A review by moonmisandrist
He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

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

4.0

What a book. 

Shelley Parker-Chan is an amazing writer, the world they have created is alive and so dark (much darker than I anticipated (or was comfortable with at times!), and the characters fully reflect the story they exist in. Before reading the book, for some silly reason, I was worried about this one having such a focus on Baoxiang (sorry I love Ouyang and Zhu a lot). Unsurprisingly SPC proved me <i>soo</i> wrong. Baoxiang the man that you are... 

I really loved spending time with all the characters in the first book again - apart from Baoxiang though, I did not care for one other new major POV character unfortunately. 

While I was reading this book, I had a great time. I ate it up and let myself feel all the emotions along with the characters. Overall I had a great reading experience (except for one scene). Once finished, my heart and brain recovered, and here are some thoughts.

Loved: the characters, the overall story/journey, Ma (best character), commentary/portrayals of gender, the grief is never-ending but so is the love. and my god the YEARNING in this book.

Disliked/questioning: the pacing, the conclusion of what it is to be feminine, the explicit darkness of some scenes - including the over represtation of some dark themes, and the ending feeling a bit sudden and underdeveloped. 

- The pacing and tone of the book jumped around a lot. At the start it felt too slow, then it was all too quick. Paired with the jump from a very intense dark scene to characters doing...very little in another chapter made it feel hard to stay grounded in the story.

-How sex was used in the story. Much of the story involves politics. Of course, sex will be involved in a royal court setting. Unfortunately, I struggled to understand what SPC was trying to say about sex (and sexual violence) with this story. And at worst, I landed with the feeling that (vague spoilers)
everyone who is 'feminine' (with the understanding that gender is different to us all, and femininity is not a confined easily to describe concept!) must use sex as a tool - in fact, it may be the only tool you have, as every major character in this book (save one??) used sex to gain power in this series with their femininity. I would have much rather preferred one or two characters to have done so, while the others did not, as this creates a discussion about society and power and the characters themselves. For everyone to be doing it...leaves me feeling quite disillusioned. Especially Zhu's scene...


- A new POV Character (major spoilers)
I am still unsure of Madame Zhang's place in the story. I think I will be thinking about her for a long time, and while I do not hate her, I found it hard to care for her/her motives. In many ways, I think she could have existed as a character in Baoxiang narrative without being a POV character. I feel much that she does/happens to her could have been inferred/uncovered by Baoxiang and it'd further show how isolated he is - we'd have no insight into his world save his POV scenes. It goes without saying, the sexual assault scene, is a lot. And as I couldn't understand her character, I feel like I don't have the 'closure' of that scene or its purpose.


Once again I must say how much I enjoyed the initial journey I went on with this series. I will reread one day, and I look forward to revisiting my thoughts. 
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