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adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
My first five star fiction of 2024 is He Who Drowned The World, the sequel to the excellent She Who Became the Sun. Set in mid-1300s China, this book picks up where its predecessor left off (and, helpfully, includes a very brief overview of where the previous book left the main characters). The book follows several characters vying for the imperial throne and, with it, the ability to shape the future in which they all live. The plot moves quickly, but for me the character work is what really shines here; the characters are multi-faceted and complex and the subtleties of their shifting motivations and relationships are extraordinarily well developed. Themes of cisnormativity and heteronormativity - particularly how their ideologies are internalized and wielded by those they most harm - are handled so skillfully; this was an emotional read, and is the kind of queer historical fantasy I want to read.
In comparison, to the first book, the sequel is definitely heavier in tone; I would also say that the fantasy elements figure more prominently. Having read the first book is vital to reading this one.
Content warnings: War, violence, murder, blood, injury detail, ableism, internalized homophobia, sexism/misogyny, death of a child, drowning, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, torture, rape (several instances, in one case described in some detail on-page), animal cruelty & death. This book is not easy reading. It is not the most graphic by any means, but violence is absolutely pervasive throughout and the author's skill means that the content is deeply impactful.
In comparison, to the first book, the sequel is definitely heavier in tone; I would also say that the fantasy elements figure more prominently. Having read the first book is vital to reading this one.
Content warnings: War, violence, murder, blood, injury detail, ableism, internalized homophobia, sexism/misogyny, death of a child, drowning, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, torture, rape (several instances, in one case described in some detail on-page), animal cruelty & death. This book is not easy reading. It is not the most graphic by any means, but violence is absolutely pervasive throughout and the author's skill means that the content is deeply impactful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book really managed to outshine the first book in many ways. From adding new interesting POVs to really diving deep into the themes of gender expectations and gender performance.
It can feel very slow at times but that is because puzzle pieces are moving all the time. I feel like it needed like a couple of pages more at the end because it felt to me that the story stopped very abruptly. However, I think that the ending still does justice to everyone's character arc.
I would warn anyone to really look at the content warnings because it really is dark at times.
It can feel very slow at times but that is because puzzle pieces are moving all the time. I feel like it needed like a couple of pages more at the end because it felt to me that the story stopped very abruptly. However, I think that the ending still does justice to everyone's character arc.
I would warn anyone to really look at the content warnings because it really is dark at times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Blood
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
After She Who Became The Sun, I knew I would love this, but i’m still shocked by how much. I was just as immersed in this one, despite different perspectives, and the emotional payoff was huge.
This is a 5-star read, no question. If I were Shelley Parker-Chan, I would feel so proud to have created such a dynamic work of art.
This is a 5-star read, no question. If I were Shelley Parker-Chan, I would feel so proud to have created such a dynamic work of art.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Chronic illness, Pregnancy
Most content warnings come from the fact that the story is about war, but it’s still challenging regardless, especially the torture.
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I’ve had this sitting on my bookshelf since it came out but, as so often happens, having it just laying around meant it faded to the background whenever I was deciding what to read next. Not the worst case of that (there’s a lovely of Cyteen that’s been sitting on my dresser and shaming me for at least a year now), but certainly long enough for me to regret it.
The story is a direct sequel to She Who Became The Sun, a low fantasy retelling of the fall of the Yuan Dynasty and the ascension of Zhu Yuanzhang to the imperial throne – though in this universe the ‘real’ Zhu Yuanzhang died a starving peasant child, and his sister assumed his identity and his destiny of greatness, willing to do anything and everything it takes to force the world into alignment with it. The book starts with her having lost her right hand, and only gets more emphatic about making her prove it from there.
Aside from Zhu, the narration’s split between several different points of view that fill out the struggle for the future of China. The book honestly does a better job with multiple POVs than the vast majority of epic fantasy I’ve read – every one is a thematic mirror of Zhu on one level or another, and every one has an arc dedicated to the book’s twin fascinations of what it means to be willing to do anything to achieve what you want on one hand, and gender nonconformity and queerness in an intensely patriarchal traditional society on the other.
The actual plot of the story is almost episodic – Zhu encounters some new obstacle on her way to victoriously marching to the Mongol capital at Dadu that can’t be defeated with the blunt force she has available, and she and some collection of the supporting cast goes on an insane adventure to snatch victory regardless. Then every so often there’s a cutaway to Wang Baoxiang (who, among all the other POVs, is easily the one that comes closest to deuteragonist status) scheming his way through imperial court politics in Dadu in his incredibly operatic and self-degrading scheme for revenge on his dead brother. The plots start affecting each other quite early, but I’m pretty sure it’s only in the last twenty pages or so that the two of them actually meet face to face (it is in fact a minor plot point that Wang can’t recognize Zhu when he sees her). It all manages to feel like it’s capturing a whole swathe of political intrigue beyond any one person’s understanding and feel fairly well plotted and cohesive as it comes together. Not that there aren’t plenty of points where you have to just run with it and not push back at what the book’s telling you but nowhere where it’s serious or blatant enough to actually be an issue.
