Scan barcode
crystalisreading's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
- 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
Intense. well written. Compelling. Wonderful audio narration. Incredibly morally grey characters. Brutal. All the feels. not for the faint of heart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Slavery, Torture, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Sexism, Physical abuse, Racism, Ableism, Child death, Classism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, War, Infertility, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence
megnut's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Murder, Misogyny, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, Death of parent, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Grief
fin_pilot's review
adventurous
hopeful
informative
slow-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Misogyny
snipinfool's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
4.5
She Who Became the Sun was the story of a young girl, Zhu Yuanzhang, who uses her brother’s identity, Zhu Chongba, when he died. She had no other options open to her. Her brother had been told greatness was his fate. She hoped that becoming Zhu Chongba, she would have a better fate as well. Zhu went to a monastery and entered as a novice in hopes of securing food, shelter, and education. Zhu planned to do everything in her power to make the prophecy foretold come true.
I really enjoyed this book. I admired Zhu for choosing to take a difficult path to survive. Posing as her brother (something that she would have to do for potentially her entire life) was the only choice she could see that could provide a life with the hope of survival. Zhu was a fast learner, which allowed her to gain the skills she needed. Zhu’s nemesis, General Ouyan, was a worthy opponent who had his own interesting life history. Parker-Chan told a very compelling story. I listened to the audiobook and it was hard for me to turn it off. I was constantly curious what happened next to our main hero of the story. A sequel, He Who Drowned the World, continued Zhu’s story. I will add this to my TBR.
I really enjoyed this book. I admired Zhu for choosing to take a difficult path to survive. Posing as her brother (something that she would have to do for potentially her entire life) was the only choice she could see that could provide a life with the hope of survival. Zhu was a fast learner, which allowed her to gain the skills she needed. Zhu’s nemesis, General Ouyan, was a worthy opponent who had his own interesting life history. Parker-Chan told a very compelling story. I listened to the audiobook and it was hard for me to turn it off. I was constantly curious what happened next to our main hero of the story. A sequel, He Who Drowned the World, continued Zhu’s story. I will add this to my TBR.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, and Death
Moderate: Misogyny
amazelan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
c'était magistral.
je ne m'attendais pas à être autant transporté.e dans cette histoire, ni à m'attacher autant aux personnages ; pourtant presque toustes sont un peu affreux à leur manière. Zhu en particulier est si intéressante, et son développement est incroyable. c'est l'un des exemples les + magistraux de grey character. pareil pour Ouyang, mais différemment.
puis même les personnages + secondaires sont tous intéressants, RÉALISTES surtout dans leurs travers et leur cruauté, et leurs relations le sont toutes autant.
le désir, le destin vs les choix sont trois sujets essentiels à l'histoire et très bien développés je trouve ; ils sont finalement tous intrinsèquement liés et lient ainsi d'une certaine man ère les personnages entre eux, même si les liens se révèlent souvent destructeurs.
j'ai aussi beaucoup aimé que Zhu soit un personnage assez flou dans son genre, et surtout suivre son développement et sa prise de confiance face à cette non-conformité de genre qui fait partie de sa grande force. on voit assez peu de personnages aussi gnc, et ça fait du bien.
voir des relations peu cishet et complexes dans un livre comme celui-ci fait du bien.
les plot twists sont bien placés, l'écriture est magnifique et transporte dès le début - même si elle est assez descriptive et que le début peut paraître vraiment long (moi j'adore les descriptions comme ça donc ça m'a pas rebuté du tout ahah).
puis le mélange entre historique et fantastique est incroyable.
je pourrais écrire encore plusieurs lignes sur à quel point j'ai adoré ce livre mais j'aurais jamais les mots parfaits je crois, juste lisez-le il est TROP CHOUETTE !!
je ne m'attendais pas à être autant transporté.e dans cette histoire, ni à m'attacher autant aux personnages ; pourtant presque toustes sont un peu affreux à leur manière. Zhu en particulier est si intéressante, et son développement est incroyable. c'est l'un des exemples les + magistraux de grey character. pareil pour Ouyang, mais différemment.
puis même les personnages + secondaires sont tous intéressants, RÉALISTES surtout dans leurs travers et leur cruauté, et leurs relations le sont toutes autant.
le désir, le destin vs les choix sont trois sujets essentiels à l'histoire et très bien développés je trouve ; ils sont finalement tous intrinsèquement liés et lient ainsi d'une certaine man ère les personnages entre eux, même si les liens se révèlent souvent destructeurs.
j'ai aussi beaucoup aimé que Zhu soit un personnage assez flou dans son genre, et surtout suivre son développement et sa prise de confiance face à cette non-conformité de genre qui fait partie de sa grande force. on voit assez peu de personnages aussi gnc, et ça fait du bien.
