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mediaevalmuse 's review for:
She Who Became the Sun
by Shelley Parker-Chan
adventurous
medium-paced
I've had this book on hold at the library for some time and it finally became available. I'd heard a lot of buzz about it and was curious, and I'm always up for a good historical tale. Overall, I found this novel to be an interesting story of political intrigue and ambition. Parker-Chan writes a complex narrative that is sure to satisfy readers who like the ins and outs of political campaigns and scheming. However, I do think the story itself could have been plotted more tightly and the fantastical elements could have been integrated better.
WRITING: In general, Parker-Chan's prose is well-crafted. It flows well and balances showing and telling, and the emotional moments were heart-wrenching.
PLOT: The plot of this book loosely follows a female monk named Zhu as she conceals her gender and strives to rise to power amidst a Han rebellion against Mongol rule. Zhu begins life as an undervalued child whose brother is promised greatness by a local fortune teller. But when her father and brother die, Zhu seizes her brother's identity as her own and, through an iron will, attempts to seize his fate as well. The rest of the book then follows Zhu as she becomes a Buddhist monk and then a general in the Han resistance movement, all the while navigating the complex politics and military threats from both the Mongols and the Han leaders themselves.
The aspect of this plot that was the most interesting to me was its exploration of gender. Zhu pretends to be a man, but is keenly aware that she is a woman in body only (yet the author still uses "she" in Zhu's POV sections). Over the course of the novel, Zhu wrestles with gender and identity internally while society around her treats women as powerless, and I found this tension interesting. On top of that, Zhu's main foe, Mongol general Ouyang, also struggles with gender and identity. As a eunuch, Ouyang has internalized shame and is treated not as a man but as a "thing" by the Mongols. Watching Ouyang strive for masculinity and develop an intense misogyny as a response to his effeminate body was fascinating.
I do think, however, that a lot of the most interesting conversations about gender and agency were undercut by the underdeveloped magic system in this book. Several characters have a kind of magic known as the Mandate of Heaven, which allows them to produce magical fire and see ghosts. One of the characters, the Prince of Radiance, also seems to know other people's fates. In my opinion, the magic didn't really have much purpose other than to earn certain characters popular support from their followers, and not enough was done to explore how the presence of this magic affects the complex relationship between fate and agency. Seeing ghosts had no bearing on the plot, for example; Zhu never uses this ability to her advantage. They kind of just float around at random moments rather than provoke some kind of interiority or glimpse into the spirit world. Characters also seem to be slaves to fate, but as a reader, it seemed like characters were abdicating responsibility to a degree or even suggesting that they have little agency over their own actions. This kind of goes against the way Zhu and Ouyang struggle to defy their gender identities and forge their own path, even while insisting that they aren't.
CHARACTERS: Zhu, our protagonist, is fairly interesting in that she has a tenacious will to survive that later morphs into ruthless ambition. I liked the way Parker-Chan explores Zhu's desires and the way Zhu thinks about suffering. It made ambition feel like a conscious decision (which I preferred to Zhu's declaration that she was merely embracing her fate). I do wish more had been done to show how and why Zhu decides to aim for greatness rather than contented survival; this question is brought up a few times but I didn't really find the explanation satisfying. Also, as I discussed above, I wish more had been done with Zhu's ability to see ghosts, perhaps using that skill to affect decisions that lead to some of Zhu's unlikely military victories.
Ouyang, the main "antagonist" of sorts, was also fascinating because of the tension arising from his gender identity. I enjoyed his relationship with Esen and the complex relationship with Baoxiang, both of which made his actions towards the end feel more emotionally complex. I do think, however, that Parker-Chan could have done more to build up Ouyang's sense of filial duty, as it doesn't currently feel like a real force, just empty "fate" (that doesn't feel agentive).
Side characters were fine and about as developed as they needed to be save for a couple exceptions. I do wish, for example, that the relationship between Zhu and her monk friend Xu Da had been more emotional and they had spent more time being emotionally intimate with one another. The Prince of Radiance also didn't feel like an actual character and the implications of his magic were woefully underexplored. But otherwise, character relationships were fine, and the shifting politics were interesting.
