She who became the sun is an amazing book that I was lucky enough to get an eARC for. This book is a slow burn, but once it gets rolling, the twists will leave you breathless.
A nameless child with no destiny is the only survivor of her family. She claims her brother’s name and his fate to survive these hard times. She becomes a monk only for her monastery to burn. She goes to war to claim her brother’s greatness.
This book does what most books don’t when it comes to the whole ‘dressing like a man’ tropes. Zhu isn’t female exactly, nor is she male. She uses she/her pronouns though. Zhu starts out hating her own body, but by the end she has accepted it and finally comes to love it. To me this is what makes it stand out compared to the other books, which tend to feel toxic for most of us in the trans community due to the fact we aren’t faking it to go further in life. That’s just who we are. And that’s exactly who Zhu is. Of course this book continues with that representation giving Zhu a wife, Ma, who had been due to marry another man until he was killed for treason. Ma is strong and fierce and is the heart of this story. She only accepts to marry Zhu once she reveals her body. It starts out as a marriage of convenience only for both of them to actually fall for the other. And that slow burn is perfect.
Most of this story does deal with the war. We get pieces of the story during important times for Zhu and the war itself. This book is one of the few that skips around that I adore. It gives us all the important info before moving us forward. It does make the story a little long as it builds up, but it’s completely worth it. I’m not someone who tends to like such long drawn out descriptions of war, preferring more plot than action, but this book of course is the exception.
I think the thing I truly loved the most was that Zhu (SPOILERS) loses her dominant hand. And the book doesn’t seek to magically heal her. She’s disabled and has to learn to how to use her left hand instead for everything. There’s no magic fix (SPOILERS AGAIN) but when she does use magic, it takes on her hand because it’s how she sees herself and she still feels the hand that was once there.
There’s so much I could cover, but for the sake of letting you go in blind, I’ll hold off, due to it being the best way to go into this book. It might take a bit to get into this one, but once it gets going the twists will leave you speechless and wanting more.

Thank you Netgalley and Tor Books for the chance to read an advance copy of She who became the sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. I hesitated before requesting a copy because this was definitely not my usual genre but was intrigued by the description which seemed similar to another book I read years ago and enjoyed, Pope Joan. She who became the sun was totally not what I was expecting; it was more mystical, and more brutal and yet I wanted to see where the author was going with her characters.
In a famine-stricken village, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…
The Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, The fate of nothingness is received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter. However when a bandit attack orphans the two children, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate. After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu uses the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness.
I truly was enthralled with this book, however don't be blinded by the Mulan meets The Song of Achilles description the publisher has displayed. This is not a Disney, nor a YA book. The book has its brutal moments from all characters and some people may be turned off. LGBT theme/some scenes have violence towards women/children.

Yeah. This is it. This is the one. My favorite book of 2021. Doesn't matter that I read this in January. (then re-read in June because I forgot to write a review) This book is it. The stunning prose, the characters that have prompted me to draw fanart after fanart after fanart, the genderqueer commentary, and the absolute immersion I experienced reading this book twice over. Just fantastic all around.

I must start with the writing because the prose of this book is so gorgeously crafted, simultaneously lyrical and brutal. It's that kind of writing style that I immediately could vibe with, one where I just *knew* would suck me in. What surprised me, the further I read, was how much the writing style reminded me of translated Chinese historical webnovels (and this is meant in this best way possible). As a Chinese-American who has a somewhat grasp of my mother tongue, I found myself mentally "back-translating" sentences or bits of dialogue as I read, which is something I've only done with text written originally in Chinese. Naturally, any honorifics (ie. little, brother, etc) were always interpreted in my head as the Chinese term. Given that Parker-Chan has mentioned in several interviews that she herself doesn't speak the language, I'm just in awe at how well she was able to nail the tone and style.

This is a multi-POV book, with Zhu Chongba the leading character. Each POV, each 'voice', is written so distinctly and their personalities, their strengths and fears so clearly conveyed that the writing truly brings the characters to life. None of the characters in this book can really be considered "good" people. They're morally gray, pragmatic to the extreme, and generally people you wouldn't want to meet IRL. Zhu is a mass-murdering monk, more than willing to kill whoever stands in her way of greatness. General Ouyang, Zhu's primary antagonist, is a self-hating eunuch with equally strong murderous tendencies, and a flaming misogynist to boot. Yet with their POVs and internal monologue, Parker-Chan gives these characters such nuanced complexities that it becomes easy to understand their mindset, and even to sympathize with their choices.

