Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

9 reviews

navyredrose's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring reflective tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Vomit, Xenophobia, Torture, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death of parent, Classism, and Sexual content

Minor: Transphobia and Child death

teriodvarkova88's review against another edition

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

4.0

forget the whole song of achilles crossover with mulan its more like the poppy war - she will do whaever it takes to get what she wants
there is a little bit of romance tho 

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 zhu and ma have my heart<33

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, Torture, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Grief, and War

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

I really do love books that explore the complexity of human emotions. This book picks at the hangnail of your soul and then pulls. It blurs the line between who you were and who you are and who you will become. It features ghosts, monks, fate, revenge, pining, and there’s gender fuckery afoot; what more could you ask for? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Ableism, Death, War, Violence, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Death of parent, Child death, Classism, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, and Colonisation

Minor: Alcohol and Animal death

percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

At the time of writing this, I have finished both She Who Became the Sun and He Who Drowned the World. I have no intention of spoiling either book in this review; I had just wanted to wait to write this after finishing the duology as I was interested if any of my opinions of the writing and characters would change.

I have heard a lot about this book online. I know it's fairly popular and heralded as a Sapphic masterpiece. It is definitely good, that's for certain. I don't feel like it was too over-hyped, though the Sapphic elements were not what expected. However, I still loved the Sapphic relationship and the dynamics between the two characters. It was interesting to see how they balanced each other.

I really really enjoyed the worldbuilding and characters, both were big strengths for the novel and what drew me in the most. Though sometimes I felt lost in the different cultures portrayed, it wasn't a constant feeling and the writing emphasized the important themes and points that meant that total understanding wasn't entirely necessary.

Zhu's POV was my favorite part of the book. While Ouyang had interesting sections as well, especially as we got to know his character and motivations, I'm a total sucker for "chosen one" tropes and Zhu is very similar to that in the way she chases her fate. Because of this, I definitely felt like there was a bit of an odd balance to the POVs and pacing, in addition to the fact that the book is overall a slow book. But I didn't mind once I got to the end. The end was so perfect to keep readers on their toes and maintain intrigue for the sequel, which is part of the reason I waited to write this: so that I could read the sequel right away!

Reading this actually made me want to reread similar books, like Wesley Chu's The Art of Prophecy and Sue Lynn Tan's Daughter of the Moon Goddess. Anyways, if you're curious about She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan now that the sequel is out, I definitely think it is worth the read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Vomit, Homophobia, Transphobia, Sexism, Violence, War, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Xenophobia, Racism, and Animal death

Minor: Sexual harassment and Religious bigotry

marsh_mall0w's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, War, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, and Misogyny

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Alcohol, Bullying, and Torture

nicnevin's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Honestly stunning prose

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Ableism, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Slavery, Animal death, Body horror, Alcohol, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and War

samugranjo's review

adventurous reflective 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? Yes

4.5

The focus of this book is desire, this desire obtains different shapes but usually there's a pursue of power involved. The author wrote about humans relationship with desire incredibly.
The characters are lovable at times but with most of them you are gonna feel annoyed too, feel like they have went too far. You both understand them and want to stop them.
The way the author writes about gender is outstanding, I was surprised by how much I related to this book as a genderqueer person. There's also some representation in the ace spectrum that I think was done well considering how little space it had.
Overall really recommend this read, and have to end this review by praising the writing in this novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, War, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Slavery, Torture, Alcohol, Body horror, Classism, Cursing, Genocide, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infertility, and Vomit

paulrichard's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring reflective tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Body shaming

Moderate: Violence, War, and Religious bigotry

foreverinastory's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

 And with this, I have read all three of the Sapphic Trifecta AKA the Classics.

This book was incredible. From the cast of characters, to the plot I was entraced from the first page. There were quite a few time jumps in this, but I found myself enjoying the way this story was told. Even though it spans years, we get enough of every part of Zhu's life. The ending was quite dark, I cannot wait to see what will come next!

Rep: Sapphic genderqueer BIPOC MC, genderqueer BIPOC eunuch MC, sapphic BIPOC female side character, side MLM relationship, supporting cast of BIPOC characters.

CWs: Ableism, alcohol consumption, animal death, blood, colonisation, cursing, death, death of parent, injury/injury detail, misogyny, murder, religious bigotry, sexism, sexual content, violence, war. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Alcohol, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, and War