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

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I am incredibly mad because I desperately wanted to love this book and just couldn't. The writing style and historical setting are beautiful and intriguing and the slow beginning and the monastery time really did it for me. The rest... not so much. For one, I was confused about what was going on for way too long. Sure it's fun to if you have to figure out motives and plans but at some point I want to have at least a small idea about what could possibly happen next. That didn't happen here. And not in the good, being-on-the-edge-of-your-seat kinda way, in the why-am-I-still-reading-this-and-who-the-hell-even-is-this-person-I-don't-remember-kinda-way. For a very short time I even cared for some people but they were either never mentioned again or worse. Concerning the two/three main characters, I honestly loved their personal stories in the beginning and then they all kinda just slowly morphed into these war and violence driven people without any individuality. I thought the queerness would carry me through this book but it honestly is a very questionable portrayal of these topics and every bit of warmth and intimacy is quickly extinguished by the plot. This book is about war and not about queerness and individuals but still tried to be and didn't do it well.
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