One of the strongest themes in this book (and embarrassingly enough the one I didn't fully pick up on my first read around) are the themes of genderqueerness. Parker-Chan uses Zhu and Ouyang as foils to express these ideas. Zhu, born female, has forced herself to don her male brother's guise in pursuit of greatness promised to him for the majority of her life. Ouyang, born male but forcibly turned into a eunuch at a young age, lives with a "female" face in an army of masculine warriors. In both POVs, they express their discomforts with their bodies, their struggles with being not quite female and not quite male, and how those feelings tie themselves to themes of relationships with family, friendships, and love. In some ways, it's these feelings that shape the very essence of these characters and their beliefs and interactions. Ouyang's misogyny, for example, read as darkly humorous in the light of his struggles with being a eunuch.

I've touched on this once already, but as a Chinese-American reader, reading this book for the first time in January meant the world to me. This follows the rise of Zhu Yuangzhang, founder of the Ming Dynasty. It thrusts readers into its world and says behold, a sliver of the rich history of China. To see Chinese idioms directly translated to text, with just enough context clues for readers to decipher, idioms I've used since childhood, was just such a bizarre yet joyous experience. Even if some of these idioms sound better in Chinese, trust me. Asians have long been under-represented in Western media, so to see that *this* is the book Tor decided to spend the brunt of its marketing budget on, this wonderful piece of diaspora fiction. Just amazing.

Overall, I rate this book a 5/5. Stunning prose, morally-gray characters with so much complexity and nuance, paired with strong themes of genderqueerness, agency, and relationship, set in an alt-history 14th-century China. *She Who Became the Sun* is a masterpiece and my favorite book of 2021.

Review to be posted on my blog 9 July 2021

dnf at 16%, 4 stars
reading slump + ebook = catastrophe
I definitely plan on picking this up once it gets published, but I just think that this wasn't the right time to be trying to read it.
From what I did read, the writing was great. I felt intrigued the whole time, but I just couldn't find the motivation to pick it up (which was definitely on me).

This was a well-written and richly imagined history-inspired fantasy. I expected to love it much more than I did, but the most I could feel was appreciation. I felt at a distance from the characters, always observing them from the outside. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it left me feeling out in the cold. and unable to fully engage with the book

Kudos to the author though for her complex treatment of gender issues in this context, it provides a bar for other authors to come up to and hopefully exceed.

This book was really hyped up this year and it did not disappoint! I love a bit of political intrigue and fast paced scenes to propel the book forward.

This book was stunning. A fierce, cinematic epic that is also deeply personal and full of heartbreak. I can't wait for the next one.

swbts is a brilliant debut fantasy, with a unique twist on chinese history that was equally beautiful and painful and packed with political intrigue. all the characters were so strongly developed, their emotions leaking through the pages. i loved the discussion of gender roles in the book. a strong, masterful book, not to miss out on. (full rtc)

As the author says in the acknowledgments section, this book is something you needed but could not find. The plot is a novelty, and the characters are even more unique than any other Asian-inspired fiction that I have ever read before. When I heard about the book, I was very attracted to it because of what it promised, and I have to say that even though it took some time for me to really connect with the story, I am pleased.

The book is divided into three parts, each of them covering a span of quite some years, and it is set in ancient China while it was ruled under the power of the Mongols. The story is about a girl who is destined to nothingness who finds a way to change her fate by taking her brother’s identity, Zhu Chongba. Little did she knew that the instant she decided to become him, she was also starting her own way to greatness.

Zhu will face many difficult situations that will lead him to discover that he has the power to change his own fate, he will understand that he is the only one responsible for achieving greatness and becoming powerful. This ambitiousness is something that I have rarely see on any other character before, neither male nor female, and it is what I like the most about Zhu because even though he is not the typical flawless hero, this trait makes him more real.

The character design seems to be perfectly worked out, I ended up enjoying reading all their own perspectives and getting to know them and their secret fears and motivations. It is palpable how much effort the author has put behind the development of each of the characters, shaping them up to their best. My personal favourites are general Ouyang and Lord Wang.

However, there were some parts of the story that I felt kind of loose, or that needed a bit more clarification for the reader. For example, the ability to see the ghosts, or how the mandate of Heaven works out, and why there are many types of them. I was able to understand some of the theory behind it, but I feel that it could have been described a bit better.

