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4.3 AVERAGE
4.3 AVERAGE
medium-paced
kay, I love when duologies have two very different books. I enjoyed She Who Became the Sun but was not particularly surprised or impressed by it, but He Who Drowned the World is decidedly delightful.
This one has so many more moving pieces, politicking and backstabbing, with many of the schemes being pretty genius and bizarre. I assume it’s because Parker-Chan didn’t have to spend time on world-building and building up their huge cast of characters, so they were able to immediately launch into the story. The three big factions gunning for the throne are Madam Zhang, Wang Baoxiang, and Zhu Yuanzhang. The reader is set up to root for Zhu, but Madam Zhang and Baoxiang are so compelling and complex that it’s difficult to remember that you’re supposed to hope for them to fail. What’s especially good about He Who Drowns the World is that each faction is using a totally different strategy: Zhu has her armies, Baoxiang has his ledgers and economics, and Madam Zhang has her little men to manipulate. Part of my personal conflict was that I love to see the economics play out and wanted that strategy to be the winning one, but also love Zhu (or really, Zhu’s wife)...
The only problem I had was that given how many moving pieces & characters there are, it was quite difficult to remember all the plot threads going into the second book. I read a lot of sequels with a year plus gap from the original, but I don’t think that’s really possible with this one.
Thank you to TOR books for the ARC!
This one has so many more moving pieces, politicking and backstabbing, with many of the schemes being pretty genius and bizarre. I assume it’s because Parker-Chan didn’t have to spend time on world-building and building up their huge cast of characters, so they were able to immediately launch into the story. The three big factions gunning for the throne are Madam Zhang, Wang Baoxiang, and Zhu Yuanzhang. The reader is set up to root for Zhu, but Madam Zhang and Baoxiang are so compelling and complex that it’s difficult to remember that you’re supposed to hope for them to fail. What’s especially good about He Who Drowns the World is that each faction is using a totally different strategy: Zhu has her armies, Baoxiang has his ledgers and economics, and Madam Zhang has her little men to manipulate. Part of my personal conflict was that I love to see the economics play out and wanted that strategy to be the winning one, but also love Zhu (or really, Zhu’s wife)...
The only problem I had was that given how many moving pieces & characters there are, it was quite difficult to remember all the plot threads going into the second book. I read a lot of sequels with a year plus gap from the original, but I don’t think that’s really possible with this one.
Thank you to TOR books for the ARC!
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
6⭐️
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
medium-paced
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:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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:
Complicated