Reviews

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

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sage_oak2's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

silaparie'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? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

dezlld's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-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

5.0

This book so perfectly laid everything down so that it could deal the most emotional devastation in the end. This universe was such a great imagining of the quiet lives of queer people in history and the cisheteronormativity we treat everyone with.

booknerd334'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? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

choupie's review against another edition

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4.0

1) We were off to a slow beginning, but I feel like once the first part was finished : the pace really kicked off and it was once again an amazing adventure.

2) TW : it is a bit more violent than the first, especially regarding sexual violence and disphoria. It was a bit hard hearing women get humiliated again and again, but of course this is a core element of the story and of development for each character.

3) The ending was clever and satisfied me, enough was resolved and enough was left to the imagination. The characters changed, grew, became real people of flesh, bones, feelings, power and hardships.

4 stars to a beautiful and profound duology.

camy007's review against another edition

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4.5

Rating: 4.5/5 ★

This book bold as hell. This book was also hurtful as hell. You couldn't look away from the amount of death and destruction each character experiences. The pacing was much faster and the perspectives were much more diverse. Ouyang's tumultuous existence after betraying Esen was so devastating to read.

So bittersweet with Ouyang's "wait for me" at his death.

Even though a bit of his character is lost, Baoxiang was so interesting. The degrees of grief and anger that simply spurred his actions like a wheel on a cog. The brief moment he recognizes good and warmth, rather than ignoring the possibility of it, it isn't even his to keep. With the final confrontation, Zhu understood that in killing Baoxiang it would just continue the cycle that had cause so much misery.

Her briefly giving Ouyang peace with the promise of burial alongside Esen and remembrance for generations, destroyed me. I deeply wish we could have known what happened with Zhu's ascension to power and everyone's paths after.