Reviews

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

teacupinmylap's review against another edition

4.0

4.5

That was.... A LOT
such trauma toxic sadness, not even peak greek tragedy or anime went this over the top

Wang Baoxiang and Ma, they get a lil hug from me thanks

_keith's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad 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

4.75

ebabs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

summerphile's review against another edition

5.0

zhu yuanzhang the final fujo boss with that reunification in a thousand years like like damn . 

zelos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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

5.0

parker-chan does this thing where even when i read all the foreshadowing and know where something is going i STILL feel like i got t-boned by a semi truck. every time. that happens even more in this book than it did in the first one. the ending wasn’t quite as satisfying as i hoped but this was still easily one of the best books i’ve read this year.

tenderorganic's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

I loved every part of this book until the last five pages, which were--fine. It felt rushed and contemptuous of everything that had come before it. The ending felt incrediby

Disney-esque

, which I'll probably never get over. Either way a spectacular book, but it could have better made its point within the

boundaries of what it is: a tragedy.

edit after having sat with it for like six minutes:

"wahhh I got my brother killed I'm a good person now" I'M MAD. fortunately zhu was the character I genuinely cared about the least but the end was a slap in the face for the reader; her change of heart is abrupt and inexplicable considering she has done AWFUL things over the course of these books and I would have loved to have been forced to sit in the hypocrisy of her choices. parker-chan has written two exquisite books about the horror of ambition and pulls the rug out from under the reader in the last yard with a "tee hee nevermind!" I swear to god I'm going to write my dissertation about adequate emotional payoff in popular literature I'm SO MAD. this book could have ended in at LEAST two other ways that would have RIPPED. 

anyway 4.5 stars. 🙄

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

fantasynarwhal's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.75

mimihihi's review against another edition

5.0

amazing showstopping brilliant wow i love the writing so much. Its been about two weeks since ive finished the book and i keep thinking about it. I feel like there was such a wide range of gender representation or the way ppl practise their gender, their experiences etc. Everytime i think back on it, it seems as though i find yet another character embodying a different gender expression, such as xu da, the third prince etc etc. There are a few things i kinda disliked, mainly ma being basically non-present for the majority of the story. I feel like she couldve encountered baoxiang earlier to kinda connect her more to the central plot idkk. otherwise yeah kinda bawled my eyes out at the end ouyang i love you

bethjanereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

Brutal and jarring and beautiful and hopeful and omg just so freaking good! Zhu is a hard character to love but the way those closest to her loved her was amazing. It was such an amazing follow up to book one. I loved it so much 

riverboatboy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

5.0