"He Who Drowned the World" is book two. I enjoyed the first but this one became a DNF.

Thank you NetGalley and TOR publishing for bringing this title to us readers.

ARC provided by the publisher TOR Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A heart wrenching sequel that challenges the concept of gender expectations. A queer story that champions identity, unbending will, and delicious painful yearning. He Who Drowned the World is the ending of all endings that makes every page worth relishing.

When the new year rolled in there was only one book that I am anticipating in 2023 and that book is He Who Drowned the World. It is the sequel to one of the three in the Sapphic Trifecta that grabbed the attention of the fantasy enjoyers, She Who Became the Sun. A debut that challenged the strict gender roles implemented within the historical background of China under Mongol rule. Following the extraordinary journey of the rise of a nameless peasant girl that took on the fate and name of Zhu Chongba, her brother, carving their path of greatness challenging the fates.

Since the initial release of She Who Became the Sun in 2021 the book has been recognized and highly acclaimed amongst readers. Shelley Parker Chan has won multiple awards and the debut book achieved the #1 spot on the Sunday Times best sellers list and translated into 15 languages. When He Who Drowned the World was announced during the end of 2022 many readers, including myself, were excited to read the conclusion of The Radiant Emperor duology.

Personally, the first novel blew me away and left me awestruck as one of the best books I’ve ever read in my lifetime. When I received a digital ARC from TOR through NetGalley I had to prepare myself mentally before diving into the book. I tried starting the book in March but decided to delay it until now. From the stars that are included in this review it is safe to say that He Who Drowned the World is an absolute masterpiece.

He’d found his fate and his end, and with it he’d made all his suffering—his pain, and betrayals, and sacrifices—worth it.

Before diving into the review I would like to appreciate the cover artists that contributed for the US and UK covers of the book. For the US cover it is done by Jung Shan, the same artist that has done the cover for She Who Became the Sun and other books such as: The Poppy War trilogy by R.F. Kuang and The Avatar book series, The Rise of Kyoshi and The Dawn of Yangchen by F.C. Yee. For the UK cover it is done by Lucy Scholes, a senior illustrator and designer at Pan Macmillan UK. Readers are treated with these two beautiful covers to decide which to include into their collection or maybe just get both (like what I did). If you have preordered He Who Drowned the World there is a preorder incentive of an exclusive adult short story featuring Wang Baoxiang and General Ouyang. Though this short story is fan fiction and isn’t canon. Submit the preorder receipt here.

For readers that have not read She Who Became the Sun and are interested in starting because of this review please check out my review here. Also this will be the point when I will tell you to not read any further to avoid being spoiled because I will be mentioning events that happened in the first book. For readers who are continuing the series I would like to happily inform you that the first two chapters of He Who Drowned the World includes a bit of recap of what happened and all relevant to the players that are involved. A trigger warning is due as well as He Who Drowned the World contains some graphic descriptions and scenes of rape, self harm, torture, death, etc. For a full detailed list of the trigger warnings please click this link.

It was a single pulled thread snarling other threads; a whole structure, beginning to distort. It was all as it should be.

Chan’s writing is still as beautiful as it was in She Who Became the Sun. There is no decline in the quality of prose in this sequel compared to its predecessor. Passages upon passages I highlighted because of how masterful Chan’s writing is in narrating this epic tale. Chan’s ability to write such emotionally charged inner monologues for the characters added layers to the characterization that made them more fleshed out. There isn’t a moment that these monologues felt as though it was dragging the book, it is full of intent and purpose in giving shape to the characters journey towards their end. Things unfolded satisfyingly from start to end as the stakes became gradually more tense and stressful with each turn of the page. Even with the long chapters Chan’s writing never fails to pull me back into the world and characters. As vile as the characters are in this series I was entertained by them as each of them are fleshed out masterfully and they each get a conclusion that is worthy of their journey.

In He Who Drowned the World there are more aspects of magic compared to She Who Became the Sun. The form of magic incorporated in the series is the glowing proof of the fates called the Mandate of Heaven. As mentioned in the first book, people who are deemed worthy by the fates to become Emperor are people who possess the mandate. The magic of this mandate wasn’t explored much aside from the ability of seeing ghosts and spirits. For this sequel Chan shows the mandate being used by the characters for certain things and it also takes on different shades in colour depending who is blessed with it.

