A review by livres_de_bloss
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced such a rollercoaster of opinions than I did reading this book!

Part One was 5/5. I really enjoyed the beginning of this story when Zhu escapes her village and her years in the monastery. For a while there, I thought this was going to become a new favourite!

Part Two was where it started to lose me. We got introduced to the Mongol characters and those chapters were so dull! I don’t have much interest in war jargon and strategy which deeply impacted my engagement with this. I was skimming those sections toward the end. Zhu was also becoming more and more of a power-hungry twat which cooled my investment in her character. 

Part Three was a train wreck. I lost all remaining support and interest in Zhu. The book reached its gory peak in this section too and, call me a prude or whatever, but I really could have lived without the graphic (and dare I say violent)
fisting scene
. It didn’t add anything to the story, and I really don’t see why we had to spend so many pages on it… It really grossed me out and shock value in a book isn’t my jam. 
I didn’t understand Zhu’s obsession with greatness and power either. Basically, it consumes her and makes her a nightmare. 

So, while this started off great, it spiraled for me from there. I’m unlikely to pick up the second one.
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