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A review by thedambookshelf
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
As many of you have seen in other reviews, She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Park Chan is one of the most hyped books this year on bookish social media. I am not one to follow hype really, and it’s been a while since I’ve picked up something that everyone else was currently talking about, and guess what? I was not disappointed.
She Who Became the Sun follows a girl destined for nothingness who takes on the role of her brother, Zhu Chongba, and spins a way to achieve heaven's favor that has been promised to her brother from the moment he entered the world. You follow Zhu in a cunning game for power, desire, and greatness. And you certainly find it, though Zhu is not the only perspective you get, you get many but the other most prominent is Ouyang. Ouyang is a eunuch general who has risen in power to serve as the right hand to one of the most powerful Mongol princes. He has been forced to serve the people who mutilated him and is in a constant battle between his fate and his desire to be loved.
SWBTS is a very atmospheric, genuine, and deliberate read. You get to the point from the beginning to end, I never felt as if the plot was lacking nor the setting, characterization was impeccable, and everything just hit. Honestly, I’ve read another review on good reads where they stated comparing this to the song of Achilles is a disservice to SWBTS, and I could not agree more.
This book is so rich in battle and war, not romance, the political aspects feel so real and despite this story being a reimaging of 1345 china under Mongol rule, I learned more from this than I ever did in AP WORLD. All the characters and I mean this, ALL OF THEM, are anti-heroes/morally grey characters. I found it very hard to dislike anyone, and if that’s not good character building, I don’t know what is. I don’t want to get too spoilery but in terms of romance, this book was just it for me, I’m not a big fan of sappy romances in plots like this. It isn’t realistic I feel? So, the way Shelley went about it, was perfect. Also, I just want to state, Patroclus and Achilles have nothing on my boys in this.
Something else I really want to talk about is the way gender is structured and spoken about in this book, first off, I am genderfluid so having two lead characters that are genderqueer was a win for me. Especially the situation with Zhu, whose gender was assigned a female at birth but does not identify as a female, and yet she also doesn’t feel quite male either. She’s in limbo between the two. I feel like Shelley did an amazing job constructing such in a fluid and relatable manner, same with Ouyang and his struggles of dysphoria. I will say this story is rich with gender dysphoria which for me helped me feel better about the parts of me that make me experience the same dysphoria but for others, it may not come across that way, so be mindful about such once picking up this book.
Despite this book just being all-around incredible, I really felt known in Shelley’s writing and there are not many books that make me feel like that, but this was one and I cannot wait for the sequel. This book was a 5-star read for me, and honestly, it would have been higher. Oh! And who wants to join my Wang Baoxiang protection club? Anyone?
She Who Became the Sun follows a girl destined for nothingness who takes on the role of her brother, Zhu Chongba, and spins a way to achieve heaven's favor that has been promised to her brother from the moment he entered the world. You follow Zhu in a cunning game for power, desire, and greatness. And you certainly find it, though Zhu is not the only perspective you get, you get many but the other most prominent is Ouyang. Ouyang is a eunuch general who has risen in power to serve as the right hand to one of the most powerful Mongol princes. He has been forced to serve the people who mutilated him and is in a constant battle between his fate and his desire to be loved.
SWBTS is a very atmospheric, genuine, and deliberate read. You get to the point from the beginning to end, I never felt as if the plot was lacking nor the setting, characterization was impeccable, and everything just hit. Honestly, I’ve read another review on good reads where they stated comparing this to the song of Achilles is a disservice to SWBTS, and I could not agree more.
This book is so rich in battle and war, not romance, the political aspects feel so real and despite this story being a reimaging of 1345 china under Mongol rule, I learned more from this than I ever did in AP WORLD. All the characters and I mean this, ALL OF THEM, are anti-heroes/morally grey characters. I found it very hard to dislike anyone, and if that’s not good character building, I don’t know what is. I don’t want to get too spoilery but in terms of romance, this book was just it for me, I’m not a big fan of sappy romances in plots like this. It isn’t realistic I feel? So, the way Shelley went about it, was perfect. Also, I just want to state, Patroclus and Achilles have nothing on my boys in this.
Something else I really want to talk about is the way gender is structured and spoken about in this book, first off, I am genderfluid so having two lead characters that are genderqueer was a win for me. Especially the situation with Zhu, whose gender was assigned a female at birth but does not identify as a female, and yet she also doesn’t feel quite male either. She’s in limbo between the two. I feel like Shelley did an amazing job constructing such in a fluid and relatable manner, same with Ouyang and his struggles of dysphoria. I will say this story is rich with gender dysphoria which for me helped me feel better about the parts of me that make me experience the same dysphoria but for others, it may not come across that way, so be mindful about such once picking up this book.
Despite this book just being all-around incredible, I really felt known in Shelley’s writing and there are not many books that make me feel like that, but this was one and I cannot wait for the sequel. This book was a 5-star read for me, and honestly, it would have been higher. Oh! And who wants to join my Wang Baoxiang protection club? Anyone?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Dysphoria, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, War, Violence, Xenophobia, Torture, Slavery, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Gore, Colonisation, Child death, Blood, and Vomit
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Body horror
Minor: Infertility and Infidelity