Zhu's brother was the one destined for greatness; she herself was fated for nothingness. When famine, drought, and bandits kill every other member of her family, Zhu decides to disguise herself as a boy and steal his destiny. Her training at the monastery where he was pledged hones her resolve and intelligence, but only by leaving her cloistered life and entering the war-torn chaos of 14th century China can she attain the greatness she desires. Zhu is brilliant and ruthless, but so are many among both her rebel faction and their Mongol overlords. A gripping and bloody reimagining of the foundation of the Ming dynasty. Thanks, Netgalley.

What words can I write to do this book the justice it deserves? How do I put the churning emotions this book has invoked in me into a coherent review? It feels impossible. Nothing I write seems adequate enough. Because this book? Is one I will be thinking about for a long time.

In this masterful reimaging of the rise of the Hongwu Emperor and the founding of the Ming Dynasty, She Who Became the Sun is a fantastic blend of revenge, tragic yearning, political intrigue, and history. A brutal book with two storylines, explorations of gender, and ambitious and ruthless characters that will absolutely take your breath away.

From the very first chapter you can feel the tension, the desire, the desperation seeping from the pages. Once this book gets its hooks into you, it doesn't let go. The character development and absolutely gorgeous writing all makes this a book you don't want to miss out on.

If you take anything away from this review, let it be that you need to pick up a copy of this devastatingly beautiful book asap.

This is a beautifully written book. I didn’t know I needed the concept Mulan meets song of achilles til I got this book. The book has a wonderful pace and was a lovely read, I was captivated through the entire book. The storylines were wonderfully intertwined.
Love love love this book.

In famine stricken China, the Zhu family's son is given a great destiny. The daughter is given the destiny of nothing. When the son dies, the daughter assumes his identity and enters a monastery as a boy. When the Zhu daughter finally achieves her goal of becoming a monk, Mongols burn the monastery, leaving her to ponder the fate she has taken as her own.

This was an extremely well written book. The story was well paced and the characters were dynamic. My only criticism is that the book did not have a real ending. It desperately needs either ran epilogue or a second book. Due to this criticism, 4 out of 5 stars.

4,5 stars

It's absolutely amazing to me how this book is Parker-Chan's debut. It's so wonderfully written and thought out.

Zhu isn't supposed to be destined for greatness, but she chose to be, and she won't let anyone stand in her way. She's the perfect anti-hero, she's ambitious and fierce and ruthless and cunning and ready to do anything to get what she wants. From the very beginning I loved her determination, I knew she'd be a character I'd love, and she did not disappoint. I love reading about characters like Zhu.
The book is wonderfully paced, there isn't a time when you're bored, you're always on edge, wondering what will happen next. It's so full of action and suspense, it's a real page turner.
The political intrigues was so well written, I love stories about power, loyalty and backstabbing, scheming and strategy. I loved the conflicts both between the Red Turbans and the Mongols, and inside each camp as well. All the fake loyalties, the murderous plots, but also the battles! And getting to see the conflict from both camps with the dual POV was so interesting.

This book is perfect for lovers of anti-heroes, complex characters, political intrigues, scheming, and battles.

CW: dysphoria, pre-existing non-consensual castration, misgendering, internalised 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

Actual rating: 2.5 stars

I was really excited about this book and I'm disappointed I did not enjoy it more. I love character driven books and I don't mind slow pacing. However, this book was painfully slow and lacked good characterization. I think this was mostly due to the author's writing style. The prose itself was solid, but the author wrote in a way that made me feel very detached from the characters. There was a lot of telling instead of showing, which I'm not a fan of. This left me unable to connect with story on an emotional level so I ended up bored most of the time.

I do think the author accomplished something unique in the genre though. The exploration of gender and sexuality was very thoughtful and compelling. It was definitely the best part of the book for me. Even though this one didn't work for me, I would still encourage you to pick it up if it sounds interesting to you. I think this book could work really well for the right reader.

Rating: Solid Book,

What is this book about?
It is 1345 in China, which is under Mongol rule, and we start out following a young girl during a famine. Her brother, Zhu Chongba, is prophesied to have a fate of greatness, and she is prophesied to have a fate of nothing. When her father is killed by bandits and her brother succumbs to despair, the girl realizes that she wants more than anything to survive, so she assumes her brother's name in the hope that she can assume his fate as well. We follow Zhu as she becomes a monk and later joins the Red Turban rebellion against the harsh Mongol rule in her quest to achieve her stolen destiny.

