Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - He Who Drowned the World

This is a hard book to review. Not because it was bad, or even because I'm ambivalent about it - on the contrary, it was spectacular and I loved it. Even having read the first book nearly two years ago, it didn't take me long to get back into the story. It kept me engaged throughout and even got my heart speeding up in a few particularly tense scenes. It was, above all, astonishingly good.

And I think that's a large part of what makes it hard to review. I can't share all the emotions it made me feel by writing *about* it. To get the full experience, you have to read it yourself. It's vivid and intense and full of twists I didn't see coming but probably should have and the kind of book that leaves you completely exhausted at the end because you've been feeling so much along the way.

Another part of what makes this hard to review is how utterly dark it is. The first book was dark, too, don't get me wrong. Zhu is not a good person. She is ruthless and ambitious and claims she is willing to sacrifice anything to reach her goal, and this book puts that to the test. This is also a book where Zhu starts to challenge the bounds of a likeable character. In the first book, she was ruthless and ambitious and violent and did a lot of really horrible things. But in the context of a world that would rather let her starve than inconvenience a man, it didn't seem unreasonable. In this book, she had reached some measure of security - though still under threat, she was one of the four dominant military and political powers of the area. But her ambition to be the *greatest* kept her pushing onwards, even as she destroyed others in the process. She was still a dynamic, compelling character and I never really stopped rooting for her, but as the book progressed I found myself repeatedly confronting the reality of her actions and not really being sure how to feel about them. In some ways, it feels weird to even apply moral judgements here, though I can't fully explain why. But eventually both I and Zhu were looking at the consequences of her ambitions and wondering if it was really worth all that.

(Yet another thing I appreciate about this series: None of the women in these books - whether or not you want to count Zhu and her ambiguous gender identity as a woman - are shamed for their ambition or treated any worse than the men for their crimes. The society is blatantly misogynistic, but the narrative refuses to be.)

General Ouyang was a major player in the last book, and he still is in this one, but to a lesser degree. Some of that is because of his arc. Following on the events from the climax of book one, his is an equal but opposite story to Zhu. While Zhu's ambitions propelled her to further heights, Ouyang's relentless pursuit of revenge drove him to further lows. Zhu's resolve clarified as Ouyang's mind descended into chaos. I found myself mainly feeling compassion as he destroyed himself on the teeth of his own self-loathing. I wish he could have had a better ending, but he was so far gone that I think he got the best he could.

This book, being the last in the series, was an ending for every character, though not all of them died. Writing-wise, their endings made sense, fit with their arcs, and felt narratively satisfying. On a personal level, so many of them deserved better. Xu Da deserved better. Ma deserved better. Ouyang deserved better. Even Baoxiang deserved better (he deserved better last book, and even before - he is yet another case of an antagonist who I really just feel bad for).

And this brings me to the final reason this book is so hard to review: There is just too much to say. I haven't said anything about Baoxiang's story, even though he was a point of view narrator. I haven't talked about the gender politics involved in this story, or the absolutely spot-on depictions of that very specific and hard-to-define type of sexual trauma where you have sex when you really don't want to or with someone you don't want to have sex with as a means to get something else, or the theme of being seen in a gendered body (and, to a lesser extent, a visibly disabled body), or how it's paced so well that it feels like so much is happening without ever feeling rushed or monotonous, or the really awesome historical setting, or the ghosts.

If I talked about every amazing thing in this book, I could go on forever. But I've focused this review mainly on the characters, because despite all the action and adventure and ghosts and politics and invasions, this is a story about these characters and how their actions, good, bad, or otherwise, shape (and often end) the lives of the people around them and, ultimately, the course of history. This feels like a book (and, honestly, a series) that you could keep re-reading and discover something new every time. (It helps that these books are *long*.) So few sequels live up to their predecessor, but this one does - but it's also unique to the point where I can't say whether *She Who Became the Sun* or *He Who Drowned the World* is better because they're both so good for different reasons and in different ways.

I'm running out of eloquent ways to say "this is an amazing book, you should read the whole series," so there you go. This is an amazing book. So was the first one. You should read both - especially if you like stories that show your emotions no mercy.

Content Warnings

displacedcactus's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

Given the high rating this book has here on SG (4.49 at the time I'm writing this) it has clearly found its audience. That audience does not, unfortunately, include me.

I'll admit that of the Sapphic Saffron Trifecta, I found She Who Became the Sun to be my least favorite. As such, I was really on the fence as to whether to read this one, but I figured hey, it's a duology, I might as well see things through to the end!

This started out as kind of a mid read for me, but I felt like it could get better. The thing is, I do like Zhu as a character. Yes, she does terrible things. But I found her drive and her absolute joy and confidence in her drive to be refreshing. Too often, we have characters who have to be forced to take action, who constantly whine and complain about it...

Like every single other character in this book. Ok, I exaggerate, but I got tired of the constant moping of Ouyang and Wang. Oh, woe is me, life is pain and darkness, I will make the world hate me as much as I hate it, etc etc etc. On and on and on. There were far too few Zhu chapters to make up for it.

At its heart, this is a story about how messed up toxic masculinity is and how people who fail to live up to a culture's idea of manly virtue can be used, abused, despised, and pigeon-holed.

At its heart it's also a book that is just absolutely chock-full of degrading sex, sado-masochism, torturous death, and long internal monologues about anger and self-hatred.

If you like to watch characters suffer, you will enjoy the heck out of this book. The pages are absolutely soaked with suffering. Personally, I just found it exhausting.

Content Warnings

leweylibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

The deduction is for the slowness which did drag on a little bit in spots, not as much as the first one, but honestly I liked this one so much more than the first one! It's such a good compliment to the first one, it really rounds out a lot of stuff that's set in motion in the first one in such a great way.

I love seeing how the characters have developed and continue to develop, especially Zhu and Ouyung. I love the symbolism with the Mandate of Heaven and it's light and the drowning, and I love how the book approaches and discusses gender identity and expression throughout.

This one was also definitely much more exciting with the big battles and crazy scenes (I'm NEVER going to forgot

those pickled hands or Zhu convincing her army to drown itself and be resurrected to get through the ghosts to Chu's army

. They really helped keep up the pace of the book overall. Also

Ouyung's ending is so freaking shocking and sad, holy f. He didn't deserve that. But I think it makes sense for the story, like it does really shake Zhu to hear about it and to realize that she could meet a similar fate in not making her own fate come to fruition. </Spoiler>

Content Warnings

sovner736's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

Content Warnings

warlocksarecool21's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

He Who Drowned the World was a stunning conclusion to the Radiant Emperor duology. Shelley Parker-Chan’s writing is beautiful and captivating. I think she does excellent character work, I was fascinated by the major characters even if I didn’t like them. Having the four main perspectives be the four people vying for the throne was such a cool juxtaposition because they all had the same-ish goal but you really got to analyze all their differing motivations. I also really loved that the book explores how a patriarchal society can really fuck somebody up, including how it manifests in misogynistic and homophobic beliefs/practices that infests everything and everyone. It was really interesting to see that on a deeper level when we were presented with our main characters. They all experience the effects of the patriarchal society they live in differently. I especially adore the way the author explores gender in this series, how it’s not a neatly defined thing, but rather a uniquely complex experience. I thought each character’s development over the course of the story was well done, and I liked that for some, their development was a downward spiral.

I have ✨thoughts✨ about each character that I must share so here they are:

-Baoxiang was such a fascinating character bc he had such a different skill set than Zhu and Ouyang and it was interesting to see the political maneuvering of what he was doing.

Watching him grapple with his gender expression and sexuality was very interesting to read, even if it was uncomfortable at times. I thought the shift of his personality from being sharp and cunning to spiraling into grief and desperation was so chilling to read. <Spoiler>I loved how in the last section he realized that his anger and revenge did nothing to change the past, that all it was hurting was himself.

-I’m going to talk about Zhu and Ouyang at the same time bc they had such a strong connection in the book. I was obsessed with their dichotomy of how they are the same kind of person but they both make choices that alter their destiny. The idea that they were running the same parallel course but they ultimately went different ways. Ouyang’s journey broke my heart, because all he needed was for someone to show him understanding and love, that he wasn’t broken. He kind of got that with Zhu but he was so far gone that he couldn’t accept that he was deserving of those things. That in order to fulfill his revenge he also had to suffer. And Zhu, who had that same driving ambition to defeat the Khan, but instead of believing that her path was finished beyond that, she took the world and made it her own.

At the end, when she made the choice that the world does not need to be harsh and unforgiving, that she could move into the future without causing anymore pain was so good, I loved that that was her conclusion. After all she went through I’m glad she decided that violence and anger could be things of the past.

I have one thing to say about Madame Zhang: her character was so excellent, I hated her like actually despised but I still felt so bad for her. she was so strong in a society that was brutal towards women and I really liked the exploration of feminine rage and the performance that women have to put on to survive in a society like this.

In regards to the plot, I thought it was really cohesive, all the different sections and viewpoints really worked to bring about the end. There were certain chapters that I thought could’ve been condensed but I still think it worked. I did think that when

Ouyang killed the Khan and Baoxiang came out and revealed he was controlling everything and that Ouyang’s sacrifice was for nothing was a little underdeveloped. Like I fully believe that Baoxiang was responsible for manipulating all this and I knew that he was moving all the pieces together, but I wish we got more in his pov about this specific reveal.

While I was really happy to see that Ma had such a vital role in helping Zhu become emperor at the end, I was a little sad she wasn’t as important in the rest of the book. I really like her and how strong she is in her convictions about life and if she was involved from the start she would’ve had everyone in line 😂. And I adore her relationship with Zhu they deserved more moments together.

If you read all of this, then congratulations 😂. This duology was really well done and is definitely worth a read (it’s really brutal though so watch out).

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