voir des relations peu cishet et complexes dans un livre comme celui-ci fait du bien.
les plot twists sont bien placés, l'écriture est magnifique et transporte dès le début - même si elle est assez descriptive et que le début peut paraître vraiment long (moi j'adore les descriptions comme ça donc ça m'a pas rebuté du tout ahah).
puis le mélange entre historique et fantastique est incroyable.
je pourrais écrire encore plusieurs lignes sur à quel point j'ai adoré ce livre mais j'aurais jamais les mots parfaits je crois, juste lisez-le il est TROP CHOUETTE !!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexism, Violence, War, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Death, and Torture
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, and Grief
laguerrelewis's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
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
4.0
This book, like its characters, contains multitudes. It reflects on gender, survival, ambition, society, discrimination, loyalty, identity, and even more than I name here. It also manages to tell an epic story on top of all that. For that I praise Shelley Parker-Chan. My only gripes with this book are that it takes a very long time to get into the meat of the book, that the prose is beautiful at the expense of sometimes distancing us from the characters (who were truly my favorite aspect of this story) and there is a very interesting connection made with fate and biological sex throughout the story, but ultimately I, as a nonbinary reader, felt wasn’t explored as well as it could have been. All in all I recommend this book and enjoyed it, though I will say I am not in a rush to pick up the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Animal death, Abandonment, Child death, Misogyny, Blood, Murder, Violence, Vomit, Colonisation, Medical content, Classism, Excrement, Homophobia, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, and War
moreadsnrambles's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I really enjoyed the complexity of this book. I was worried that it would be overwhelming as someone who doesn’t read a lot of fantasy but I thought the premise was really interesting and the book was really good! Somehow I both liked and disliked a lot of the characters’ choices, often at the same time, but I really enjoyed getting to know their lives and stories!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Ableism, Islamophobia, Misogyny, and Slavery
jennswan's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Misogyny, Death, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Violence
offthecarousel_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I wish I could lead or be in a class studying this book. There's honestly too much to unpack. The descriptive prose is so visceral and creative it made me pause at times. The discussions of gender, especially their emotions & internalized phobias about how their bodies and how others perceive them is extremely well done. I rarely see it done to this level in published YA fantasy.
The way Zhu and Ouyang's arcs seemed like each others' road not taken, and yet each of their fates inevitable, fascinates me. In some cases they mirrored each other and others they were completely opposite. Zhu craved the gender she was perceived as while Ouyang was so repulsed by it he rejected all things feminine.
My only critiques are that the pacing felt a bit fast and loose, and the first switch to the new perspective was a bit jarring after several chapters of just one perspective.
Edit: I forgot! The fantasy element, at least in this first book, was either subtle or underdeveloped, depending on how generouly you want to look at it. I'm curious if that will come in more in the sequel, but if you're hoping for a book with a lot of fantasy, this is not the one.
The way Zhu and Ouyang's arcs seemed like each others' road not taken, and yet each of their fates inevitable, fascinates me. In some cases they mirrored each other and others they were completely opposite. Zhu craved the gender she was perceived as while Ouyang was so repulsed by it he rejected all things feminine.
My only critiques are that the pacing felt a bit fast and loose, and the first switch to the new perspective was a bit jarring after several chapters of just one perspective.
Edit: I forgot! The fantasy element, at least in this first book, was either subtle or underdeveloped, depending on how generouly you want to look at it. I'm curious if that will come in more in the sequel, but if you're hoping for a book with a lot of fantasy, this is not the one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Body shaming, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, War, Transphobia, Gore, and Misogyny
The fisting (sex) scene took me a bit by surprise I have to say.adamsrib's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
i loved this book, honestly. the prose was evocative and very nicely written, which made the book easy to devour. i loved the setting, and the fact that the magical elements were small enough to add mysticism and intrigue whilst not overshadowing the rest of the worldbuilding.
i do admit that this book would likely not be everyone's cup of tea. it does not shy away from descriptions of war and violence and political subterfuge. the main characters, with the exception of one, are all morally grey: nobody is the "perfect hero" on either side of the war. the end of the novel is good but bittersweet and, in my opinion, suited the novel wonderfully.
i do admit that this book would likely not be everyone's cup of tea. it does not shy away from descriptions of war and violence and political subterfuge. the main characters, with the exception of one, are all morally grey: nobody is the "perfect hero" on either side of the war. the end of the novel is good but bittersweet and, in my opinion, suited the novel wonderfully.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Colonisation, Child death, and Sexual content
Minor: Misogyny