I knew this book was a historical fantasy, but I didn't realize just how historically based this story really was until I began digging around on the author's website. I would say that this is essentially a reimagining of historical events with only minor fantastical elements that didn't really come into play too much. I highly suggest (AFTER you've read the book) taking a look to learn some more about the real Red Turban Rebellion and many of the real historical figures that are characters in this novel.
https://shelleyparkerchan.com/historical-figures/

Overall this book was a solid read for me. It wasn't a huge standout, but I didn't particularly dislike it. I think it is a pretty solid debut that had some things that I enjoyed and some things that didn't work for me. I was expecting more action based on the premise, and I was surprised to find that it was more character driven than anything else.

What I Liked About This Book:
- I think it was extremely well-written. It is well-crafted and the characters have depth to them. Even if I didn't particularly like the characters, I found them intriguing and was interested to see what they would do next.
- It covers a wide range of themes, such as destiny/fate, gender identity and roles, gender expectations, familial duty, honor, self-worth and acceptance, and love. I think that some of these were explored to a greater breadth and depth than others, and some feel as though they are setting the stage to be explored more thoroughly later in the story. However, I felt that Shelley Parker-Chan did an excellent job of exploring many of these themes in a very subtle way.
- I enjoyed the addition of several more POVs in Part 2, I felt that it added to the story, and allowed for some breaks away from Zhu and an introduction to the other side of the conflict.
- We get some physical disability representation in one of the POV characters, and I really appreciate that while the world is one in which a physical disability is something that would cause great shame, there is a narrative of self-acceptance for that particular character and it is not necessarily something that they buy into and perpetuate the ideals of their culture. So a step in the right direction for what I want to see for physical disability representation in my fantasy!

What Didn't Work For Me:
- This is a very character-driven narrative. There aren't a lot of action scenes or political machinations, and when there are, they are almost secondary to whatever is happening with the character in that moment. Normally this isn't a problem for me, but as I didn't particularly like any of the characters in this story or feel that invested in their story arcs, it lessened some of my enjoyment. The pacing was very consistent from the start to the end, and is the slower pace that is typical of the character driven stories, but it became difficult at times when that character connection just wasn't there.
- Something that was commonly used when characters were scheming or engaging in any type of political machination was that it was written in such a way that the reader was left in the dark as to what exactly they were planning for a while. Often the character would think something like "Now THAT is going to happen" and would start to plan around THAT, but would never tell the reader what THAT was until the end of the chapter when it was a big reveal. This was fine the first time it was done, but as it continued to happen, I found it frustrating. This is my own personal preference, but I found it rather frustrating.
- I felt as though the concept of fate and destiny was really hit very hard and was perhaps a bit overbearing at times. It almost felt like a crutch sometimes, but this may have just been because I wasn't particularly enamored with the characters who were really caught up in the idea of fate and destiny. I understand that this is likely a large part of the cultural time period, but it still got somewhat frustrating when I didn't feel like I had a good understanding for why this was so engrained in them in the first place.

Overall, I definitely think that this book will be a huge hit with some people and a miss with others, especially if they go into it looking for action, a strong love story, or strong fantasy elements. It is right in the middle for me, and a very solid debut!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for an advance eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was super excited for this book, and while it was good, I don’t feel it lived up the expectation. I liked the gender flip it made for an imaginative read, however I found myself looking for biographies on the real founder of the Ming dynasty to supplement the story. It took a while to get all the characters straight and this book had a lot of gaps. I don’t know if the author planned a sequel but I think this book could have been two.

This book hands down gets 5 stars! I loved the characters, the world building, the plot.

If you are going into it thinking only of the song of Achilles then please dont. This book is pretty much nothing like that book. But you will find out why there was that comparison. This book is brutal and dark - about characters who will do anything in their power to get what they want - What they believe they deserve.

There are anti heroes, villains and this book is written during a time of war so be prepared for it. This book is seriously so well written and one that untruly enjoyed.

I look forward to purchasing a finished copy.