Also, I personally would have enjoyed seeing how Zhu’s training was. He does not even know how to hold a sword properly, and all the same passes and survives the training at one of the most feared training pitches? I know that his fate and destiny are of great help but considering his circumstances, it would have been good to have at least a glimpse of how he managed to overcome this situation.

As I mentioned before, the story is amazing, and you can feel how much work was put behind to build the story, how much research was done, and even from where the inspiration came, especially for the development of the characters, which I consider to be the strongest point in favor of the novel. I loved being able to experience a bit of the feeling of reading some wuxia or xianxia literature while reading this novel, which I really ended up enjoying.

An absolute stunner. Move this to the top of your TBR pile and buckle up. First, a note about the comps. Comps are funny things, and the industry loves them, and some readers love them, too, but I'm not sure the comps on this one (Mulan and Song of Achilles) do this book justice. Yes, there's a girl who disguises herself as a boy and becomes a general but not out of duty or honor or any of that noble stuff. She does it because she covets. She wants. She sees a destiny meant for another and seizes it as her own, and she continues to take and take in ways both horrifying and laudable until the ending which will make you gasp and wonder about the cost of it all. Definitely not Disney.

The second plotline (the Achilles plotline) in the book belongs to the "enemy" but that's such an oversimplification that I'm embarrassed I used it. And oh, what a doozy of a story it is. It had been a long time since I've seen a character as complex and nuanced and infuriating and heartbreaking as this one. In a word, I loved him. I wish I'd written him, he's so good. But clearly it was meant for Parker-Chan to bring him to life as only she could. (Also, Patroclus could never.)

The story, much like the characters, is ambitious and clever and the depth of emotion Parker-Chan is able to tap into without ever becoming maudlin is astounding. I caught my breath more than once and had to stop and read whole paragraphs to my husband they were so good. (He's not a reader, but I like the think he appreciated them.) There's war and violence and betrayal (oh the betrayal) and destiny both embraced and defied. Incredible work. Cannot wait for the next one.

This is a story that is steeped in ancient Chinese history and culture with a dash of fantasy. It also has a gorgeous cover which is a bonus. Overall, I enjoyed the story that unfolded but there were elements that hindered my experience for more personal reasons. Here are all of my thoughts on the book.


Writing:

The writing was easy to digest for me but I did have some issues with the vocabulary and format. Firstly, when Zhu replies she always uses the term 'this monk' when referring to herself, and after a while, it got really annoying because it felt overused. Regardless of whether or not that is culturally accurate, it did bother me.

Another minor issue I had was with the timeline. There were gaps in the story that I wish were shorter in order to add more character development. As this is a series as well, I think that the gap could have easily been shortened.

I also found that the writing didn't feel very personal in the sense that I felt like someone who was seeing everything happen from the outside. I wanted the story to dig a bit deeper into the lives of the characters.


Plot:

While I get why this is likened to Mulan, I think that marketing it for fans of Song of Achilles was a bit of a stretch. So if you read the book, try and keep those expectations out of your mind.

This is a story that is all about fate and what one will do in order to achieve their place in the world. I did overall like the story and the setting, but I did have a bit of a hard time getting through it as the story wasn't as riveting as I thought it would be. You follow Zhu as she must fight to make her destiny her own and strives to gain the Mandate of Heaven while pretending to be a male monk. You also follow Ouyang, who is a disgraced eunuch who fights for the occupying Mongols.

I think that both of their stories had a lot of thought put into them, but I did want more background information about Ouyang in order to help better establish his character motivations. As two people fighting on opposite sides, I would have liked to see more conflict between the two through warfare. There was a lot of political intrigue in this and strategic planning, but I would have liked to see more fighting especially considering the fact that this was being marketed towards fans of Mulan.


World-Building:

This is set in 14th century China and follows the Mongols and the Red Turban Rebellion which was an actual historical event. I do like the way the author interweaved an original plot with a historical setting. As someone who took a class on Genghis Khan and the Khaganate in university, I appreciated the focus on the Mandate of Heaven and the level of detail that went into depicting the Mongols and China.

One thing I surprisingly did not enjoy was the fantasy elements which is a bit shocking as a fantasy reader. I felt like those elements were not strong enough to support the story. They either should have been included more or left out entirely.


Characters:

Let's start with our main protagonist, Zhu. Zhu's character fell a bit flat for me as her entire personality for the most part can be summed up in two words: cunning and determined. At first, I was fine with it, but the direction of her character development was not something I really enjoyed. I don't mind characters like her in certain instances, but I draw the line when they make questionable decisions. Again though, this is something I don't like but it may not bother you.

