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A review by piratesandprophecy
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
first off, i don’t know what kind of experimental writer-drug shelley parker-chan did to achieve this level of complexity and nuance and utter PERFECTION, but i’ll have whatever they’re having.
she who became the sun is not an easy book to read. this baby is DENSE. there are soooo many moving pieces at play in the politics, so many details and places and characters to keep track of, but it’s so rewarding in the sheer entertainment and emotional intensity it provides as a story. while this book is HEAVY on characterization i never ever felt that the pacing was weird. it absolutely did what it needed to do for me, and parker-chan’s writing is so intentional and artful that this book felt like it was thoroughly thought out in every way. the blurb likens it to the song of achilles but i would say it’s much more similar to the poppy war.
and the characters, holy fuck. this book has no soft fluffy sweet characters to speak of. these are determined, driven antiheroes constantly working toward their individual fates, and a lot of the time not giving a fuck who they have to hurt to get there. and so many of them are delightfully queer. one of the true strengths of this book was the way queer longing was depicted. ouyang’s POV especially. the anger, jealousy, shame, otherness and YEARNING he experienced all felt so real. everything he felt the reader could feel and that to me is the mark of masterful characters in a novel.
and then there’s zhu’s POV with the obsessive push to her fate and the turmoil of trying to figure out who she actually is. the depiction of gender dysphoria in this book was really well done in my opinion. zhu’s feelings about her body sometimes hit so hard.
in short: this book is brutal. it’s gay as fuck. it will hurt you but you’ll probably enjoy it.
she who became the sun is not an easy book to read. this baby is DENSE. there are soooo many moving pieces at play in the politics, so many details and places and characters to keep track of, but it’s so rewarding in the sheer entertainment and emotional intensity it provides as a story. while this book is HEAVY on characterization i never ever felt that the pacing was weird. it absolutely did what it needed to do for me, and parker-chan’s writing is so intentional and artful that this book felt like it was thoroughly thought out in every way. the blurb likens it to the song of achilles but i would say it’s much more similar to the poppy war.
and the characters, holy fuck. this book has no soft fluffy sweet characters to speak of. these are determined, driven antiheroes constantly working toward their individual fates, and a lot of the time not giving a fuck who they have to hurt to get there. and so many of them are delightfully queer. one of the true strengths of this book was the way queer longing was depicted. ouyang’s POV especially. the anger, jealousy, shame, otherness and YEARNING he experienced all felt so real. everything he felt the reader could feel and that to me is the mark of masterful characters in a novel.
and then there’s zhu’s POV with the obsessive push to her fate and the turmoil of trying to figure out who she actually is. the depiction of gender dysphoria in this book was really well done in my opinion. zhu’s feelings about her body sometimes hit so hard.
in short: this book is brutal. it’s gay as fuck. it will hurt you but you’ll probably enjoy it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Child death, Sexual content, Violence, Misogyny, War, Death of parent, and Dysphoria