Okay this whole story is wildly fascinating, because a lot of the characters truly existed in history. I could pretend I didn't find myself down a very deep Wikipedia rabbit hole, but I'd be lying. I will say this, She Who Became the Sun is not an easy read. It is quite intricate, and I struggled at times to keep track of the various political factions. That said, it was a great story, and one I'll definitely be continuing.

Look, things were brutal back in the day, and this story is no different. As such, the characters have to do cutthroat things to survive. Zhu Chongba's whole life has been about survival- from the point where her whole family died, she overtook her brother's identity, which had been prophesized and promised greatness, and ran with it. Smart, that.

I adored how multifaceted the characters were. Frankly, there were no "good guys", just a bunch of people trying to ensure that they made it to the other side alive. They hungered for power, and control, and glory, and most would stop at nothing to achieve it. That said, they were still human deep down, or at least, most were. Their humanity made them relatable, despite the awfulness. Perhaps not quite likable, but at least more understandable.

The powerfulness that was evoked by Zhu Chongba being both a woman who was able to take down so many men, and a queer woman who fell in love with Ma Xiuying, cannot be overstated. Women were considered fairly worthless in this time, and both Zhu Chongba and Ma Xiuying elevated themselves to be so much more than just pawns in this war. The two were, by far, the most developed and well fleshed out characters in the story, and I daresay Ma Xiuying was quite likable, even when no one else was. While Ma Xiuying strived to maintain her humanity and compassion, Zhu Chongba spent her time figuring out what her identity really was, outside of the shadow of her dead brother's prophetic greatness.

Bottom Line: Overall, it is an emotional and powerful story about a pretty brutal historical period, but the glimmers of hope and love make this story so much more satisfying than the truth it borrows from.

I got sucked into this so hard that I started to find excuses to sneak a page here and there during my day. An epic historical narrative with a touch of fantasy, a bit of horror, a dash of romance... but really just a stirring exhortation to the idea that we can create our own destinies. I can't wait for book 2.

So I'll begin with my obligatory shout-out to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read a digital ARC of this before the publication date.
And now on to the part you're actually here for: was this a good book? The short answer is yes. The long answer is also yes, but with more explanation as to why. The problem with the long answer is that I'm really struggling to put my thoughts into words about this. I've sat with for a few days after finishing, and I still don't feel like I've got the right words, but I'll try my best, and take it one piece at a time.
Characters: so complicated. Like deliciously complicated. The "good guys" are also incredibly bad, and the some of the "bad guys" are heartbreakingly good. I'm rooting for one character in one chapter, then wanting to punch them in the face in the next. Or I hate another character, but then a paragraph later I want to wrap them in a fuzzy blanket and protect them from the world. I think there's actually only one or two characters I had distinct feelings about that carried through the entire book.
Setting: so vivid. I've never been to China. Or East Asia. Or Asia. Basically, the only basis I have for what the setting of this book looks like are pictures on the Internet or in books, and the way its described by the author. And I've never seen a picture of 14th century China-under-Mongolian-rule. But that's okay because Shelley Parker-Chan has a way of making me feel like I've not only seen a picture, but I have cool superpowers where I can walk into the picture to live in it for a little while. She doesn't wax lyrical about the landscape by any means, but her little tidbits about the setting, and the descriptions of the food, clothing, and homes of the characters, really helps to make it all come to life.
Plot: I have one serious complaint about the plot, and that's that I didn't realize this was the first book in a series, and not a stand-alone novel, so I wasn't at all prepared for the cliff-hanger. Other than that, this was a very good plot. It made me want to keep reading the book even when I had other things to do, which is what a plot should do, I think.
(Gosh, see what I mean about not having words? I don't know what's wrong with my brain right now. I'm usually so good at words, but it's like I think "ok Abi time to describe book" and my brain goes "I don't know what a sentence is, let alone a book. Please forgive me for this terribly written review. But don't let it make you think you shouldn't read this book. You should. It's a very good book. Thx.)

Final Rating: 4.5

First, I would like to point out that although this is labeled as a fantasy, the fantasy elements are very minimal. That did kind of impact my enjoyment of the book because I thought I was going into a book that was more focused on the fantasy aspects in a historical setting, especially seeing as it was compared to Mulan and The Song of Achilles. I would say this is definitely more historical fiction than anything else, so don’t go into this expecting an epic high fantasy. In fact, Shelley Parker-Chan has a great page on her website that explores the inspiration behind the characters for this book. If you don’t want to be spoiled for some of the events in the book, I would wait until after reading to check the website although there are definitely things that happen outside of those descriptions!