TL;DR: She Who Became The Sun was interesting for its complex politics and the questions it poses about gender. However, most of the plot is undercut by the inclusion of an underutilized magic system and an abdication of agency in favor of fate.
WRITING: In general, Parker-Chan's prose is well-crafted. It flows well and balances showing and telling, and the emotional moments were heart-wrenching.
PLOT: The plot of this book loosely follows a female monk named Zhu as she conceals her gender and strives to rise to power amidst a Han rebellion against Mongol rule. Zhu begins life as an undervalued child whose brother is promised greatness by a local fortune teller. But when her father and brother die, Zhu seizes her brother's identity as her own and, through an iron will, attempts to seize his fate as well. The rest of the book then follows Zhu as she becomes a Buddhist monk and then a general in the Han resistance movement, all the while navigating the complex politics and military threats from both the Mongols and the Han leaders themselves.
The aspect of this plot that was the most interesting to me was its exploration of gender. Zhu pretends to be a man, but is keenly aware that she is a woman in body only (yet the author still uses "she" in Zhu's POV sections). Over the course of the novel, Zhu wrestles with gender and identity internally while society around her treats women as powerless, and I found this tension interesting. On top of that, Zhu's main foe, Mongol general Ouyang, also struggles with gender and identity. As a eunuch, Ouyang has internalized shame and is treated not as a man but as a "thing" by the Mongols. Watching Ouyang strive for masculinity and develop an intense misogyny as a response to his effeminate body was fascinating.
I do think, however, that a lot of the most interesting conversations about gender and agency were undercut by the underdeveloped magic system in this book. Several characters have a kind of magic known as the Mandate of Heaven, which allows them to produce magical fire and see ghosts. One of the characters, the Prince of Radiance, also seems to know other people's fates. In my opinion, the magic didn't really have much purpose other than to earn certain characters popular support from their followers, and not enough was done to explore how the presence of this magic affects the complex relationship between fate and agency. Seeing ghosts had no bearing on the plot, for example; Zhu never uses this ability to her advantage. They kind of just float around at random moments rather than provoke some kind of interiority or glimpse into the spirit world. Characters also seem to be slaves to fate, but as a reader, it seemed like characters were abdicating responsibility to a degree or even suggesting that they have little agency over their own actions. This kind of goes against the way Zhu and Ouyang struggle to defy their gender identities and forge their own path, even while insisting that they aren't.
CHARACTERS: Zhu, our protagonist, is fairly interesting in that she has a tenacious will to survive that later morphs into ruthless ambition. I liked the way Parker-Chan explores Zhu's desires and the way Zhu thinks about suffering. It made ambition feel like a conscious decision (which I preferred to Zhu's declaration that she was merely embracing her fate). I do wish more had been done to show how and why Zhu decides to aim for greatness rather than contented survival; this question is brought up a few times but I didn't really find the explanation satisfying. Also, as I discussed above, I wish more had been done with Zhu's ability to see ghosts, perhaps using that skill to affect decisions that lead to some of Zhu's unlikely military victories.
Ouyang, the main "antagonist" of sorts, was also fascinating because of the tension arising from his gender identity. I enjoyed his relationship with Esen and the complex relationship with Baoxiang, both of which made his actions towards the end feel more emotionally complex. I do think, however, that Parker-Chan could have done more to build up Ouyang's sense of filial duty, as it doesn't currently feel like a real force, just empty "fate" (that doesn't feel agentive).
Side characters were fine and about as developed as they needed to be save for a couple exceptions. I do wish, for example, that the relationship between Zhu and her monk friend Xu Da had been more emotional and they had spent more time being emotionally intimate with one another. The Prince of Radiance also didn't feel like an actual character and the implications of his magic were woefully underexplored. But otherwise, character relationships were fine, and the shifting politics were interesting.
TL;DR: She Who Became The Sun was interesting for its complex politics and the questions it poses about gender. However, most of the plot is undercut by the inclusion of an underutilized magic system and an abdication of agency in favor of fate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, War
Minor: Suicide, Murder