Then we have Ma who honestly deserved better even though I think that I could have done without her perspective entirely. I wish that her character was able to develop a bit more as ultimately she felt more like a pawn than a character with her own story.

Finally, we have the most interesting character (in my opinion), Ouyang. I thought that his development as a character was well done and I felt like his motivations made more sense than Zhu's did. I would have liked to see more interaction between him and Zhu and would have liked to see more of him throughout the book. I also felt like his story was pushed to the side towards the end of the book.


Concluding Thoughts:

I am a bit conflicted about how I feel about this book. On the one hand, I did enjoy the story, but I know that I am going to hesitate to pick up the next book because of the direction the story went in. If you are looking for a book that is reminiscent of a historical drama or is similar to The Poppy War, give this a shot.

DNF. I really liked the premise but the writing did not work for me at all. It wouldn't be fair to the book if I finished reading and gave it a low rating.

In this first part of what is to be a two book epic, Shelley Parker-Chan has written a reimagining of what is known as the Red Turban rebellion in 1351-1368 in China that led to the overthrow of the Mongol led Yuan dynasty and the establishment of the Ming dynasty. Based on the actual battles and leaders of the opposing armies, it’s a sweeping saga of war, treachery, ambition, revenge and love.

As well as injecting a slight fantasy element, the author has also chosen to make the two main characters gender diverse. General Ouyang, supporting the Yuan faction is portrayed as a eunuch and Zhu Chongba as a woman who took on the identity of her brother and trained to become a monk. Ouyang’s repressed love for the prince he serves, as well as revenge for the man who made him a eunuch will motivate many of his actions while Zhu will later fall in love with a women. Both are complex characters, who are strong and resiliant, driven by what they believe to be their fates. Zhu is particularly engaging and has been given a wonderful voice.

With gorgeous lush writing, it’s hard to believe this is the author’s debut novel. The period is well researched, particularly the strategy and politics of the factions involved in the conduct of the war. With strong themes of identity, loyalty and duty, at times the novel is also dark and brutal with violence, betrayal and murders aplenty. It certainly never has a dull moment and is an addictive read.

This was a miss for me. I will say, thankfully, it did improve as the story went along. I began to become more interested in the characters and their storylines, so it wasn't a complete flop!

I loved the concept of the protagonist becoming someone else in a male dominated world and showing them she can be just as amazing as any man. This book had good bones and had great potential to be a book I loved. But, unfortunately, I'm in the minority when it comes to loving this book.

One aspect that I didn't enjoy was the pacing. It was off for me. Sections where nothing happened, and I'd become bored, and then other times, like during the battles, it would happen so quickly I would need to reread it to make sure I didn't miss anything.

This book reminds me of The Dragon Republic and, like Dragon Republic, I am in the minority of not understanding what everyone loved about that book. However, this book kept me more engaged once the story escalated. The initial 30-40% was hard for me to stay focused. But I'm glad I didn't give up, because it definitely improved the more I read and I ended up not disliking it as much as I originally thought. I can understand where readers enjoyed this book. I'd probably listen to them and if it seems like something you'd be interested in, don't listen to my review and check it out!

***Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book!

she who became the sun is a sweeping historical fantasy set against the rise of the ming dynasty in 14th century china. in a small village decimated by famine, a fortune teller promises a peasant boy greatness and gives his sister the fate of nothingness—but when the boy dies and the girl survives, she claims his identity and fate as her own. driven by her fierce desire to live, she ventures into the wider world as zhu chongba. first as a monk and later as a leader in the rebellion against the mongol-led yuan dynasty, zhu ruthlessly pursues her fate in this breathtaking reimagining of emperor zhu yuanzhang’s life and rise to power.

the world building is spectacular, from the dusty zhongli village of zhu’s childhood to the monastery to palaces and battlefields and beyond, but the greatest strength of this novel is its characters. zhu in particular is just fascinating; i love how aware she is of her own ambition and how unwilling she is to set is aside for anyone or anything. though the story is told primarily from zhu’s perspective, the use of other perspectives (most commonly general ouyang, as zhu’s foil) is used so effectively to reveal twists and new information.

one of the major underlying themes of she who became the sun is an exploration of gender and gender roles within the context of the time period. this centers around zhu and ouyang, the eunuch general, but it also extends to ma xiuying and her relationship with zhu as well as to several minor characters. i love how parker-chan wove this theme into the plot and how it ended up being an absolutely essential part of the story.

i honestly can’t believe this is a debut novel. parker-chan balances massive battles and political intrigue with intimate moments and scenes so beautifully, and i can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel.

