When I first came across She Who Became the Sun, I thought it was a fantasy novel. But it’s actually historical fiction.

I know very little about the history of China, so reading She Who Became the Sun gave me an idea of the history of the country, at least in the relevant time period (14th century). Shelley Parker-Chan’s writing is so atmospheric that I felt like I had stepped inside 14th century China. I felt like I was walking in the main character’s shoes.

The main character is Zhu, the sister whose fate the fortune teller foretold as nothing. She has a fierce will to survive. So she takes on her brother’s destiny and finds her way to the monastery her family promised her brother to. From there, she keeps surviving, keeps becoming her brother in order to convince Heaven that she is him. Through this process, Zhu, never named in her own right, rejects her female body. Throughout the novel we see her struggling with who she truly is.

Gender identity is a strong theme in the novel. The other point of view character is a eunuch, a soldier harbouring a burning desire for revenge at what those whom he serves did to him and his family. He’s an interesting character, and I’m not quite sure what to make of him. I didn’t enjoy his perspective as much as Zhu’s.

She Who Became the Sun is a long book but I never felt bored or like Parker-Chan was dragging the story out. The story builds up steadily, slowly taking its time to reach the climax. I enjoyed watching Zhu find her way throughout the story. Though the novel has an epic backdrop, the story does very much feel character-driven. It’s about Zhu’s growth and discovery of who she really is, rather than about war and the politics of China.

Though I don’t fully understand the discussions around gender in this novel, I enjoyed it enough that I will pick up the second book. I hope I come to understand what is happening as I read more.

3,5* rounded to 4
This books is full of promises and I thought it was the right one for me. I had a love/hate relationship with it: I loved the style of writing, the details and the well researched historical background but I suppose I wasn't in the right mindset to love it.
It's a bit slow at times and I was expecting something with more fantasy elements (even if there's some).
There's a strong focus on gender and identity, I appreciated the characters development.
I think i will read again as there's plenty of potential and loved the storytelling.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was the last book of the 2021 orange sapphic trifecta (the other two being The Unbroken and The Jasmine Throne) I had left to read and another of my most anticipated releases. It delivers everything other early reviews have promised – moral grayness, queerness, epicness, kneeling, yearning, a most interesting misogynistic eunuch, a petty scholar, determination, and romantic fisting. In short, if you’re looking for a different take on epic fantasy, you should definitely go for it.

Born in a famine-stricken little village and unsatisfied with her promised fate, Zhu decides to steal her dying brother’s identity and with it, his great destiny. Off to join a monastery, she’s prepared to do anything to avoid becoming nothing. On the other side, we have Ouyang, a eunuch general with many insecurities, haunted by ghosts and mysteriously bound to Zhu.

I have always been fascinated by characters who would do anything to achieve their goals – watching to see just how far they will dare to go and how many corpses will their ambition leave in their path, which of their flaws will fuck them over. Zhu has been very satisfying in this regard, as has Ouyang, and I love the “enemies by fate who keep running into each other” trope. Another character I enjoyed is Wang Baoxiang, considered unmanly because of his scholarly inclinations, underestimated and belittled constantly – to other characters’ peril. His pettiness was a delight.

(Ma, however, is a cinnamon roll too pure for this world who deserves only the best.)

Another of the main themes is gender. There’s a lot of nuance and many differences between how characters perceive it that are impossible to describe in a review, but I loved it. You have Zhu who doesn’t really care, Ouyang’s vast amounts of baggage, characters feeling restricted by their gender roles, prince Esen, the masculine ideal, and everything in between.

In short, I recommend it and I would love to continue the series.

This feels like quite an epic read! Set in 14th century China, women have little importance other than child bearing - but the main character here is quite different.

Born in famine and poverty, Zhu Chongba and his sister see ugly violence and their father is killed. Zhu Chongba has been promised greatness by a fortune teller, and it is this fate which his sister seeks to follow when he too is lost. Disguising her gender, she follows what she sees as the foretold path, encountering hazards, battles, and love along the way.

