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Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Lui che annegò il mondo by Shelley Parker-Chan

51 reviews

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad 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

Who knew this was generally based on the founding of the Ming dynasty! Wasn't me, I didn't know... 

This one felt a lot darker and less hopeful. Mostly sad and a lot of realizing that getting what you want is sometimes bad. The betrayals hit super deep. 

Best parts are obviously Zhu and her relationships. I love Ma and all her gentleness, and Ouyang, and his everything. 

A lot of things in this books could be summed up as "wow, turns out patriarchy really fucks people up!"

I really loved this series but I'm glad it's over 😅 
Honestly loved it enough I'd read it again. 

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adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

Only read if you’re prepared for 500 pages of many awful people doing many awful things. It was a lot.

However, the writing and plotting were excellent and I was always pulled forward into the next chapter. I was especially surprised by and liked the turn that the last 100 pages took.

I will never not hate the self-absorbed idiot that is Ouyang, but I did still find his chapters interesting. I really enjoyed Zhu’s character arc, and anytime Ma appeared were the best parts of the whole story (ahh she deserved so much better!). 

Highly recommend checking content warnings before picking this one up, but if you’re keen to continue following these cruel & dramatic queers into book 2 then it does a good job of wrapping up everyone’s journey in a satisfying (often explicitly violent) way.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional tense 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional 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: No

A much more emotionally taxing story than its counterpart, He Who Drowned the World eclipsed its predecessor in all ways. I was surprised to find myself crying, when at other parts of the story I had to force myself to continue reading. 

I really appreciated the continued depth with which the author explored gender and identity in this series, as well as mental health. 

This story forces you to ask yourself, “is it too late to change the fate that I chose?” And “who am I once I turn away from everything I’ve always believed?”

While not a 5⭐️ duology for me personally, I think it is worth the time. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad fast-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I’m giving this a 4 for the quality of the writing, characterization, and the political intrigue. I love morally grey characters but my goodness these characters were too morally grey for me.
We hit the second child murder in the series and the violent rape scene and it was just… a lot.
I also think for all the horrible things the characters did and experienced the author could’ve leaned further into an ambiguous ending, it felt a little like the last 5 pages transferred from a more traditional happy ending after 400 pages of plotting and intrigue. Lot of trigger warnings in this one, so definitely believe those. I wanted to like the characters more than I did. If you’re really into political intrigue and like an immoral (or amoral) protagonist then you’ll like it. Normally I support gay rights and gay wrongs but this is a few too many gay wrongs for me, personally. Also… everyone is super into using sex to get what they want.

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