4 stars, a really strong debut with some fantastic use of imagery

She Who Became the Sun bills itself as part reimagining of the founding of the historical Ming dynasty and part reimagining of Mulan. The story follows her as she goes from merely trying to survive by adopting the name of her dead brother to actively accruing power and many of the book's best moments come from our protagonist, Zhu's scheming to get more. The novel hints that Zhu is slowly being corrupted by power and that her motivations are slowly becoming nefarious so I look forward to seeing that aspect developed in the sequels. Zhu herself is an interesting character who understands political pragmatism and ambition but is hampered by the circumstances of her birth and the reality of society around her. Despite her slow turn to cruelty, it's still surprisingly easy to root for her much of the time because of just how much she has overcome to be where she is and how capably she responds to serious setbacks.

That said, the book isn't without its flaws. The pacing can trip up from time to times. It's first noticeable in the section between Zhu studying at the monastery and eventually becoming a soldier. The book suddenly shifts to multiple POVs in a way that is a bit jarring and feels like it derails Zhu's story ever so slightly. The biggest pacing issue comes near the end though with pieces falling into place a little to quickly to get Zhu to her new position. After what felt like a much slower and steadier pace to get to this point, I was a bit taken aback how the whole plan leapt forward by a few bounds in the final pages and I think this section could have been drawn out a bit more. That aside, it is a really well done book and I admire Parker-Chan's use of imagery throughout the book which often gives the novel a cinematic quality and makes it easy to picture every scene.

This book was the best book I've read all year. I do not say that lightly. The worldbuilding was expansive and yet real, the characters relatable yet shocking, and the gender feels were intense. As a trans person, reading this felt like being seen. Although I gotta admit, as much as I love Zhu, I really hope I wouldn't pull a Zhu (that twist at the end OH MY GOD). This book is what other epic fantasies aspire to be. I hope Parker-Chan gets to set the new standard for fantasy, because this. This is it.

I received an ARC of She Who Became the Sun from TOR.

Going into this, I didn't know what to expect. I realized I have been reading a lot of alternate histories/retellings of classic stories with new LGBT spins on them. I have always had a passing interest in the histories of China so was looking forward to reading this take. As the blurb says this is a retelling of the rise of the Ming dynasty.

The main character of the book is Zhu is born a girl child, fated to "nothing", of a very poor family in Southern China during the time of the Red Turban rebellions. After bandits kill her father and her brother, who is fated for greatness according to a local monk, dies in despair over the loss of their father Zhu takes his identity and "steals" his fate. They travel to the monastery and gain admittance and train to be a monk.

Their story is contrasted against the story of the Yuan general Ouyang, a eunuch who serves the Yuan after rising from slavehood to command the armies. The lives of these two characters continually arc away and towards each other over the course of the story as they both follow the course of their Fates. They are contrasted by one trying to change their Fate and the other constantly aware of knowing where their Fate would eventually lead and trying to fight and delay it's occurrence as long as possible.

I enjoyed this book and appreciated the LGBT elements and changes to the original story. It will draw a lot of comparisons to The Poppy War for the obvious reasons, but they read completely different to me. I enjoyed them both but this one is much more of a slow build with a lot of the character arcs building and evolving until the last third of the book when the pace picks up rapidly.

My one complaint about the book is the rapidity of the last third to quarter of the book. After the slow builds it feels rushed like there was a certain point to get to and there were only a set number of pages allowed to do it. But that is a minor complaint. I enjoyed the characters and really appreciated the addition of the LGBT elements into the story.

I loved this novel! I found the writing style captivating and the story incredibly interesting.

I have been attempting to read more female-written lit as well as more AAPI literature, and this novel ticked both boxes!

I haven't read song of achilles yet- which this novel is compared to, but I can say I found it reminiscent of The Poppy War because of the dark undertones in this novel, as well as the war/coming of age/coming into your power themes.

The MC is power-hungry, but still relatable as it is in third person limited, so you get to see what is going on inside her head and the why behind her actions.

I did receive this novel as an ARC in exchange for review

I echo a lot of other reviews when I say the Mulan/song of Achilles comparison is simultaneously accurate and also very inaccurate. There are elements of both stories, but also a lot of darkness and morally grey characters.

I loved the introspective nature of the narrative, it reminded me of Curtis Sittenfeld at points with the incisive way it drew thoughts out of my own head that I thought were unique.

I will be thinking about this book for a long time!