Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - She Who Became the Sun

What a cool read. A dark reimagining of the birth of an empire, holding no punches as it informs along the way.

There's a substantial amount of cultural and historical information, the harsh realities represented beautifully and without pause, with just enough fantastical elements to make it shine the brighter. Can't wait to check out the next one.

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leanne_miron's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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heather_harrison's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.0

“Desire is the cause of all suffering. All Zhu had ever desired was to live. Now she felt the pure strength of that desire inside her, as inseparable as her breath or qi, and knew she would suffer from it. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the awful magnitude of the suffering that would be required to achieve greatness in the chaotic, violent world outside.”

It's Mulan vibes but with more violence, war and treachery, with an element of fantasy. BUT... also a really interesting exploration of destiny, gender identity and gender fluidity. How refreshing to have complex gender-queer relationships in historical fantasy! The prose is great and even the (spicy) scenes are beautifully written.

I did go into this relatively blind, and didn't know that it reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Parker-Chan takes great effort to build the world, and it does feel deeply rooted in history with many examples of grim reality.

We meet a young girl, a peasant of the famine-stricken Central Plains of China, who was fated for nothing (literally). She adopts her brother's identity after he tragically dies, as he was fated for greatness. She decides to take his name, identity and in turn, his greatness, to survive for herself.

Our main character definitely leans more towards to the anti-hero, and will do anything to survive.

There is a lot of confusion with the pronouns for Zhu's character - as they seem to switch between she/her and he/him depending on the situation. For clarity, I'm going to refer to Zhu as they/them. They are resilient and cunning and you can't help but be enamored. I absolutely adored the part one of this novel - as it centred around Zhu’s survival

and their time in becoming a monk whilst hiding their gender.

. Part two takes an unexpected turn, as we are introduced to our secondary POV - Ouyang, on the opposing side of the the war taking place.

Ouyang is a eunuch and general in the Mongol army, who also happened be enslaved by the Mongols after his entire family were slaughtered by their army. He also happens to have fallen for the Esen, the prince and son of the leader of the Mongols. When his intentions for revenge are first hinted at - I got so excited but I felt this did let me down a little.

I definitely enjoyed Zhu's perspective more and wouldn't have minded just having the story follow her but it wasn't a deal breaker.

As the narrative progresses, Zhu and Ouyang’s fate become entwined.

The pacing was a bit uneven, and I did find it a bit of a slog until I reached the final part of the story, that I did feel like a 'missed' parts of this because some seemingly important things are just skimmed over. To make matters worse, a lot of the important parts of the story take place 'off page' so we don't even get to see them.

I do feel that Parker-Chan does a very good job at not portraying either the Mongols or the Red Turbans as inherently good or bad. There are no morally superior war heroes in this tale, only survival. I am looking forward to the second book being released this year, and closing off the duology.

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sadiaa's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No

2.75

I listened to this as an audiobook, it was the only way to get through it. I kept picking it up and putting it down, I didn't feel interested by it, the only reason I finished it was because I borrowed it from the library. I felt that the pacing was so slow and that the book could have been shorter, lots of added detail that was slowing my interest. Don't think I'll read the sequel but glad I finally got this off my tbr list.

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knicke's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-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

4.5

She Who Became The Sun is outstanding. The tale is familiar due to the source material being Chinese myth and folklore, but the story is still so original. The characters are fantastic, too. It’s soapy in the best way. This book is a personal favourite of the year for sure!

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leweylibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring 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

4.25

I put off this review for so long, I think because I was conflicted. The blurb on the front promised that this would break me and I would be grateful, but I just do not feel broken at all? Lol I think I needed time to sit with it and appreciate it more, hence the 4.25 stars.

I LOVED the Mulan vibes and Song of Achilles vibes of this book. I loved the queerness and how much gender and the stereotypes and roles around them were discussed. I think it was a fun look into a fictional version of life back in this time in China. There are also a TON of spots I highlighted for quotes, so that counts for something in my mind.

Mainly what I didn't like was how slow it was with what always felt like very little happening even when a lot was happening if that makes sense? I also wanted more from the genderqueer MC and less than the male MC, although I do understand why they included that second perspective. Lastly, idk why but I expected it to be a bit more about their journey to being emperor, but by the end they're really just getting started on that journey officially. That is why I do think I'll read the second book, but I'm not like super, super enthusiastic about it.

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cassieslibrary's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

“…she knew she wouldn’t give up greatness. Not for a child’s life, and not even to prevent the suffering of the people she loved, and who loved her.”

This story is a reimagining of the Ming Dynasty’s first Emperor; the Hongwu Emperor (Zhu Yuanzhang).

I really wanted to like this story. Historical fiction with elements of fantasy, a sapphic romance, and an exploration of gender identity. This sounded right up my alley! But unfortunately, I did not love this book.

It begins with a young girl in a village that is plagued by famine. This young girl has been promised a fate of ‘nothingness’. Her brother (Zhu Chongba), however, has been promised a fate of ‘greatness’ and yet, dies soon after. To avoid her terrible destiny, the young girl claims her brother’s identity and enters a monastery. When the monastery is destroyed, Zhu is forced back into a chaos-stricken world. She does everything in her power to stay alive and convince Heaven that she is worthy of her brother’s fate.

I really liked the first part of this book. The reader is thrown into the young girl’s life and instantly connects with her and her terrible life experiences.

While in the monastery, Zhu is a great character. Her ambition and majority of her actions are justifiable.

However, when Zhu enters the real world, her ambition goes unchecked. She will do anything, and I mean anything, to claim her brother’s destiny (including killing innocent people, putting her own people in unnecessary danger, and hurting the people she cares about with zero remorse). This made the book extremely difficult to get through because I need to like (or at least enjoy reading about) a protagonist in order to like a novel. I know that Zhu Chongba’s character is based on the Hongwu Emperor (who was also a ruthless and ambitious leader) but it just made me not enjoy this book as much as I wanted to.

I also found that the pacing of Parts 2 and 3 were really slow. After the immersive and brilliantly tragic first part of this novel, I was disappointed to find that the rest of the book dragged on and on.

Finally, I wish that the magic system was explained in more depth because I did not know what was going on with the random appearances of ghosts & the bursts of light 😭

⭐️⭐️⭐️

*spoilers below* ⚠️⚠️⚠️

The one character I liked was Ma but I wish that she had stood up to Zhu at the end of the book (especially because she had cared about the Prince of Radiance so much). It was sad to see her just accept that she was likely going to continue getting hurt by Zhu.

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