Reviews with content warning for Self harm - He Who Drowned the World

The graphic violence and sexual assault scenes nearly made me DNF about… 3 times. It took away from the beautiful writing and other enjoyable aspects of the book. I’m not sure if the story was worth it in the end - it was a good story, but it was quite graphic.

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laurareads87's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

My first five star fiction of 2024 is He Who Drowned The World, the sequel to the excellent She Who Became the Sun. Set in mid-1300s China, this book picks up where its predecessor left off (and, helpfully, includes a very brief overview of where the previous book left the main characters). The book follows several characters vying for the imperial throne and, with it, the ability to shape the future in which they all live. The plot moves quickly, but for me the character work is what really shines here; the characters are multi-faceted and complex and the subtleties of their shifting motivations and relationships are extraordinarily well developed. Themes of cisnormativity and heteronormativity - particularly how their ideologies are internalized and wielded by those they most harm - are handled so skillfully; this was an emotional read, and is the kind of queer historical fantasy I want to read.

In comparison, to the first book, the sequel is definitely heavier in tone; I would also say that the fantasy elements figure more prominently. Having read the first book is vital to reading this one.

Content warnings: War, violence, murder, blood, injury detail, ableism, internalized homophobia, sexism/misogyny, death of a child, drowning, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, torture, rape (several instances, in one case described in some detail on-page), animal cruelty & death. This book is not easy reading. It is not the most graphic by any means, but violence is absolutely pervasive throughout and the author's skill means that the content is deeply impactful.

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galacticpal's review against another edition

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5.0

Incredibly gripping. Felt long at times, but definitely worth reading.

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moonmisandrist's review against another edition

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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

4.0

What a book.

Shelley Parker-Chan is an amazing writer, the world they have created is alive and so dark (much darker than I anticipated (or was comfortable with at times!), and the characters fully reflect the story they exist in. Before reading the book, for some silly reason, I was worried about this one having such a focus on Baoxiang (sorry I love Ouyang and Zhu a lot). Unsurprisingly SPC proved me <i>soo</i> wrong. Baoxiang the man that you are...

I really loved spending time with all the characters in the first book again - apart from Baoxiang though, I did not care for one other new major POV character unfortunately.

While I was reading this book, I had a great time. I ate it up and let myself feel all the emotions along with the characters. Overall I had a great reading experience (except for one scene). Once finished, my heart and brain recovered, and here are some thoughts.

Loved: the characters, the overall story/journey, Ma (best character), commentary/portrayals of gender, the grief is never-ending but so is the love. and my god the YEARNING in this book.

Disliked/questioning: the pacing, the conclusion of what it is to be feminine, the explicit darkness of some scenes - including the over represtation of some dark themes, and the ending feeling a bit sudden and underdeveloped.

- The pacing and tone of the book jumped around a lot. At the start it felt too slow, then it was all too quick. Paired with the jump from a very intense dark scene to characters doing...very little in another chapter made it feel hard to stay grounded in the story.

-How sex was used in the story. Much of the story involves politics. Of course, sex will be involved in a royal court setting. Unfortunately, I struggled to understand what SPC was trying to say about sex (and sexual violence) with this story. And at worst, I landed with the feeling that (vague spoilers)

everyone who is 'feminine' (with the understanding that gender is different to us all, and femininity is not a confined easily to describe concept!) must use sex as a tool - in fact, it may be the only tool you have, as every major character in this book (save one??) used sex to gain power in this series with their femininity. I would have much rather preferred one or two characters to have done so, while the others did not, as this creates a discussion about society and power and the characters themselves. For everyone to be doing it...leaves me feeling quite disillusioned. Especially Zhu's scene...

- A new POV Character (major spoilers)

I am still unsure of Madame Zhang's place in the story. I think I will be thinking about her for a long time, and while I do not hate her, I found it hard to care for her/her motives. In many ways, I think she could have existed as a character in Baoxiang narrative without being a POV character. I feel much that she does/happens to her could have been inferred/uncovered by Baoxiang and it'd further show how isolated he is - we'd have no insight into his world save his POV scenes. It goes without saying, the sexual assault scene, is a lot. And as I couldn't understand her character, I feel like I don't have the 'closure' of that scene or its purpose.

Once again I must say how much I enjoyed the initial journey I went on with this series. I will reread one day, and I look forward to revisiting my thoughts.

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binghebun's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

i'm really struggling to gather my thoughts on this book. when this book is good its good, but when its bad its bad. shelley parker-chan writes so well, the improvement between swbts and this is amazing. i really felt the emotional scenes of the book because SPC writes them so well. however, on the same token, i spent large parts of the book feeling disengaged and bored -- me taking two weeks to read the sequel of one of my favourite releases of 2022 says a lot i think 😔 i'm not sure i'm happy with the end of a lot of character's stories. baoxiang was a fantastic pov character. ma needed more screen time. esen's role in this story was immaculate. i wasn't a fan of how sex was used for certain characters. i could go on. ultimately i'm not disappointed, but i'm not as in love as i hoped i'd be. i think i'll reread this one day.

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honeypunk's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

5.0

SPOILER FREE REVIEW

I read this sequel immediately after reading She Who Became The Sun. At first I found the story slow - largely because I was still riding on the highs from the previous book. However about 25% into He Who Drowned The World, I became enthralled and it kept getting better and better.

This book develops the characters from the previous even more, and leaves you feeling so much love and pain (as expected from Shelley Parker-Chan). There were characters I didn't care about from the previous, that by the end I felt so attached to, as though I was experiencing their joys and lows myself. If you felt attached to the characters in the previous book, then be prepared to fall even deeper into that hole in this book.

The writing from SP-C continues to make me read in awe and appreciation. I genuinely have not read a book written with better style. It has left me feeling so inspired to write myself. Now I'm crawling over to their social media, to see what books they recommend that I can then absorb.

I wish there was a third.

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grace_b_3's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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

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saphfics's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

5.0

This book really managed to outshine the first book in many ways. From adding new interesting POVs to really diving deep into the themes of gender expectations and gender performance.

It can feel very slow at times but that is because puzzle pieces are moving all the time. I feel like it needed like a couple of pages more at the end because it felt to me that the story stopped very abruptly. However, I think that the ending still does justice to everyone's character arc.

I would warn anyone to really look at the content warnings because it really is dark at times.

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