A review by leweylibrary
Heart of the Sun Warrior by Sue Lynn Tan

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Truly, I wish I could give it more stars. I really enjoyed the first book. It was the first book in a long time that I really felt like I could lose myself in. It's the establishment of this wonderful fantasy world and characters that I didn't want to put down in a way that I haven't really felt since high school. But this book, THIS BOOK, was all of that and so much more.

First off, I want to get some ending spoilers out of my brain:
I am so freaking glad that this duology ended the way that it did. I felt like I was the main character going along and having this love triangle battle going on in my head as well and thinking and feeling the same way that she did about these two guys. When she realized the sacrifice that Wenzhi made in order to help her, I was making the realization at the exact same time and it crushed me. It really took him doing that for her to see not only how much he loved her and how much he had changed from when he betrayed her but for her to also see just how deeply she felt about him. I was also really glad that when he did die she didn't just go off with Liwei either because not only did it not feel right because it just made him seem like the second choice after she realized just how strongly she felt about Wenzhi but I also agree that I don't think she would have been happy as the new empress. I'm glad that she got the chance to go off and explore little, and don't even get me started on how beautiful it was that her going back to the cloud wall and sensing. Sensing his presents is what gave him strength in order to allow him to be sent to the mortal realm by Liwei which is where she cannot only have him back as an immortal eventually, but they also get a fresh start in a way. Of course there might be issues later on when he does get his memories and everything back, but for now they can kind of see what it would have been like had they just been too normal. People who hadn't been raised the way they had been raised and he hadn't done something terrible like betray her in that way.
Seriously, This was such a perfect way to end this duology. I wouldn't change thing. No notes.

A lot of the things that I said about the first book also apply to this one in terms of a review. I think that the love triangle is definitely more present in this one, but, like I said for the first one, it really doesn't detract from the story. It feels mature and it makes sense and it doesn't seem petty or silly or anything like that. There's lots of action and twists and surprising things that whenever it started to feel like maybe there was a lull forming, bam! Something would happen that would make me literally sit up in my seat and be like "excuse me what??" There was also more at stake in this one, and there were bigger losses which hurt but definitely added to the story. There were a lot more places where I noted quotes that stuck with me, and I think that was because this is the book where everything starts to come together and we start seeing the big overarching themes laid out more clearly and explicitly of what this book is really all about. About. And I think that is love. Love is strength and power and it can conquer truly terrible things, even when it causes great pain. And it's worth it. It's definitely worth it. 

Quotes:
  • Perhaps all such unions were doomed a tragedy, for what future could a mortal and immortal have when death divided them? (30)
  • Peace does not flow in your veins. (114)
  • So much in life was left a chance. Some had to curve and twist to get ahead, forced to bend with the wind to remain standing, suffering storms that left others unscathed. Yet we could not blame faith for the choices we made-- the rewards were ours to reap, as were the consequences are to bear. Formed who we were... what we would become. (294)
  • Trust, once broken, was impossible to restore; the cracks remained even when glazed anew. (312)
  • Some years swept by, leaving little mark on our lives while a single moment suffice to upend them. (323)
  • If only I could shut out our past, our doubts and regrets. The troubles that bore down upon me, the searing heat from the Sacred Flame Feather Even now burning its way through the enchantments woven around it. A constant struggle to keep it whole, to keep it from destroying me. (350)
  • Perhaps, at its core, heroism was a less pretty tale. Words like honor and valor, gilded over necessity and the harsh truth--that there was no choice. (370)
  • He looked just as he did when we first met by the river. So much a change since then, and yet he was still the young man brimming with compassion as I was the girl with fire in her heart. Although this time, the blaze might consume me. (372)
  • Wielding the bow had made me feel special. Powerful. Strong. He had a did not need it to be those things. (387)
  • " For the fools, do not fear the odds, the reckless do not care--and only the truly brave proceed regardless." (391)
  • I close my eyes, fighting for calm. Images of my parents slid into my mind, along with Liwei and Wenzhi, of Shuxiao, Prince Yanming, and Ping'er. Something hardened along my spine, a warmth spreading over me. / Those truly powerful have no need for love. It was what Wugang had said to me before, when we stood in this very place. / You are wrong, I told him in the silence of my mind. Love is what gives me the strength to do this. To stop you. (401)
  • A frightening thing to surrender a future, to plunge alone into the unknown. But this was my life, and I would claim it... the darkness, hurt, and all. Once you would look to death in the face, every moment after was a victory--a new hope, a new beginning. And I was no longer afraid. (426)
  • These wounds and scars would not break me again. I would honor those I had lost by keeping them alive in my heart, not by casting joy for my life, not by refusing to live. No longer would I shut love from my life, and all it's wondrous yet devastating manifestations--the greatest power in the world, capable of moving the hearts of mortals and gods to both evil and good. For we were complex creatures of shades of gray, capable of wonderful and terrible things...of change, because our natures were not fixed like the stars in the sky but flowing is the river toward an unknown horizon. (455)
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