Seeing the main character from both male and female perspectives depending on who they interact with, the journey they follow, and the ruthlessness of politics in this arena, all make for a fascinating story.

I expected to like this book more than I did. The first and last 25% were great but in the middle I was really quite bored. I felt like I couldn’t quite emotionally access the story. The action, intrigue and backstabbing were very enjoyable to read however and the determination and will of the main character to not only survive but become so powerful was impressive. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

She Who Became the Sun is a queer reimagining of the Zhu Yuanzhang's rise to power as the first emperor of the Ming dynasty, with a fantastical twist - there aren't too many fantasy elements, only the existence of ghosts and the strong presence of fate as theme. It took a while to get into the story but I loved the mix of politics, military and a personal focus on characters, especially Zhu and Ouyang's desire to accomplish their fate but conflicting feelings in achieving it, as well as exploring the themes of gender and power.

This book is a compelling LGBTQ retelling of Zhu Yuanzhang's origins ( the founder of the Ming Dynasty, and overthrower of Mongol rule in China). It's not exactly xianxia, there aren't too many fantastical elements apart from the Mandate of Heaven of emperors manifesting as a literal flame, that waxes and wanes as emperors' political power does. The story traces Zhu Yuanzhang's life, only in this version, the Hongwu Emperor's a girl, who disguises herself as a boy named Zhu Chongba. Orphaned and starving, Zhu Chongba gets a much-coveted place at a monastery by dint of sheer will power and perseverance, and takes charge of her destiny. She's always careful, however, to regulate her behavior to not arouse suspicion of her gender. She plots and plans her way through each stage of her life, and I love how well-defined she is as a character-there are certain ingrained behaviours that are difficult to overcome, and Zhu CHongba uses the best of both male and female qualities to overcome every challenge. In patriarchal societies ( and in the 10th Century AD, which society wasn't ), women were taught fear and subservience , so for Zhu CHongba to overcome that centuries-old conditioning was in itself, an indication of her abilities to control her fate. The book also explores the story from the side of the Mongol rulers and the complicated relationships between the Emperor, his sons, the Great Khan, and one of their fascinating generals, General Ouyang, who has an agenda of his own. Zhu Chongba has to navigate an intricate web of realpolitik, when she joins a rebel group aiming at overthrowing Mongol rule. The book feels very organic in its narrative flow-Zhu Chongba isn't a military and strategic genius overnight, her skills have been honed through years of having to fend for herself in a hostile world. A lot of the book is true to actual historical account, which leaves me very worried for Zhu CHongba's trusted lieutenant, confidant and BFF, Xu Da!
The book ends at a tantalizing point in the Hongwu Emperor's life, and there's probably going to be a second part, which I can't wait for. Till then, I'm going to read up on the history behind this excellent retelling, which is a rare feat for historical fiction-such a fascinating world that I want to know more about these cities, and these manipulative, conniving, always courageous characters.

This book appealed to me for many reasons: China, alternate history, strong women.

The writing was effortlessly beautiful, drawing me into a truly epic story which develops through the wide sweep of fertile plains and the insulated atmosphere of a monastery, in a world populated by mongol warriors, rebel fighters and peasants on the verge of starvation. There are battles and political machinations but the narrative never becomes bogged down in the details though I did find I was reading the prose more slowly than I expected.

This is a story of desire and destiny told through two connected narratives, one from the point of view of Zhu who starts life in a starving peasant family and the other from the point of view of General Ouyang, a eunuch in the army of the Mongol rulers.

Zhu refuses to accept her own destiny as a woman and takes on that of her brother, using her wits and growing self-awareness to achieve the fate she desires, while General Ouyang is dragged unwillingly towards his fate by his desire for revenge.
Neither character is truly admirable but the subtlety of the story-telling leads you to empathise with them and yearn for their success.

I felt admiration for Zhu, respecting her vision and ambition and enjoying her changing sense of self, even while I was shocked by the ruthlessness of her determination.
But I was more moved by General Ouyang. He is a character written with a stunning depth of nuance, tortured by his own emotions and driven by revenge. You cannot like such a guarded, brutal character instead you want to cry for him in the knowledge that he was fated to never enjoy happiness.

This book was definitely a 4.5 stars for me.
It would have been 5 stars except that I didn’t end up feeling the emotion connection to Zhu that I had expected.
This maybe due to the single, graphic sex scene in the last half of the book. I can understand why it was included but counterintuitively it distanced me from the characters involved. I felt its tone was a little out of tune with the rest of the storytelling, possibly too real and banal, and as such it detracted from the epic tragedy of the story.

However, that was not enough to stop me rounding up to 5 stars for GR and I am eagerly looking forward to the next installment.

Highly recommended

With thanks to Shelley Parker-Chan and Mantle for an advanced readers copy of this group.

4.5*

I absolutely adore this book. This is Mulan meets The Poppy War, with all the brutality of both. If you are looking for a star crossed lovers and gentle kind words I'd avoid this read. This story is one of antiheroes, political and military strategy, betrayals, and heart retching plotlines.

This currently sits as my favourite 2021 read so far.

Full disclosure: I was given a free ARC for my review on Net Gallery. Below is my honest review.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I am Shelley Parker-Chan target reader during a world wide pandemic. On the surface, I am - I personally love:
- A struggle to power with meaningful character progression
- An underdog main character who is also queer - representation matters!
- A historical reimagining inspired by real life events in the history of 1300’s Chinese founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. I was excited to immerse myself in this period of time.

Aspects that were perfect about the book:

It’s obvious Parker-Chan has had immersive personal experiences in Asia. Information was accurate and nuanced.

1. The lyrical turn of phrases even have the rhythmic quality that tonal languages possess, even when the words are in English.
2. The implications of emperor’s health and actions on his rule were just so.
3. The Chinese obsession with food due to generations of famine by the fixation on flavours and describing mouth textures were spot on. The descriptions about famine - the daydreams of food are well described and the diet of peasants during droughts are meticulous and haunting.
4. The representation of gender inequality and the relationships of children to their parents. The fact that sons were favoured over daughters even to extent to if there was only one portion of food, it would be given to the son rather than halved, and the practice of selling daughters for food and survival of son and father was told in the best disquieting fashion, while being factually correct.
5. The religious practices of offerings to the ancestors and spirits, the consultation of astrology and using dates via lunar cycle, descriptions of writing being on the right hand side moving downward, not only provided authenticity of the prose, they were used appropriately as literary tools to move the story on.
6. The reason for persistence to win over monks was clearly provided without too much hand-holding.

So why did I only manage 29% of the book, despite five different attempts to finish the book over a number weeks?

I think it’s because I’m HK Cantonese and these things I discussed above, particularly around gender inequality and famine are actually more of a trigger for me than I had initially believed them to be when I requested to be a ARC reader. I’m at a period in my life where I’m immensely privileged in terms of being able to keep a roof over my head, have food in the kitchen, and my opinions are respected at work and hold weight. However, there were periods in my life where neither of these things were true… A lack of control, and gut gnawing painful hunger as a very young child were something I experienced in intense ways. These descriptions brought it all back with vivid recall. Over the years, I also become to believe that generational trauma (e.g. from famine, war, or slavery) does actually impact their descendants in their bodies (e.g. bone density, storing of fat, etc), and their attitudes. I felt uncomfortable and dread when I was pushing myself to read the book. Finally, the time to read it ran out and unless I bought it, I wouldn’t be able to read any more… And I felt annoyed at myself that I didn’t manage to read it but I think I just didn’t and still don’t have the emotional bandwidth to process and care about the main character as the descriptions in the continually triggered a trauma response with me, on top of the stress created during a worldwide pandemic and an emotionally demanding job. Even though I know the ending is likely to be the pinacle of victory - I couldn’t face the trials and tribulations to get there.