I’m not sure it’s a complaint per se, but one thing that did take some adjusting to is just how, melodramatic I suppose? All the POVs in the book feel very profoundly and effusively, and also have absolutely zero awareness or understanding of their own emotions. This is particularly acute with Wang and Madame Zhang, but in every case there’s just a lot of characters being driven by emotions too large to be contained within them. It kind of feels like a musical, in that respect (but absolutely no other, to be clear).
Anyways, this is a book with absolutely massive amounts of Gender in it. With like, literally one exception, every POV is to some great extent defined by struggling against their position in the gender system of medieval China, and all the issues doing so their entire lives has left them with (Zhu is far and away the most healthy and well-adjusted about this.) Importantly, being oppressed and marginalized for being a woman/effeminate man/eunuch is in no way edifying or ennobling – it’s mostly left everyone involved deeply damaged and full of coping mechanisms that serve them poorly and everyone around them far worse. There’s basically no mention of even the idea of solidarity among the oppressed here – Madame Zhang tortures, mutilates and kills her own maids and her husbands’ consorts whenever necessary, Wang operatic revenge plot involves befriending and seducing a queer prince knowing it will get him killed in the end, Ouyang hates how effeminate his body is and deals with this by becoming a pathological misogynist – even Zhu doesn’t spare much to think about the cause of woman’s liberation beyond herself and her wife. Given the state of a lot of modern genre lit I honestly found this rather refreshing.
As both cause and consequence of the choice of POVs, the book has a rather interesting relationship with normative masculinity. There’s, as far as I can tell, exactly two examples of successful heroic/virtuous normative masculinity in the book – General Zhang and the Grand Councillor of the Yuan – and despite both being really incredibly competent and fearsome on the battlefield and legitimately selfless and honorable, both end up condemned as traitors to their respective lieges (both indolent, vicious, and generally contemptible men without anything in the way of redeeming features, themselves) and dying unpleasantly after being outmanoeuvred in court intrigue. Victory in the end goes not to those who are cherished by their society but the ones who are overlooked and brutalized by it but are willing and able to do whatever it takes and use anything and everything they can to claw their way to the top despite it.
Speaking of – the overriding throughline of the story is what it means to be willing to do anything to achieve your life’s ambition. Being willing to endure pain and suffering goes without saying, and while the book does put its leads through the physical ringer, that’s not really what it’s interested in. Are you willing to spend the lives of those who trust and rely upon you? Sacrifice those you love, or ask them to die for you? Betray those who have only ever shown you kindness? Are you willing to degrade and humiliate yourself, or lie and betray your own hard-won and precarious identity? And once you’ve done all that, and finally achieved your heart’s desire – well, are you really sure it was all worth it? Three cases out of four in the book, at least, ended up regretting it in the end.
This is a book that’s very concerned with sex and sexuality but, like, very nearly exclusively in offputting or unpleasant ways. There’s something like a dozen sex scenes (okay, ‘scenes with sex in them’ is probably the less misleading description. If you come looking for porn you’ll be disappointed) in the book and of them I believe exactly one that you could characterize as enthusiastically consensual and mutually enjoyable. Maybe three, if you count the incredibly toxic relationship which boils down to asking for help dong self-harm and it turns into a sadomasochist thing. Which never becomes/is never understood as sexual by the people engaging in it but describing it is definitely the closest the book gets to erotica. In any event, just somewhat surprising to see so much sex paired with so little romance, relative to most modern stuff I’ve read. Ties into how alienated literally everyone is from their bodies, I suppose.
Also I really don’t know enough about the historical memory of the early Ming dynasty to know whether all the stuff about how Zhu knows what it’s like to be nothing and how she’ll reorder the world to care for everyone is supposed to read as really darkly ironic or not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Homophobia, Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual assault
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Blood, Vomit
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, War
Moderate: Xenophobia
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
Vague spoilers ahead.
This book. This freaking book.
Shelley Parker-Chan masterfully mixes the queer experience with the historic backdrop in SWBTS, and this continues in new wonderful and tragic ways in the sequel. It is stunning in its prose and pacing, and so well researched. The settings are vivid, from the smells to the backdrops of pirate ships. It spits in the face of gender, and gender roles, and challanges mysgony in every breath. I was angry, I was distraught, and I was heartbroken, but it was also so strangely beautiful and hopeful, in spite of all the darkness. This is a book about power, ambition, desire, and what you would do to seize your fate.
The character arc of each of these characters is astronomical, particularly in our main protagonist, Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu has done nothing but survive for her entire life, but in HE, we begin to see her learn the costs of her will, her pursuit of greatness. We see Zhu learn about herself, own herself and her body, and learn to accept and give love to those she cares for. We see her learn and grow, and when we finally see her wants come to fruition, it feels so right.