Thanks Netgalley & Tor books for the e-arc

I hope this book does well when it publishes! We were asked to read this potentially for a July box, but I was not approved in time for it to be considered. I hope to read it sometime this summer!

I absolutely loved this. It's not a happy story, and things get pretty dark, but it worked. I loved that the protagonists didn't always win or succeed. I'm definitely interested to see where this series goes.

From its announcement, I knew that this book was one that I needed to read. I love that we’re beginning to get more non-Western historical epics written by authors of color with this book having a particularly interesting alternate take on history. Bold and radiant, She Who Became the Sun follows two people determined to claim their destinies on their terms, regardless of what is fated for them.

In 1345 China, a girl is destined for nothingness while her brother is given a fate of greatness. When he dies, she decides to claim his name, Zhu Chongba, as well as his fate. She takes his place at a monastery, eventually becoming an ordained monk who eventually turns to war when her monastery is destroyed. Meanwhile, Ouyang is a Nanren (Chinese) general in the Mongol army, favored by the Prince of Henan despite being a eunich. He has plans for his own fate, one that takes him down a secretive, destructive path.

I should begin by clarifying that I will refer to Zhu with she/her pronouns, which are what is used in her point-of-view. However, this is not another crossdressing Mulan retelling; rather, Zhu, having taken her brother’s place for so long, does not identify with being a woman yet knows she is not a man. This is addressed in the narrative a few times and handled with care.

The plot of this book unfolds over a decade or so, beginning in 1345 when the Mongols ruled over China. Throughout this story, we see the tide turning against Mongol rule with the Nanren rebellion beginning to win more victories against their army. This was a slow plot but one that still intrigues as it also sets aside time for the characters’ own plots.

Amidst the battles, we follow Zhu as she lives in the monastery and later rises in the ranks of the Red Turban rebellion army. On the other side, Ouyang seeks revenge against the people who ordered his family’s executions while he also fights for the Mongol army. Meanwhile, we also get to read other characters’ points-of-view, such as Esen, Ouyang’s master and close friend; Ma Yingzi, a girl who gets to know Zhu more; and Yuchun, a thief who eventually joins the Red Turban army. I liked following all of them and seeing how their different perspectives added to the story.

The characterizations are also so strongly established. Zhu is determined for a fate of greatness, whether she has to wrench it from heaven herself or not. Her desire for something more is so great that she will do anything to stay alive and get what she wants. Similarly, Ouyang is constantly brimming with anger and determination. His need for revenge is years in the making, and he will stop at nothing to accomplish his own plans. Ma, meanwhile, is compassionate and emotional in a setting that calls for no empathy.

I loved the writing; Parker-Chan’s prose is easy to follow amidst the twists and turns of the plot. As I said, the characterizations are well established, which is due, in part, to the clear-cut nature of the writing. Also, I couldn’t put this book down!

She Who Became the Sun was a thrilling story of chasing one’s fate. It was a strong series opener, and I cannot wait to read the sequel! I loved the characters and how the plot unfolded. I definitely recommend She Who Became the Sun if you’re looking for an epic historical novel full of ambition and desire and greatness.

I received an early copy in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Netgalley. The full review will be posted on Goodreads on on July 6th and shared on Twitter. Review will be posted on Amazon after the book is released.
Goodreads; https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/17108692-paul-mcguire
Twitter: @pdmcguirelaw

From its first pages, She Who Became the Sun enchanted me with the poetic descriptions. Even the humble beginning chapters mesmerized me with their elegance. Often early chapters of back story can be slow but necessary. Not so here. Early chapters have a humor and wit that makes them as engaging as the later sections. This is a tale of power and empowering women. It is also a history lesson and a study of war and its machinations.

Set in China in the 1300s, She Who Became the Sun chronicles the red turban rebellion and the Chinese fight to push back the Mongols. But at its core it is the story of a peasant girl, Zhu, who becomes a monk and decides to fight as a man despite grave risks of being discovered. This serves as a vehicle for exploring the fluidity of gender.

"You won't be the one to make me nothing. I refuse."

The story could have inspired just with our main character, leaving the Mongols as undeveloped enemies. Yet we are blessed with a vibrant cast of characters. The stories weave together wonderfully as they converge on the finale. Though this is just the beginning, it feels complete and comes to a satisfying conclusion. I look forward to the next chapter in this epic tale. You will not want to miss this.