This was what he had now. It was exactly what he wanted, and when the rest of it was finished: it would feel just as good as this. It would make everything worth it.

The main theme in He Who Drowned the World centres more on the characters’ psyche after the things that happened in the first book and preparing for more mental toll to come. Each character experiences a form of mental trauma from what they did, directly and indirectly, to be a step closer towards their goal. As readers we get to see each of them go through more pain and trauma as they come to the result in their painstaking work to achieve their goal, even though the result isn’t always what they expect.

He Who Drowned the World also included some entertaining battle scenes that are interesting and explosive in delivering the climax of the book. The essence of this series at its core is the military machinations and strategies that became the background for the broken characters. Zhu is still as creative and eccentric as ever in inventing solutions during a pinch. The scene that makes this book is a certain nautical battle that feels like a throwback to the river battle in She Who Became the Sun. But this battle is much more brutal and emotionally palpable on page that left me gasping for air because of how tense Chan writes the scene unfolding.

In my review of She Who Became the Sun I praised Chan for writing a story that is a love letter to the queer community regarding gender. It is no different now because if She Who Became the Sun is a direct challenge towards the ideas of gender roles and expectation, in He Who Drowned the World it is the weaponization of gender expectations by the characters and a direct attack towards the idealisation of the very concept gender. To simplify it is a big f-you and the most punk form of storytelling that takes characters who are historically cisgender and straight yassifying them to become their most queer form. Aside from that Chan also highlights both body and gender dysphoria associated with being gender fluid, non binary, and gender queer from traumatic experiences of the characters for presenting a certain way.

He could feel the blackness leaching out of him as he lost control. It was drowning the world, and himself along with it.

At the end of She Who Became the Sun, Zhu Yuanzhang a.k.a Zhu Chongba proclaimed herself as The Radiant King to the world promising to lay waste to the empire of the Great Yuan and is on her way to expel the Mongols from the land. Now Zhu is planning her next move to achieve her goal whether through alliances or force. The key players that are a threat to her goal is Madam Zhang and Rice Bucket Zhang, Chen Youliang, and a few other new characters within the Great Yuan and an unexpected character that is moving behind the scene, a personal favorite of mine, Wang Baoxiang (the younger brother of Esen Temur and the new Prince of Henan).
There are multiple POVs in He Who Drowned the World compared to She Who Became the Sun that mainly focuses on Zhu and Ouyang with a scattering of POVs from other characters. In this sequel two other POVs will take center stage, joining Zhu and Ouyang, is Wang Baoxiang. As Chan has mentioned Wang Baoxiang is the reason why they titled the sequel He Who Drowned the World. The introduction of Wang Baoxiang into this sequel as a main character gives the story a whole new colour. In the first book Wang Baoxiang’s presence was minor but had a huge impact in the plot. It was clear that Chan setup Wang Baoxiang as a character to be reckoned with and oh boy.. he delivered until the end.

Wang Baoxiang’s characterization took a turn for the unhinged, wretched, and full blown insanity. In a way Wang Baoxiang’s manifestation of pain, grief, and trauma propelled him to embrace his identity to its fullest, though it leans more towards the twisted side. What led Baoxiang on his path of destruction is the countless times he was shunned for being different and ridiculed by his closest family for not being the man they expected him to be. In the first book he was beaten, insulted, tormented, and pushed to his limits which made him completely snap at the end. Everything in the first book led Baoxiang to become who he is in He Who Drowned the World, a person who is hungry for destruction and is out to defile what the world deems as a worthy image of a man.
Baoxiang’s motivation crackled with a darker form of ambition and drive that is fueled by the rawest form of pain and suffering. He used everything about him (by everything I mean EVERYTHING); from his skills in governing, his flamboyant attitude, his not so masculine body, people’s perception of him, and so many more, to his advantage. And Baoxiang is willing to do anything, even if it’s against his true nature as a person if it means achieving his goal.

“Our suffering wasn’t a payment. It was a gift. We gave it to you so you can achieve your fate. And your fate isn’t just the throne, or greatness. It’s greatness enough to change the world.”

The two main characters that run parallel with each other, Zhu and Ouyang, as foreshadowed by Chan in the previous book, in He Who Drowned the World their fates finally collided. The collision, though I expected it, is presented through an in depth lense. Chan peels back each layer of their characterization showing aspects of themselves that are vulnerable and presenting them through their POVs as they come to realisation of each other. Their euphoria in finding part of themselves in each other was a glorious display of Chan’s masterful lyrical prose and writing. Their characterization achieved a new level of realness compared to She Who Became the Sun, before they seemed mythical in their grandiose will, but now they show a more human side underneath their veneer.

A character which POV is a breath of fresh air to step into is Ma Xiuying. Even though compared to She Who Became the Sun her presence is much less stronger than before but her role is still crucial in achieving the throne for Zhu. Ma’s characterization from the start is consistent from the first book as the character that carries more empathy amongst the anger and cruelty of the other characters. Personally, I adored Ma Xiuying in the first book and it is no different in He Who Drowned the World. Ma is the only character that retains her sanity and humanity throughout the story. She delivered some lines that sets the mood and ties in the fates of every character in the story to convey hope of a new reign.

Those losses and sacrifices now formed the soil from which her new world would sprout.

Final thoughts, He Who Drowned the World is the gloriously painful ending to an unapologetically queer historical fantasy reimagining that solidifies Shelley Parker-chan’s status as one of the best modern fantasy writers. There are so many memorable moments in The Radiant Emperor that left me feeling all kinds of emotions. I highly recommend this series to anyone that wants to read a historical fantasy that is hardcore queer, intense and high stakes, beautifully written, and is just screaming with yearning so painful that it will make you feel like you ran a marathon.

Reading the conclusion of The Radiant Emperor series is a bittersweet moment that I will remember for a long time. This series has formed an attachment with me since I read the ARC of the first book and now that the second book will be released.. I am sad yet excited for other readers to experience the same brain rot. For readers that have read She Who Became the Sun, if you think that book was like a stab in the heart this book will pulverise every aspect of your mental and emotional being.

The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Zhu Yuanzhang is at the top of her game. She's successfully led an army against the Mongols and has freed southern China from the Mongol's control. But Zhu isn't satisfied with this unprecedented success. Now she want to take the throne for herself and become China's emperor.

Zhu isn't the only one who is feeling ambitious though. Madam Zhang wants her husband to sit on that throne, and Madam Zhang might wield more power than even Zhu. But there is also Wang Baoxiang, a scholar going after the throne using a different method. Rather than brute force, Wang is playing a political game that might have southern China fall right into his hands.

The first book in this duology, She Who Became the Sun, was a stunning surprise to me. I was so impressed with the language and the power of the story and the determination of the characters (particularly Zhu) and I was so eager to read this. Unfortunately it is about as 'opposite' as one can get in almost every conceivable way.

There's no real ambition here. you might think so, given my ultra-brief summary, but Zhu isn't looking to become emperor for any sort of noble reason or to step up and do what's right even if it means bucking tradition. She wants it because ... she's become greedy. This doesn't seem like the same Zhu at all. And that's a HUGE disappointment because it was her drive and humble altruism that really had the first book sing.

This book is full of dark episodes. Think about what might be the worst thing you could possibly imagine happening to you - go on, think about something. Yeah. That, right there, what you're thinking about ... that's in this book.

I highly suspect that we're meant to look at these books together and that they represent the yin and the yang. The "opposite but interconnected, mutually perpetuating forces." (Thanks, Wikipedia [I've already donated].) I'm not sure, though, why Zhu has to represent both sides. And while it's a nice conceit (if that's how we're supposed to look at these books) I'm not sure what we're supposed to get, specifically, from this book. The yin and yang meanings are clear and present in these books (dark/light, night/day, cold/hot, weak/strong, retreating/advancing, winter/summer, passive/active, etc) but the story, to get us through the Yin, is not at all clear to me (is that another part of the yin/yang? - murky/clear).

