Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by lilyrooke
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
3.0
The scope of this story is truly impressive, and when I started, I thought I would love it. During a terrible famine, a nameless girl takes on her dead brother's identity and dedicates herself to survival above all else. The beginning was amazing. I felt the agony of Zhu's hunger and the heat of the scorched earth, and her commitment to survival beyond all odds. But then there was a timeskip following the monastery years, and I felt as though her personality changed completely, but we didn't get to see any of this development happen. If anything there was some real 'badass decay' from her character, which was disappointing.
However, the other main character, eunach general Ouyang, stepped in to fill her shoes beautifully. His pain and suffering as he plots his revenge, coupled with the conflicting feelings he tries so hard to repress - towards himself, Prince Esen, women in general - were depicted powerfully, and were the best part of the novel for me. To have two genderqueer protagonists in one story was hugely refreshing, and done very well, I thought. Unfortunately, in the end I felt like there were too many POV characters, which bulked the narrative unnecessarily, and the pacing that was set up so well at the start lagged as the story went on. I'd encourage anyone who enjoys a good revenge plot to give this a go, though! It reminded me a little of A Game of Thrones, at times.
However, the other main character, eunach general Ouyang, stepped in to fill her shoes beautifully. His pain and suffering as he plots his revenge, coupled with the conflicting feelings he tries so hard to repress - towards himself, Prince Esen, women in general - were depicted powerfully, and were the best part of the novel for me. To have two genderqueer protagonists in one story was hugely refreshing, and done very well, I thought. Unfortunately, in the end I felt like there were too many POV characters, which bulked the narrative unnecessarily, and the pacing that was set up so well at the start lagged as the story went on. I'd encourage anyone who enjoys a good revenge plot to give this a go, though! It reminded me a little of A Game of Thrones, at times.