valkyri_anna 's review for:

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

4.5

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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

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An excellent conclusion to Zhu’s story! Unabashedly queer, unabashedly heartbreaking at times. Parker-Chan is someone to keep an eye on!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War

Moderate: Sexism, Transphobia

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence

I do not love how Zhu’s pronouns are changed based on perspective. Perhaps Parker-Chan intended a more fluid reading of Zhu’s gender, but I always read them as transmasculine and felt a little weird seeing them referred to with feminine pronouns when the writing takes their perspective. Didn’t ruin the book for me, just an odd choice.