Looking for a good book? Though I can appreciate the symbolism and tremendous effort to connect He Who Drowned the World (by Shelley Parker-Chan) with the previous book in the set, through an ancient Chinese philosophy, the actual story-telling aspect and morality of all the characters was hugely disappointing.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

It's been a while since I last read the first book so I feel like I missed a few connections when I jumped into this book, but generally, I was able to enjoy it and I mean ENJOY it. It was such a good read!! I loved getting to (more closely) meet all of the characters even though I was hurting 90% of the time. Was the first book as gritty and painful as this one? I had too many emotions and by the end, I was chanting, "more, more, more". There's a lot of plotting, thinking on our feet, and when someone else may have given up, our three mains in this book PERSIST.

I really wanted to love this. After reading She Who Became I couldn't wait for He Who Drowned. I think it was missing the political intrigue I adored so much in Sun. The writing remains stunning and the worldbuilding is fantastic, but the plot just did not work for me this time.

The intricate plot pays off, and the characters are multifaceted. Ultimately, the story underscores the importance of self-acceptance and the damaging effects of societal rejection and self-hate, particularly regarding gender identity. It powerfully portrays how internalized bigotry can wreak havoc on individuals and society.

This is what sequels are all about. Shelley Parker Chan returns and He Who Drowned the World is an epic continuation of what she began. It's one of the best stories in modern fantasy.

A breathtaking, sweeping historical drama with stunning characterization. He Who Drowned the World is a worthy follow-up to the first book in the series, and a fitting conclusion to the often-tragic journeys of its clashing protagonists.

Shelley Parker Chan really knows what they're doing. This historical duology is amazing. I am already reeling from He Who Drowned the World. The twists and turns Chan takes are so unexpected, but so refreshing. There were moments I never saw coming (which says something in a historical retelling).

Chan knows their history, but also knows how to make complex characters. The three main protagonists of this book are handled so deftly, moving throughout their machinations. There are moments when you almost want one to win, or one to finally realize their failings, but Chan does such a good job at knowing that they are human at the end of the day.

This book is an epic fantasy of an amazing caliber. I truly had to soak in the writing at all times while reading it. I will admit that it took me far longer than I expected to read it, but I was happy to let it slowly consume my life as I wove throughout the tale.

If there was any negative feedback, I would say that it was sorely lacking one of the best characters from the novel in any main position, and that was disappointing considering it was one of the only other women who was a main character. It was sad to not see her as often as I would like.

The first book was a very good read. I loved the politics, history, and exploration of gender and identity that the book dived into. The sequel felt a bit lacking in some departments. I wasn't as attached to the characters and the political goings-on like I was in the first. I think that most would enjoy this sequel for what it is but I just didn't mesh with it as much as the first.

DNF @ 16% - I absolutely LOVED ‘she who became the sun' but found myself not at all engaged with the characters and story in HWDTW. SPC's writing is absolutely incredible and I love the worlds they seek to build, this book just did not deliver for me and that's entirely personal. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advance copy.

This was, unfortunately, a DNF from me. The previous book was not my favorite, but I was engaged by Parker-Chan's exploration of gender and sexuality in a low-magic alternative version of Ancient China. I just never felt like the characters rang true, and they ultimately felt like pawns in service to the themes and plot rather than fully fledged people. I picked up this second book excited to see what else Parker-Chan had to say, and it wasn't enough to keep me engaged. I know there are many readers that love this book, but it just didn't pop for me.

He Who Drowned the World concludes The Radiant Emperor duology that began with She Who Became the Sun. The first book was so brilliant that when it came time to read the sequel, I postponed it for months in fear that it wouldn’t live up to the first. I shouldn’t have worried.

In the second book, Zhu Chongba, the orphan girl turned a boy monk who assumed her brother’s destiny along with his name and gender, has become the Radiant King, Zhu Yuanzhang. But she has a long way to go to defeat the Mongols and becoming the emperor. She has the Heavenly Mandate, but she isn’t the only one and the fight for the throne is fierce.

