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

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.25

I have to say i'm a bit disappointed...

The ending felt wrong. Through the whole book it kinda seemed like the author wasn't sure if they want Zhu to be good or bad. They kept telling us she's good, but what they showed us was a villain who thought they were doing the good thing. But the ending was so out of character... Zhu killed so many innocent people throughout those 2 books, she killed a small child, but she feels bad about killing Baoxiang? She suddenly realizes that this act of violence would be a 'bad start for her new empire'? I'm sorry but there just wasn't enough character development for her to realistically decide to spare the Great Khan sitting on 'her throne'. And why was 'giving the mandate up' so suddenly a possibility? It just felt cheap. It would have been better for the story and more fitting for Zhu to kill him.