I would recommend this book for those who do have the emotional capacity for the hard hitting exploration of gender, power and identity. I think for me, I need something less emotionally draining right now. I think this is a book I need to return to when the world is a little kinder, a little calmer and less “interesting” in the Chinese turn of phrase.

What an exquisite novel. This was epic in scope but felt very personal in nature.

Featuring a lot of complicated, real characters who all have to decide what they will do to get what they want.

I thought this was a wonderful idea, that was beautifully executed and can't wait to read the next book in the series.

A 2.5 star reading but rounded to 3.

When I read the blurb for this book I thought it was a perfect plot with a perfect setting. Chinese history and legend, adventure, queer affirmation – all the ingredients are there but somehow the book doesn’t live up to the expectations.

A girl whose fate holds literally nothing finds herself orphan and on the verge of starving to death. She decides to claim her brother’s fate instead, and becomes Zhu Chongba: from now on she will have to deceive everyone, the monks who raise her, the rebels and Heaven itself in order to achieve greatness.

I found it hard to get into the story, after the first couple chapters I felt I was dragging through the pages and I almost put the book down for good a few times. However, I kept reading and was hoping to find a turn of the events and get in tune with the narrative.
Even after a couple of plot twists and right through to the end I didn’t quite find what I was looking for and it didn’t leave me with the hype for the sequel – which I don’t think I’ll read.

The characters are well written but I didn’t find any of them particularly brilliant and I didn’t feel able to truly empathise with them.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the historical fantasy genre with a hint of epic, and Chinese history and myth. You can expect adventure and action from this story but you’ll have to be patient and try to get over the felling of putting the book down, especially at the beginning, in order to see the events unfold and reach the end of this first part of the story.

Mulan meets The Song of Achilles in Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun, a bold, queer, and lyrical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty from an amazing new voice in literary fantasy.

It is a wonderful story that explores internal politics, economics of war, people trying to believe in their fate, gender roles and gender identity.

The dual POV is mesmerizing and it brings out the magnificent world and brilliant words about desire.
Cannot recommend this book enough.

“Inside her there was only the perfect, blank brightness of belief and desire. Desire is the cause of all suffering. The greater the desire, the greater the suffering, and now she desired greatness itself. With all her will, she directed the thought to Heaven and the watching statues: Whatever suffering it takes, I can bear it.”

She Who Became the Sun follows two main characters, Zhu and Ouyang, both seemingly on opposite sides but with a strong likeness between them, and a past that ensures their fates are intrinsically entwined.

As a child, poor peasant Zhu is orphaned and assumes her brothers identity upon his death in an attempt to take his fate of greatness and leave behind her own fate of nothingness. Desperate for the Heavens to accept her new fate, she becomes a monk then joins the rebels against Mongol Rule, forever working her way towards greatness.

Ouyang is also orphaned as a child, after his father betrayed the Mongol Army and his entire family was murdered. Ouyang was spared death, but instead castrated to end his families lineage and forced to live as a slave to the Prince of Henan’s son. He has developed a deep self-hatred and despite the fact he outwardly appears to have accepted his fate, his true desire is to seek revenge for his family.

//

As soon as I found out the premise of this book was essentially a queer Mulan retelling, I knew I had to read it.

I will start by saying, it took me two months to read the first half of this book, and just two days to read the second half. The first half is very historical and political, and as much as I enjoyed the story, I found it hard to follow. However, it definitely redeemed itself for me by the end - what an ending! As much as I believed in Zhu and Ouyang’s desires, I didn’t see the direction of the last few chapters coming at all!

Since I thoroughly enjoyed the story by the end, I definitely want to reread it and give it a second chance, as I believe it will be 5 stars second time around.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for my honest review.

What an epic novel. It was a real journey for the reader and Zhu, you get so emotionally invested.

The character arc was intense, insane, masterful.

I wanted more, I cannot believe where it ended! Cannot recommend enough

This was an amazingly strong debut fantasy book for me.
It's hard to believe that this book is indeed a debut, as the political intrigue and arresting characters were so established and expertly done.