A battle after a battle follows. Zhu Yuanzhang is outnumbered, but she is resourceful and she has an unexpected—and unwilling—ally, the eunuch general Ouyang who is driven by his need to revenge his father and kill the Great Khan. The two are mirrors of each other, in their destinies and the perceived wrongness of their bodies, but only Zhu is willing to accept it.

The journey to the throne is difficult and unexpected. The death of the Great Khan isn’t what Ouyang imagined, and the Great Khan Zhu has to face isn’t who she thought he would be either. But after all the death and sacrifices, after believing she would do anything for her destiny, Zhu learns in the end that there is a sacrifice she isn’t willing to make.

This was a great book. It’s heavy on war campaigns and court intrigue, which aren’t my favourites, but the attention is always on the characters, which makes everything interesting. The contenders for the throne aren’t nice people and some of their fates are well-deserved, but the reader still feels sympathy for them. And after disliking Ma in the first book, she rose to be my favourite.

Nevertheless, this wasn’t the mind-blowing experience of the first book. Zhu Yuanzhang has assumed her role as a man so thoroughly it doesn’t cause any internal problems for her, not even when she has to pretend to be a woman. She even thinks of herself as her unlike in the first book.

But she isn’t quite as single-minded as in the first book either, driven by fear of being found out. She grows with her experiences, and learns to question the sacrifices and her destiny, which culminates in the perfect final scene. Had it gone any other way, I would’ve been seriously disappointed. Now I can imagine that as the first emperor of the Ming dynasty she would’ve been both fierce and compassionate.

“But if you were determined to want the impossible, there was a better way to get it. Zhu thought with amused defiance: Change the world, and make it possible.”

Thank you as always to Net Galley and Pan Macmillan for providing my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I’ll start by saying that “She Who Became The Sun” is my favorite book, and nothing will change that, this is with a heavy heart that I give this book a low rating.
The first 30% of Drowned are amazing it's afterwards that things start to go wrong.
I spent the whole book gaslighting myself into thinking I liked it but if I’m real with myself I didn’t have a fun reading experience.

It's not you, it's me? This book is not bad, the writing is still immaculate, the trajectory of the plot makes sense, and the characters have evolved in a way that matches their personalities.
But I didn’t find the greatness, the divine, the big confrontational war that characterizes book 1.
Everything happens with spy missions and important character-changing decisions/actions are not developed which gives a hushed and flat tone to the narrative in every POV.
If I have a word for this book it would be « anti-climatic ».

I’m disappointed that we saw almost nothing of Ma, the way book 1 ended set her to be a big decision-maker for the future of the kingdom and in Zhu’s handle of the war. She was barely here… Ma stopped functioning as a moral check, Zhu just did what she wanted.

Also, this book is more graphic and gore. In my opinion for no reason. I could have done without the repeated self-harm scenes.

"He Who Drowned the World" by Shelley Parker-Chan is the sequel to "She Who Became the Sun" and the final book in "The Radiant Emperor" duology. The book picks up shortly after the events of the first book with the newly renamed Zhu Yuanzhang exultant as the Radiant King. However, Zhu's ambitions don't stop there and are now fixed firmly on the emperor's throne together with other ambitious players. Meanwhile, her old enemy the haunted eunuch Ouyang may be the key ally to achieving her ambitions, but is Zhu willing to pay the price?

This is a powerful finale to the duology with an enormous amount of character development that builds on the very firm setting of the first book. The first book was an incredible novel exploring motivations like unfettered ambition and revenge, with the characters making decisions often seemingly against their own interests to pursue their ultimate goals. This book is a significant gear shift, and the decisions that the characters made in the first book begin to catch up on them. Zhu's cheerful certainty against all odds, however, remains infectious. I also really enjoyed the character Wang Baoxiang who was equal parts pitiful and brilliant, and also willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals.

I really enjoyed this book and that it took the characters in a different direction, however it didn't always have the same punchiness and surprises of the first book. I also felt that sex in this book was treated in a very challenging way: never for mutual enjoyment or love, but always either transactional or non-consensual.

A strong finish to the duology with great character development, if not quite as spectacular as the first.

