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

Not yet coherent enough to write the review this masterpiece deserves, but know that it has made me feel violently unwell in the most brilliant way possible.

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artemisg's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

While this was a genuinely really great sequel, this book was a bit too brutal for my taste.

In this book, we follow Zhu on her journey to become the emperor. She hatches some insane plans and joins in a tentative alliance with Ouyang, the eunuch general. I genuinely really liked most of their dynamic, both being outsiders in their society and outsiders to themselves. In addition to Zhu and Ouyang, we see many more surprising alliances and follow more ruthless players in their quests for power. While I appreciated the attempts at complexity within the characters, there were slightly too many people being genuinely evil for my tastes and too much torture and abuse. Some of the torture has its place (the examinations of grief and pain were somewhat interesting), but most of it was gratuitous, and the point of the brutality of Mongol-occupied China would have come across without it.

Like the first book, I enjoyed the discussion of gender, power, and identity. It was interesting to see powerful women (who were still powerless in many ways). I didn’t like the absolute refusal to acknowledge any forms of emotional attachment, and I hated Baoxiang. Also, like the violence, there were a few too many violent sex scenes. It got to a point of gratuity, and while the relationships were complex and interesting, the sex was not. I did like how Parker-Chan weaved the different parties together into a coherent overall scheme, and it felt realistic that things happened that the characters weren’t aware of. Finally, Ma didn’t get enough screen time.

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rosieryel's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

truly might be one of the most well-crafter tragedies i’ve ever read holy shit. some chapters were almost unbearable to read (wbx looking at u) but i’m really in awe how there were so many gut-wrenching twists and simultaneously a sense that everything that happened was inevitable which to me is the perfect recipe for a good tragedy. my only gripe is that i wish ma had more page time or was even mentioned more by zhu in the bulk of the book before her pivotal role at the end bc i find her character so fascinating especially alongside the other pov characters. anyway i might never recover from this one

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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.

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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>

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beandream's review against another edition

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5.0

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