Despite the amount of political manoeuvrings and alliances I didn't find it at all difficult or dense to read, I don't think the pace suffered because of this either. The cold pragmatism of two of the main characters definitely kept you on your toes with the amount of betrayal and backstabbing.

I thought this was such a great exploration of the historical and cultural context of this setting, especially in terms of gender and class/military ranking. It was really interesting to learn more deeply about it.

I don't know if I could call Zhu and Ouyang favourite characters seeing as they both do some pretty despicable things, but it made their characters extremely engaging to read through. These were definitely the most fleshed out characters for me and I found it intriguing that many of their aspects mirrored each other.

There's definitely some really interesting conversation in here surrounding gender and gender fluidity and also the role of women in historical China, which I really appreciated getting to read more on.

It's difficult for me to review this book. It's one of my most anticipated fantasy releases of 2021 because of the hype and the interesting premise. In the end I didn't work so well for me, I loved some things about it but also others bothered me. It's a moving story, unforgettable and thought provoking, days after finishing it, I am still thinking about it and processing it.

I would describe this book as historical fantasy with a lot of emphasis on battles and military tactics. The fantasy element is barely there in the first half and though it gains more attention in the second half, it still felt weak and underdeveloped to me.

On the plus side, I was intrigued by the leading characters of Zhu and Ouyang. Their parallel stories worked great to highlight their similarities and differences. One the strongest elements of the story is the exploration of gender identity and stereotypes and perception by society. I liked how the issues of appearance, perception were treated with care and understanding. It was process for Zhu - discovering who she is and accepting her fate/body/desire. For Ouyang, who is her opposite in a way, but also similar - his hatred of himself, the way other have made him be - it was there from the start and didn't really change but I felt it made sense.

I liked Zhu initially. Seeing her grow into herself, her determination, will to live and tenacity was something I admired. Towards the end though, I felt her desire for greatness became all-consuming, selfish. The whole idea of achieving greatness at any cost didn't sit well with me at all. It made her harder, cynical, unsympathetic in my eyes and could no longer root for her.

Another aspect of my disappointment with her is the way she treated Ma. She claimed she needed Ma's ability to care for others, her empathy and open-heartness, to balance Zhu's more cynical nature. At the same time Zhu never did listened to Ma, never took her advice and despite loving her she kept hurting her.

The overall progression of the plot and the manner of story-telling fell off to me. The pacing was even with long stretches of nothing important happening and then sudden burst of actions (often military action or other kind of violence). There are multiple POVs which on theory would make the story richer, but they made it messy instead. They were not as well developed as Zhu or Ouyang POVs and I was often wanted to skip them to return to Zhu or Ouyang.

There is probably a lot more to be said about this book - Ouyang and Essen relationship was fascinating and tragic; Lord Wang was an interesting character and wanted to see more of him; there is a child murder (off page) that still can't over; the power (and lack of) of women was also central in the story.

Overall, this a dark historical fantasy with lots of violence and flawed characters. It was intriguing but ultimately not a hit for me.

CW: Author's note on Goodreads + violence, graphic sex

I’ll preface this review by saying that although I did get an eARC from Netgalley I did read my own purchased illumicrate copy of the book.

I truly don’t know where to begin with this, the premise of the book is just incredible. A girl determined that she will have the greatness her brother was promised, in a Shakespearean twist she takes his identity and fate as her own she joins a monastery in order to survive. The fantasy is set within 14th century China which is under Mongol rule, and depicts the struggle for power between the rebels and the Mongol rulers. The story paints a vivid picture of life within the time and the struggles faced by the poor and by women, but also introduces genderqueer characters who dance along the lines of femininity and masculinity.

I have seen people compare this to Madeliene Miller’s The Song of Achilles and while it has been a while since I read TSOA, I cannot see the comparisons. This is a heavy and brutal tale about chasing fate, betrayal and in many ways the idea of ‘a means to an end’. At times the plotting and politics involved was too dense for me to follow, around the middle of the book I really began to struggle in following the plot and became confused when things would happen later on.