This book was a difficult one for me. I enjoyed the first book and was really looking forward to the second one. I liked the plot, the world of the story, and how I could never predict what was going to happen next. And of course, I loved Zhu as a character. and her character arc. What didn’t work for me was several of the other characters and some of their emotional descriptions. There was a lot of telling as opposed to showing. At one point, I thought it was just me, but after reading the word “pain” several times on the same page, I searched how many times it was used in the book. It was used 301 times. There were lots of other words used over and over again (i.e. hurt, hate, desire, pleasure, fear, anger, etc.) when characters were expressing their feelings that made the writing a little dry and repetitive for me, to the point where it distracted from the story. It also made some of the character POV’s come across as one-dimensional.

While, this book didn’t completely work for me, I am still glad I read it. It was a cohesive story overall, and I appreciated the ending.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for granting my acces to an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I unfortunately didn't get around to this one prior to publication, so read the completed physical copy instead.
Unfortunately, this one was a bit of a letdown for me after falling head over heels for the first one.
I can now understand so of the difficulties people were having at connecting with book 1. I didn't have any of those in book 1 but definitely had a harder time with its sequel.
Part of it is a greater amount of pages being dedicated to a character I personally didn't like reading from all that much. Therefore those chapters would always slow down my pacing.
However, in general I feel like I just wasn't as engaged and didn't feel as great of a need to keep on reading as I had previously.
The book did have it's moments definitely. There is a whole section where the book was yoyo'ing with my emotions, which can be bothersome, but I actually appreciated it was able to get such a strong investment out of me in that section.

"He Who Drowned The World" is a tour de force that earns every one of its five stars. Building upon the brilliance of its predecessor, "She Who Became the Sun," this novel catapults the reader into an exhilarating narrative filled with expanded perspectives, a tightly woven emotional core, and the intricate interplay of politicking and genderqueer dynamics.

Parker-Chan's storytelling prowess is on full display as the plot hurtles from one captivating battle to another, navigating territorial conquests and heart-wrenching betrayals without ever easing up on the throttle. The duology format proves its worth, allowing the narrative to maintain a relentless pace while avoiding the pitfalls that often plague the middle books of trilogies.

The return of beloved characters like Zhu, Ouyang, and Wang Baoxiang, along with the introduction of new and equally compelling additions, ensures a well-rounded and engaging ensemble. Initial perspectives that may seem distant seamlessly converge towards the novel's conclusion, delivering a satisfying narrative cohesion.

Twists and turns abound in the story, each one landing with profound impact thanks to the bleeding heart at the center of every betrayal. Parker-Chan excels at crafting the internal emotional states of characters, although occasionally verging on rich melodrama. Yet, this emotional intensity only serves to deepen the connection to the characters and their struggles.

In bidding farewell to this series, there is a tinge of sadness, but the prospect of what comes next from Parker-Chan leaves me eagerly anticipating more literary brilliance.

An alternate history of the founding of the Ming dynasty, He Who Drowned the World shifts between four tragically ambitious figures willing to pay any price to materialize their destiny, whether that’s revenge on the empire or crowning themselves the ruler of it. They pursue these goals with unshakeable inertia, doing endlessly cruel and sadistic actions with only the occasional doubts as to whether happiness could be possible if they chose a different path.

This is a relentlessly brutal sequel, and there’s a hopelessness that weighs heavy throughout the book. But Parker-Chan’s penetrating ability to bring empathy and nuance into even the darkest corners of humanity sparks an undeniable connection with these characters, whose self-destructive natures would otherwise be too hard to bear witness to. He Who Drowned the World is a dark and difficult read, yet Parker-Chan’s prose is so brilliant, her character work so complex, that I still found myself sad to leave this world behind.

On the heels of She Who Became the Sun, He Who Drowned the World is epic! The intricate plotting and story writing of Parker-Chan is impressive. If you yearned for more of the strategy, empowerment, and sexual exploration at the end of Book 1, Book 2 definitely delivers on all fronts.
It takes historical fantasy to a higher level with complex power moves and character building. Loved this series and sad it's over.

I recommend the audiobook format to enjoy this read as the narrator is fantastic.