Even though I had completely different expectations, I definitely did enjoy reading this book! It reimagines the rise of the Ming Dynasty in 14th century China, specifically the future emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Once I realized that this wasn’t just a book set in the past but actually inspired by historical events, I did a LOT of googling to look things up.

This story follows two main characters: Zhu Chongba (inspired by Zhu Yuanzhang), who at the beginning of the story seizes the identity and fate of her brother for herself, and the eunuch general of the current Mongol rulers, Ouyang. These two characters were just so real and raw, and their drive to survive and reach their fates was so great to read about. We also end up following a few additional side characters, Ma who is Zhu’s whife, and Esen and Wang Baoxiang who are the sons of the Prince of Henan.

Gender identity plays a HUGE role in this novel as well, with Zhu taking the identity of a man (although she is still referred to in her inner monologues as she/her and by those who don’t know her as he/him), Ouyang is a eunuch who appears as gender nonconforming while simultaneously despising femininity, both his own and that of those around him. Ma also struggles with her gender, especially with the way that women in this time period are meant to be quiet and subservient which is not what she wants to be, until Zhu shows her that she can choose her own destiny.

The writing is nothing short of amazing. Parker-Chan explores the emotions of these characters in such a way that makes you really feel for these characters, even if you don’t always know what their goal is or agree with their actions. You can also tell just how much this book means to Parker-Chan and how much love and attention went into writing this book, and it really paid off.

There are also a bunch of trigger warnings that apply to this book that were provided by the author:

-Dysphoria
-Pre-existing non-consensual castration
-Misgendering
-Internalized homophobia
-Life-altering injury (amputation)
-Ableist language
-Non-graphic depictions of death by torture
-Major character death
-Offscreen murder of a child
-Scenes depicting extreme hunger/starvation
-Graphic depiction of a person burning to death

This is the first in a duology, so I’m definitely looking forward to the next book and seeing how things end for these characters. Ultimately, I really enjoyed this book despite the fact that I was expecting a completely different book. Definitely worth the read. so make sure you check it out on it’s release date July 20th!

She Who Became the Sun is an ambitious debut. It’s large in scale, weaves together fantasy and history, involves complex characters, and navigates challenging political and military plotlines. I expected to love this book but, while it does a lot of the right stuff, it just didn’t click with me personally as much as I would have liked.

Rise of an Emperor

SWBTS is a reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. It’s set in Mongol-occupied imperial China and follows several major characters. One of the most prominent is a peasant girl, Zhu, who, after the deaths of her brother and father, takes on her brother’s identity and becomes a monk. In doing so, she also assumes his foretold destiny of “greatness”. Zhu eventually joins the Red Turban rebellion and works to ensure she makes her mark on history. On the other side of the conflict we have General Ouyang, a eunuch who has served the royals ever since his family’s treason when he was a small child. Despite this, he has formed a strong bond with Prince Essen, second in-line to the throne of the Yuan Empire.

A Large Cast

Due to the range of the story, there are a lot of characters. Unfortunately, I often had trouble keeping track of who everyone was, their roles and allegiances. This was exacerbated by the fact that sometimes people were referred to by their first name, others their surname and then alternatively a special title. There are also multiple characters present from within the same families. Among these, there were only a couple that I grew attached to – General Ouyang and Wang Baoxiang (the Empire’s chief administrator and Essen’s bastard brother). I normally have no problem with books involving morally grey characters, something this book has in spades, but many of the ones here rubbed me the wrong way or just didn’t interest me.

Striving for Greatness

As far as leads go, Zhu is quite a unique and refreshing one. She’s unattractive, gender non-conforming, not really a physical threat, cunning, and willing to do whatever she has to do to attain her goals. Yet, I found it hard to get invested in her journey. For most of the book we’re made aware that she fears falling into nothingness and her aim is to achieve “greatness”. But, it takes until around the 80% mark before we understand what Zhu actually believes greatness to be. Consequently, until that point it seems like she’s running around, gaining power and influence without reason or direction. On the other hand, I did appreciate being able to follow her journey in a more holistic way than Ouyang’s so as to track her evolution as a character.

An Eye for an Eye

Ouyang has a clear goal – revenge. Considering his reasons, I was able to easily get on board with this (burn it all down Ouyang!), but I felt as though the emotional weight of his journey was undermined slightly by the fact that the reader is only told what happened to him. For something that informs his entire journey, we aren’t given many vivid memories of it or detailed emotional reactions, and this created a sense of detachment for me. This aside, I found Ouyang to be a complex, intriguing and flawed character, and the comparisons between him and Zhu were interestingly done. Something else I quite enjoyed was Ouyang’s complicated relationship with Prince Essen. Essen amounts to a confusing mix of friend, ruler, romantic interest, and object of revenge, which makes for some tension and subtext filled conversations. Still, I wish that this bond had been delved into a little bit deeper.