In a dying land ruled by tyrants, a young girl follows her father and brother to visit an old monk who declares that her brother Zhu Chongba is destined for greatness. Once her father and brother have gone, the girl lingers to ask the monk of her own fate. The monk replies she is nothing. But when her father and brother die after a bandit attack, the girl takes on her brother's name and claims his great destiny for herself.
A young man grows up in the house of the murderer of his family, a man that mutilated him and forced him into slavery. The young man, Ouyang, is followed by the ghosts of his dead, his fate weighing heavily on him. For while he knows it is his fate to kill the man who destroyed his family, how can he bring himself to such an act when that man's son is as close to him as a brother?
She Who Became the Sun is a story of how Fate controls the lives of two people. While one grasps on to a fate that is not their own, the other shies away from their fate. Their actions bring to two together and a nation is changed forever.
She Who Became the Sun is a thrilling historical fantasy set in 14th century China. Fans of historical fiction like The Song of Achilles and The Bear and The Nightingale will love this!

The only way to describe this book is ‘radiant.’ A dual narrative that is brimming with political intrigue, this book asks the question ‘how far are you willing to go for greatness?’ while acknowledging that greatness is payed for with blood. No one is who they seem, and the slow peeling away of layers to uncover the truth will leave you breathless. You’ll want to read this book now, so someday when it’s a multi-million dollar HBO series you can say you’ve been there since the beginning.

This is an unusual epic, and for much of the middle section, I thought it wouldn't work. Each of the three parts of this story are very different, and the plot takes several hard turns. I adored Part 1, which has everything I love in fantasy. Part 2 was a slog for me because politics and military intrigue just aren't my cup of tea. But Parker-Chan brings it all back together unexpectedly and remarkably in Part 3. I didn't always enjoy this novel, but I'm absolutely compelled to read the continuation of this saga.

I was expecting Mulan meets Song of Achilles but what I received was so much better. The unique voices mixed with historical fantasy weaved a compelling story. I was hooked from the first page and can't wait to read the second book.

I thought this book had an extremely strong start, but my attention wandered once it left the confines of the monastery and this was ultimately. a DNF. I really enjoyed Parker-Chan's prose, though.

This is a historical fantasy that is so magical yet not any less historically accurate or intriguing. This is a story of people discovering their identity, their sexuality, and their path of 'becoming.' This is probably the best book I've read featuring multiple morally grey protagonists. The book is so rational yet so emotional, and I LIVE FOR THIS EPIC COMPLEXITY. And oh the yearning, the yearning was tangible, and I felt it deeply.
The story started as Zhu became the last girl alive in the village - because why would you feed the girls when there were boys? She thrived in a place where women's lives meant nothing. That's what she was afraid of: to become nothing. This fear became apparent again when a fortune-teller told her brother that he would become great, and to her, he simply said she would become nothing. And when her brother just gave up his life in a tough situation, she was so mad that someone would just give up his destiny while she didn't even have a chance to become great. That's when she decided to become her brother, to take his fate to achieve greatness.
As if this is not interesting enough, the book also introduced us to a eunuch general whose whole family had been murdered by the one he had to show loyalty to. His blood was the reason for his mutilation, yet his mutilation was the only reason he was still alive. However, seeking revenge is complicated because the murderer's son was his only source of sunshine and comfort.
I LOVE THE PARALLEL and different POVs. The double main characters are so similar, but they share an ANTAGONIST relationship, with both of them being morally grey. Even though they only have very few brief encounters, their stories are so intertwined, and trust me when I say their encounters are legendary.

Being Chinese didn't prepare me for the plot twists as I am disappointing my ancestors with my lack of knowledge of Chinese history lol I still can't believe I didn't recognize some of the names...I want to cry in a corner in shame.

5/5 stars
Recommended to people who like: historical fantasy, fantasy, Chinese fantasy, magic, semi-historical retellings, LGBTQ+ characters

This review has been published on GoodReads and my blog as of 5/12.

I was really intrigued by the summary of this book, particularly the comparison to Mulan. While there are some definite similarities between Zhu's story and Mulan's, this story is distinct on its own and doesn't bear a huge resemblance to Mulan, the Disney version or the ballad.