Ouyang is a character I have EXTREMELY complicated feelings about. General Ouyang leads a tragic life from start to finish. Ouyang's desires juxtaposed against Zhu's reveal several similarities, but I think Ouyang is Zhu if she never learned to see outside of herself. The way these two characters balance against each other? Magic. Ouyang's entire arc just hurt, hurt in a way that made me want to hug my friends closer.
Baoxiang is a can of worms that I was not expecting from this book. His melodrama and flair and just sheer toxicity were like a bomb going off. It hurt to watch, but it hurt more to look away. Baoxiang was the quiet one, the one no one saw coming. His quiet ascent was bone chilling, but his bitter-sweet downfall brought forth Zhu's merciful side beautifully. I found myself relating to him one sentence, wanting to hug him in another, and then being horrified the next.
And that ENDING. Perfect. No notes.
This book. This freaking book.
Shelley Parker-Chan masterfully mixes the queer experience with the historic backdrop in SWBTS, and this continues in new wonderful and tragic ways in the sequel. It is stunning in its prose and pacing, and so well researched. The settings are vivid, from the smells to the backdrops of pirate ships. It spits in the face of gender, and gender roles, and challanges mysgony in every breath. I was angry, I was distraught, and I was heartbroken, but it was also so strangely beautiful and hopeful, in spite of all the darkness. This is a book about power, ambition, desire, and what you would do to seize your fate.
The character arc of each of these characters is astronomical, particularly in our main protagonist, Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu has done nothing but survive for her entire life, but in HE, we begin to see her learn the costs of her will, her pursuit of greatness. We see Zhu learn about herself, own herself and her body, and learn to accept and give love to those she cares for. We see her learn and grow, and when we finally see her wants come to fruition, it feels so right.
Ouyang is a character I have EXTREMELY complicated feelings about. General Ouyang leads a tragic life from start to finish. Ouyang's desires juxtaposed against Zhu's reveal several similarities, but I think Ouyang is Zhu if she never learned to see outside of herself. The way these two characters balance against each other? Magic. Ouyang's entire arc just hurt, hurt in a way that made me want to hug my friends closer.
Baoxiang is a can of worms that I was not expecting from this book. His melodrama and flair and just sheer toxicity were like a bomb going off. It hurt to watch, but it hurt more to look away. Baoxiang was the quiet one, the one no one saw coming. His quiet ascent was bone chilling, but his bitter-sweet downfall brought forth Zhu's merciful side beautifully. I found myself relating to him one sentence, wanting to hug him in another, and then being horrified the next.
And that ENDING. Perfect. No notes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Deadnaming
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Cohering my thoughts about this book and the duology together is a herculean challenge. It was not a pleasant reading experience, in that horrible things are happening to all characters at all times. It is one of my favorite books in that a vice was slowly, constantly contracting around my lungs until I finished it.
Even more so than the previous book, the transness in this one is tangible. A number of lines were clearly written in response to current events in our world. The interweaving of the ensemble is just as masterful as the first book. Beginning this book, I was afraid that it would fall short because my favorite element of book one couldn't continue ( that being the ouyang/esen relationship, when one of them is dead ), but my fears were unfounded. Not only did that thread continue, but it was intensified amongst other threads.
My options discussing this book are to break it down entirely and speak at length, or to simply say it's magnificent, and I suppose I'll settle for the latter.
(I strongly recommend checking content warnings. If you would prefer not to, keep the tone and events of book one in mind and know book two pushes a little bit further.)
Even more so than the previous book, the transness in this one is tangible. A number of lines were clearly written in response to current events in our world. The interweaving of the ensemble is just as masterful as the first book. Beginning this book, I was afraid that it would fall short because my favorite element of book one couldn't continue (
My options discussing this book are to break it down entirely and speak at length, or to simply say it's magnificent, and I suppose I'll settle for the latter.
(I strongly recommend checking content warnings. If you would prefer not to, keep the tone and events of book one in mind and know book two pushes a little bit further.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide
Minor: Cursing, Infertility, Trafficking, Abortion, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Dysphoria
A number of characters rely on dissociation as a coping mechanism.
Especially compared to the previous book, there is quite a bit of on-page sex. While technically on page, it is almost never graphically detailed. Additionally (and fitting for the setting), it almost always falls into the dicey consent grounds of transactional sex – e.g. a lesbian actively choosing to sleep with a certain man for money or power. There is a single rape scene, and again, while on-page, it's brief and sparsely detailed.
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Incredible second book to the duology. All the stories are wrapped so well, the threads from the beginning all fully coming to their place. Queer murderous imperial China that I didn’t know I needed. Ended 2023 perfectly
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War
This is a book mostly about war and colonialism so, while well done and worth it in most cases, it’s not an easy read