Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

280 reviews

jess_always_reading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely loved this story. The writing is beautifully done, evoking emotion in even the meanest description. Parker-Chan was able to conveying so much with each character's portrayal and the plots, machinations, and political movements were intriguing. I truly had no idea where this would end up when I started. 

The queer themes added a wonderful complexity to the storylines. Parker-Chan treats the queerness of their characters as an added dimension rather than a heavy-handed all-encompassing character trait. Though there's a place for that too, I really appreciated the way they crafted those parts of the story. It fit well and felt realistic. 

The story does depect violence,  death, and dark themes but not in a gratuitous way. 

10/10 would recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Blood, Violence, Ableism, Body shaming, Death, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Grief, Sexual violence, Slavery, Animal death, and Vomit

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.

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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.

galexy_brain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.5

Such a beautifully written epic about fate, desire, identity, ambition, and duty. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Gore, Sexism, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit, Animal death, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Ableism, Colonisation, Bullying, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Grief

hue's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Child abuse, Misogyny, War, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Animal death, Blood, Sexual content, Murder, and Racism

waqupi's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, and Child abuse

Moderate: Misogyny and Death

Minor: Grief and Death of parent

sofipitch's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

This was amazing. I wasn't expecting it to be as character driven as it is, just the cover made me think that there would be big battle scene descriptions but if they aren't relevant to the characters it's summed up in a few sentences. I loved that about this book, because what the author is interested in is this story of a person who came from nothing becoming the most powerful person in the world and what that person sacrificed to get there, mostly morals. Does absolute power corrupt absolutely? I guess I'll find out in the sequel. The gender component added to the story is excellent, tackling how it makes a person perceive themselves and how others see them through a variety of characters. Big themes yet the characters are ones I'm tuning in for. Ouyang had to grow on me, his last scene was sooooo good though

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, War, Violence, Torture, Misogyny, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Grief, Child death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Blood, and Outing

hfieldin2796's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Violence, and Death of parent

elizas's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child death, Gore, Abandonment, Murder, and Death of parent

eener's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Dysphoria, Abandonment, Body horror, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Death, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Ableism, and War

Minor: Cannibalism

zozo_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Physical abuse, Genocide, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent