Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

4 reviews

throwback682's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

From the publisher:

“Mulan meets The Song of Achilles in Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun, a bold, queer, and lyrical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty from an amazing new voice in literary fantasy.”

Phew. This book was so good and I’m ready to immediately dive into the conclusion of the Radiant Emperor duology - He Who Drowned the World. 

This book is about human suffering - due to war, patriarchy, religion, etc. It’s not an easy or lighthearted read. I liked so many of the characters in spite of them all being pretty bad people - some of the best characters are power hungry, blood thirsty, and ruthless - and it gets worse from there. 

But I’ll be damned if I wasn’t rooting for them!

This book has some very queer elements (both in terms of sexuality and gender) but very much in a way that’s framed by its setting - you won’t be able to neatly cram these characters into 21st century western boxes and labels, though you might be tempted. 

Although the bulk of the “adult” content in this book is the violence of war, there’s also one graphic sex scene, FYI. See also the content warnings. 

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vaguely_pink's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25


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kers_tin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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


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andromeda_1998's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

She who became the sun is an epic novel about Zhu’s journey towards greatness. Eventhough the endpoint of the duology is clear, the writer was able to make this book unpredictable. The writing is impeccable and this book is a really good recommendation for lovers of the poppy war. What is it that makes this book so great? 

Characters 
Zhu is a strong character that has come a long way in the journey to find themselves. Eventhough she does some despicable things, you will still find yourself rooting for her. This book has muliple pov’s, and eventhough I liked Ouyangs story less I do think it’s an important pov to have. It transforms Ouyang from a mythical angry general into a hurt and damaged men who’s trying to take revenge for what has been done to his family. 

Ma Yingzi is one of the characters I liked less. She is nothing more than the empathetic woman who follows Zhu trough her troubles and I would have loved for her to have more moments where she would show her desires for life. 

Worldbuilding 
This book is a genderbended retailing of the ascension of Zhu Yuanzhuang, the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. It has fantasy elements, and it has been done beautifully.  The story focuses a lot on political games and can be a bit hard to read but in the end it’s worth it. 

Writing 
The writing is beautifully done. There are some amazing quotes in this book! 

Story
Like I said before the story focuses on political games and war themes. It has some big triggerwarnings and the book can be very heavy to read. 

Recommendations 
If you loved this book I would recommend you the poppy war but also the priory of the orange tree. The poppy war and she who became the sun are closer together but this kind of epic story also fits in very well with the priory of the orange tree 

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