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A review by skylarkblue1
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
5.0
“However tired I am, however hard it is: I know I can keep going, because I’m alive.”
Honestly, this book left me speechless. I spent days after I finished reading it re-reading through parts which blew my mind (which was a *lot*). The descriptions, the action, the queer-ness, the world building, it was so beautiful to read.
The story follows a child, growing up in a hostile mongol-ruled china, attempting to live in the would-be footsteps of her brother. A young girl is told she would grow up to be nothing — a young boy, greatness. When tragedy strikes the family, the young girl rejects her supposed fate and instead slips into the identity of Zhu Chongba. Driven by passion and desire for a greater future, Zhu rises from the life of famine and poverty into the life of a monk, kickstarting her new destiny.
This book reminded me a fair bit of Mulan, but in a good way. The gender queerness is there, but stronger than mulan. Zhu isn’t sure of her gender and that’s ok, Zhu is just, Zhu. Queer relationships are done well I’d say. As mentioned in a question answered by the author, “The AFAB character has a relationship with a woman, and the AMAB character has a relationship with a man.”, and both relationships were adorable to read though.
The ending felt a bit, cut out though — it almost felt like the book was supposed to be much longer at one point but it had to be reduced down. However, I more ended up just reading it as a teaser for book 2 afterwards. Sure not much is explained and a fair bit is glossed over, but I hope that book 2 is going to be able to expand on that ending. It felt a little bit like “here’s some events, oh well onto the next part”, but also I think at this point I just wanted more to read, I didn’t want the book to end!
Overall, Shelley Parker-Chan’s writing will grip you from the very beginning and leave you wanting to read it out aloud to the nearest people around you. I found myself in a voice chat with friends, just reading out excerpts of beautiful descriptions multiple times. The book felt empowering to me as a queer disabled person, there’s many quotes I’ll be remembering for a long time. Highly recommend, 5/5.
Honestly, this book left me speechless. I spent days after I finished reading it re-reading through parts which blew my mind (which was a *lot*). The descriptions, the action, the queer-ness, the world building, it was so beautiful to read.
The story follows a child, growing up in a hostile mongol-ruled china, attempting to live in the would-be footsteps of her brother. A young girl is told she would grow up to be nothing — a young boy, greatness. When tragedy strikes the family, the young girl rejects her supposed fate and instead slips into the identity of Zhu Chongba. Driven by passion and desire for a greater future, Zhu rises from the life of famine and poverty into the life of a monk, kickstarting her new destiny.
This book reminded me a fair bit of Mulan, but in a good way. The gender queerness is there, but stronger than mulan. Zhu isn’t sure of her gender and that’s ok, Zhu is just, Zhu. Queer relationships are done well I’d say. As mentioned in a question answered by the author, “The AFAB character has a relationship with a woman, and the AMAB character has a relationship with a man.”, and both relationships were adorable to read though.
The ending felt a bit, cut out though — it almost felt like the book was supposed to be much longer at one point but it had to be reduced down. However, I more ended up just reading it as a teaser for book 2 afterwards. Sure not much is explained and a fair bit is glossed over, but I hope that book 2 is going to be able to expand on that ending. It felt a little bit like “here’s some events, oh well onto the next part”, but also I think at this point I just wanted more to read, I didn’t want the book to end!
Overall, Shelley Parker-Chan’s writing will grip you from the very beginning and leave you wanting to read it out aloud to the nearest people around you. I found myself in a voice chat with friends, just reading out excerpts of beautiful descriptions multiple times. The book felt empowering to me as a queer disabled person, there’s many quotes I’ll be remembering for a long time. Highly recommend, 5/5.