I really enjoyed Zhu's character. I was kind of wary of the whole monk thing at first, I was definitely expecting the monastery scenes to be more boring than they actually ended up being. At certain parts, I even almost missed the monastery. Zhu certainly has the ambition and ruthlessness that's promised. She desires to not be nothing and is willing to do pretty much anything to achieve that. At the same time, she does have people that she cares about and are moments where she is light and engages in banter. There were some things I didn't quite get, (view spoiler)but overall Parker-Chan did an excellent job creating the background reasoning for Zhu's actions.

Ouyang was the other main POV character and he was actually someone I was somewhat wary about reading. He's set up to be one of Zhu's main antagonists, and since we only start getting Ouyang's POV in the second part of the book, Zhu is already well-established as the person we're rooting for and I wasn't sure how much I was going to like Ouyang as a narrator, but I ended up enjoying his parts. He has a fairly complicated schtick going on and on the one hand I feel for him since we get to see in his head, but on the other hand he is still antagonizing Zhu, so it's complicated. Much like with Zhu, I thought Parker-Chan did a good job setting up why Ouyang felt certain ways and did certain things.

There were certainly twists, but none of them felt like they came totally out of nowhere and none of them felt out of character for Ouyang or Zhu, which I think shows Parker-Chan's writing skills. The actions the two characters took may have been terrible at times, but for each character they were certainly justifiable, which I think is particularly important when you're writing morally grey characters.

Ma, the daughter of a Red Turban general and someone Zhu eventually befriends, is another POV character. She doesn't get a ton of narrative space, but she gets enough to show she's clever and has empathy in spades. I think she'll end up coming in more in the second book, but this introduction to her showed some of her character arc and set her up as a nice foil to the two main POV characters who are decidedly less empathetic.

Esen, a general for the Mongols and a friend of Ouyang, was another POV character. Like Ma, Esen serves as a kind of foil to Ouyang, but through his openness and a seeming naivete about the world. Esen has a kind of openness that the other characters don't have and sees the world in a fairly straightforward and uncomplicated way. He also experiences a character arc during this first book that I thought was interesting, though admittedly was one that went in a different direction than I would've liked compared to Ma's.

In general, the characters and character relationships were written well throughout the book. I particularly enjoyed Zhu and Xu Da's interactions with one another. They largely grew up together and so have established a kind of brotherly rapport that's enjoyable to read. Likewise, Ouyang and Esen's interactions, while somewhat less brotherly, also showed the complicated mix of history and duty that sets the background for their story. As obnoxious as he could be at times, I even liked the interactions Esen and Ouyang had with Baoxiang, who proved to be an interesting character and wily in his own ways. To be honest, I'm kind of rooting for whatever he's plotting since I'm sure he'll be back in the second book.

Also, for the LGBTQ+ aspect, beyond the two main characters being gender queer, they're both also interested in same-sex relationships, though it isn't stated whether Zhu and Ouyang are solely interested in same-sex partnerships or if they're also interested in opposite-sex or gender queer relationships as well. Ma is also written as being bi or pan.

This book deals a lot with ideas of power and ambition, but it also looks into gender and gendered experiences. Both Zhu and Ouyang are at the center of this, with Zhu being the 'Mulan' character and Ouyang being a eunuch. They develop different feelings on the topic over the course of the novel and Parker-Chan shows two very different ways of examining one's gender when neither man nor woman feels correct, or even how at times one may feel more correct than the other. The book also shows a great deal of gender relations and how that impacts one's movement through the world and the power interactions that people face. I really enjoyed how she incorporated gender into the story and am interested to see how things will continue to be examined in the next book.

Aside from the characters, the imagery in the book was also excellent and was actually something that I noted from page 1. Parker-Chan managed to infuse the landscape and settings into each page so that you can really feel them while you're reading. A lot of attention was paid to the details of things. As a reader who really likes a balance that tips toward imagery, I liked Parker-Chan's writing style.

This was a fantastic book and I definitely recommend it for people who like historical fantasy. Gender and gendered interactions are a big part of this book and Parker-Chan explores them in really interesting ways. The imagery is also fantastic and really comes alive each time its mentioned. I'm eager to see what happens with the characters in the second book.