edition

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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

4.0

Magical realism historical military drama... That's sort of a genre, right? But who needs to fit into categories anyway?!
Take the complex conniving of Shogun (with maybe a pinch of the Godfather?), and the military plotting of Ender's Game, and a gloriously queer adult kind of Mulan, and you might get a taste of this sweeping epic.
I wouldn't have minded a character list with the map, but I eventually turned the pages so fast I couldn't forget who was who. If you have to pick up and put down this 400 pager often, it may be harder to keep track of who is where and how they last betrayed that other person.

I'm curious about the second book in this duology, but nervous it will be more court intrigue and sexualized power posturing...

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starlings's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-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

4.5

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dreadspawn's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

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alexbirdreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective slow-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

5.0

M'kay. I can't really put my finger on WHY I rated this one five-stars. It doesn't exactly have what I usually rate a book five stars for. I think I just really love the characters and the drama. I love how morally gray almost everyone is, and how tragic the one morally good character's situation is. Actually, there is an underpinning of tragedy for everyone. The story puts emphasis on the ways that desire can be the root of suffering, and asks what kind of actions are justified when characters are trying to do more than survive in extreme circumstances. I love that betrayals we see coming still hurt your feelings. I also love just how fucking WILD this book is. Zhu in particular is a special kind of crazy. The tragedy that comes from gender nonconformity in a rigidly gendered society is sprinkled throughout the book in ways that you'd expect, but also in corners here and there that you wouldn't.

I liked that there was room for joyful queer love and joyful gender exploration amid the queer tragedy, because we have a lot of stories of queer suffering. I get that it's important and that there's a place for it (and it certainly had it's place in this book!) but it's nice to have some GOOD. It feels more authentic when a whole spectrum of experiences is represented, and, if anything, the moments of joy make the moments of tragedy feel that much worse afterwards.

It's a little long and convoluted, and the story is really more about character exploration than direct action, so it might not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it for some reason.

It really was kind of crazy, though. Like, 'one-armed dingo ate my heaven-ordained baby' crazy. You gotta love Zhu. But someone get Ouyang a therapist, my god.

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eclyan's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.25

J'ai aimé ce roman mais je trouve toute la recherche autour du genre de Zhu assez esquissée - alors que j'y pensais un développement plus fort-. Au final on se retrouve avec un personnage à la Mulan alors qu'on m'a plutôt vendu un roman avec un personnage queer.
Les intrigues politiques sont intéressantes mais j'ai été perdue par les noms a rallonge. Ne pas hésiter à prendre des notes pour ce roman!! Les deux points de vue sont je trouve difficile a suivre et cela impacte sévèrement le rythme du roman.
Le personnage de Zhu, si je l'ai apprécié au début, je l'ai trouvé vraiment détestable sur la fin. Obsédé par sa quête de grandeur, il deviens effectivement un "véritable homme"... Mais a un prix assez faramineux qui le rend assez imbuvable. Je suis par contre curieuse de lire la suite.

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