However, this may not entirely be Shelley Parker-Chan’s fault as I think I was trying to push my way through a reading slump. Their writing is definitely intense and dense at times but the first 120 odd pages I read in one sitting and loved. The setting up of the story was probably my favourite part of the book, but as it went on my confusion grew and the potential reading slump worsened. Therefore, this book didn’t live up to the hype and expectations I had for it though I think that is partly down to me and the time I read it, so I am willing to try again at a later date. However, I do also feel that the middle of the book did slow down drastically in comparison to the beginning and end, though plot wise it makes sense to set things up for later, I just struggled with it.

I loved the writing though, especially the way that Parker-Chan wrote their character, especially the main characters Zhu and Ouyang. As frustrating as I found them at times, the main characters drew me in with their clear motivations and the ruthlessness used to pursue them, as well as the complexities of their feelings about doing so. I thought that Parker-Chan did an incredibly good job at making out two main characters similar but also so different, it helped mark them as individuals (though at times I did find the switching perspectives quite jarring - though again that could be me not reading it at the right time).

The relationships were also done incredibly well, romantically and platonically. Because you were rooting for the characters slightly the relationships worked well, despite the difficulties within them. They are painful but beautifully written, which brings me on to my next point. Parker-Chan’s writing, though dense at times, is beautiful. The way that they described the complexities of gender identity faced by the characters, as well as their relationships with others and the burning passion for their goals was beautiful. It’s such a shame that I was struggling to read it as I think there are some beautiful sentences that I have probably missed out on.

My final point is probably to do with the fantasy elements, though there are fantasy elements to the book I found that they were fairly light until the end when more was explained though I was still left confused about the fantasy elements. I’ll be intrigued to see if this is something that is explained more in the sequel as throughout the book I often forgot that it was a fantasy as opposed to a historical fiction. However, again that could just be down to me reading it when I did.

Overall, I think this is one that I will definitely have to read again when I am ready for a denser book in order to fully appreciate it.

Billed as being Mulan meets the Song of Achilles, I had been anticipating this book since I first heard about it. I’d seen amazing things about it and fully expected it to be a 5 star read. Maybe my expectations were too high and that didn’t help.

The story line is certainly intriguing - a young girl born into poverty takes on her brother’s identity after he and her father die. Posing as a young boy she is able to gain admittance to a monastery and so is able to survive. Her brother was fated for greatness and she was told her fate was to be nothing so she decides that she will become him and claim his destiny. From then on, this desire for greatness affects every action and interaction. We follow several other characters who are all motivated by different things but driven in a similar single-minded fashion. What happens when these characters collide is nothing short of incendiary.

The writing is beautiful but at times very brutal with graphic depictions of violence, which I wasn’t really expecting although on reflection this was a time of war so that may be my mistake.

The exploration of gender and other people’s attitude towards it was fascinating, and the sapphic relationship was an interesting inclusion.

The pacing didn’t feel quite right to me. I found the first section of this book very engaging, but the middle sections were at times a little slow. The final section of the book wrapped up very quickly and I would have liked to have had more of a focus on this because it felt a little too rushed.

The changes between different characters’ points of view could be a little confusing and I wouldn’t always know who we were following. They could have done with being a little more distinct and with something to mark who’s point of view we were about to see.

Overall I did enjoy this book, it just wasn’t quite what I was hoping for.

She Who Became the Sun not only lived up to its hype but smashed my expectations – and build something so much better from the pieces.

This is an epic story about fate and identity – the fates and the identities we’re given, the ones expected of us, and the ones we take for ourselves.

Described as a reimagining of the rise of the Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor, She Who Became the Sun introduces us to two genderqueer main characters on opposing sides of conflict. Their stories are expertly woven together, and I am infinitely impressed by this author!

Parker-Chan’s writing is powerful and will stay with you for a long time. I can't wait for this to become a big hit and a permanent fixture of our tables!