third_bookworm 's review for:

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

4.5

adventurous emotional medium-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: Yes

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Very very good conclusion to this duology. I loved the greater number of perspectives that we got to see in this book compared to the first; it was fun to see into everyone's heads. Also loved that

Ma got to be foregrounded for the end.

My one complaint was that one of the character arcs was not resolved as satisfyingly as it could have been;

as much as Ouyang's ending made sense for him, it really seemed for a bit in the middle like he was going to find a way to live past his revenge. I think it would have been more consistent with the ending tone of forgiveness + letting people grow past things if he had been able to overcome his suicidal revenge ideation... But I also don't know how that could have worked in the plot. Still, I am sad for him as a character.