Gender and Sexuality Diverse Fantasy

It’s really important to note that this book involves some complicated gender issues. It’s written by a genderqueer author and features two genderqueer, non-straight leads. These elements of gender identity factor heavily into the themes and plotlines of the novel which is great. I would be interested to hear about the quality of this representation from queer reviewers as I question some aspects of it, but I think it’s amazing to see more variety and representation in fantasy characters.

A War Minus the…War?

When it comes to pacing and plot, my feelings are mixed. For the most part, I found the pacing in the novel to be decent and there was usually a good sense of momentum – political squabbling, training, troops moving around, etc. However, there were several sudden time jumps throughout, some larger than others, and this was disorienting for me. Not only did I have to really concentrate to follow what was happening, but I frequently felt like I’d missed something. Also, for a story heavily based in military conflict, I thought it was odd that the book skipped over so much of the actual battles. For me, this took away from the gravity of events and made things seem choppy. The decision to tell the story in multiple third-person POVs was one I really appreciated, though, as it worked well to humanise both sides of the book’s overarching conflict.

Fantasy Light

For those of you going into this anticipating strong fantasy elements, I would advise adjusting your expectations as these parts of the book aren’t super prominent. Perhaps more towards the end, but definitely not for most of the story. They’re also not very strongly explained on a world building level, but I assume they’ll be dealt with in more detail in the sequel.

An Ending to Hook You

While SWBTS is only around 400 pages, it felt longer as I was reading and took more time than I expected to finish. I’m not entirely sure why this was, there just seemed to be an odd disconnect for me. Although, I did find that my interest picked up around the ending, which was big, dramatic and really paved the way for interesting things to happen in the next book. The pathway for each of the main characters is clear and exciting, and will likely hook a lot of readers into continuing with the duology.
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In the end, this wasn’t the five-star read I’d been hoping for but I can easily see it being popular among fantasy lovers. Especially so for those who love Asian history-inspired fiction or are looking for stories featuring more diverse characters.

3 STARS

Actual rating 4.5 stars.

She Who Became the Sun first caught my eye because it was pitched as 'Mulan meets The Song of Achilles'. I have to admit that I haven’t read TSOA yet, but I’ve heard how beautiful and heartbreaking it was. A lot of people who have read this book also compared it to The Poppy War, a military fantasy book and one of the most painful book I’ve ever read. So naturally, I expect to be wrecked by this book, and it does deliver.

To put it simply, this book is a reimagining of the origin of the Ming Dynasty. Set in 1350s China, we get to learn how the Yuan started to fall, and how the rebels—called the Red Turbans—took back their land, city by city. Of course, no war is simple, and within both sides there's also internal conflict that may or may not affect the course of war. Personally, I think the best part from this book is definitely the military aspect. I’m truly in awe at how both sides try to win, using both brain and brawn. I especially love how Zhu mostly use deceit to win cities that have been deemed unconquerable by forces.

Another thing that I love is the point-of-views. She Who Became the Sun follows 4 point-of-views from 2 differing sides. The first side is the rebel, which consist of Zhu, a peasant-turns-monk who later became the founder of the Ming Dynasty, and Ma Xiuying, daughter of a rebel general. From the Yuan’s side, there’s General Ouyang, a Nanren-born eunuch general of the Yuan, and Esen, the son of the Prince of Henan. Through these POVs, we get to see both sides, and it’s as clear as day that in war, no sides are truly good or truly evil. It doesn’t take long to found myself rooting for both Zhu and Ouyang—the central figures in this book.

Shelley Parker-Chan also tackles gender and sexuality issue in this book. I can’t explain a lot about it, but I really think it’s well written and I learned a lot through this book. All in all, She Who Became the Sun is a must read for everyone. If you’re looking for a fast-paced historical fantasy, look for nothing else!

- SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN is enormous in scale while also exploring deeply personal aspects of identity as the book's two warring protagonists inch closer to each other, both in battle and in understanding.
- Military strategy in books isn't really my thing, but even when some of the machinations of the plot got away from me, I was still able to follow along and keep up with Zhu and Ouyang as they plotted against each other, so don't let that scare you away. Additionally, this is billed as a fantasy retelling, but the fantastical elements are really very minimal.
- The bottom line, though, is that I've never seen a character like Zhu in fiction, and wow, was it a treat. Not only a fresh story, but a deeply necessary one that places genderqueer people firmly within the story of world history.

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.