She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

She Who Became the Sun Reviews

• 
  Ola

  TL;DR: She Who Became the Sun is an amazing work of historical fantasy reminiscent of Mulan crossed with A Song of Ice and Fire. A young girl assumes the identity of her dead brother, for whom a fortune teller had seen a great future; we follow her rise through the political landscape of 14th century China. It's out TODAY (July 20th). Run (don't walk!) to the bookstore and grab a copy now you won't regret it!
  
  Thanks to Tor Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. (I preordered it for my friend partway through reading, hence this being a verified purchase! It's that good.)
  
  
  
  When I was about a third the way through 'She Who Became the Sun' by Shelley Parker Chan, I preordered it for my best friend. It's not just because her name is also, coincidentally, Shelley Chan; I just knew that I was reading something truly special.
  
  Sun is the story of a little girl living with her father and brother during a famine. A fortune teller informs her brother that he has greatness in his future, yet both men die. Left completely alone, she takes on her brother's name and identity and seek to take his fate for herself. Thus begins the story of Zhu's pursuit of greatness as she learns just how large and cruel the world is.
  
  This book and Zhu's arc utterly riveted me. I loved Zhu's ambition and resilience, her sheer determination to survive and succeed, even as we watch her truly understand just to what lengths she'll go to achieve it. I loved the politics and seeing characters learn to navigate those treacherous waters (hence the comparison to ASoIaF, though this book is about a hundred times better).
  
  The 'magic' in this book was focused on three interconnected things in a thrilling, weighty way: ghosts/ancestors; the Mandate of Heaven as a physical manifestation; and the ideas of Heaven and fate. They are fantastical not as creations; the Mandate of Heaven (天命/Tiānmìng), for example, was used to dictate the right to rule (it's loosely similar to the Divine Right of Kings in Europe but includes the right to rebellion against an unjust leader). Rather, it's their physical manifestation to (some of) the characters. I could feel the weight of Zhu's future pressing against her so heavily throughout the book.
  
  Finally and most of all, I love how unapologetically queer this book is, how deeply it explores love and sex and gender.
  
  If you're looking for a book about someone learning to use their magic, this ain't it. There's no magic school, no focus on harnessing supernatural abilities in the way of many popular fantasy books. But this book is about taking control over one's own destiny; Parker Chan makes it clear that that's a power that's dangerous and difficult to wield than any spell could be.
  
  I can't recommend this book enough for readers who love historical fantasy, excellent queer rep, badass women, and people fighting their fate. I'm so thankful I was able to read it and can't wait to hear what y'all think of it, too.
• 
  Mohammad Areeb

  Loved the book. Just wish the latter 1/3rd was as good as the first 2/3rds of the book. Was nigh unputdownable. Top notch effort by the author.
• 
  BeautyBookCorner

  3.5 Stars — I really love the characterization of Zhu and Ouyang. This is where the writing stood out to me. I loved following our morally gray hero Zhu. Her anger, determination, and sheer willpower to claim her own fate was depicted so well. We see her make difficult but necessary choices that aren’t slowly leading her into a darker path. But you can’t help rooting for her all the same. And her arc is juxtaposed with Ouyang perfectly. Where Zhu is forced to hide her true self, everyone knows Ouyang’s shame and history of how he became an eunuch. While Zhu is intent on claiming a different fate than what was handed to her, Ouyang struggles with living out the fate he feels he cannot escape. The author explores this themes of destiny/fate vs, individual choice/desires, and gender in this highly patriarchal society with depth and nuance.
  
  However, the pacing in the middle of the book was really slow. I personally love political intrigue and machinations in my fantasy novels. And while this is full of it, the politics is never wasn’t shown in detail to the reader. I felt like I wasn’t ever in on the plan and saw machinations after they’ve already happened. I want to be in the room where it happens.
  
  Also, I love action scenes but for a story heavy with war, there were a lot of battles that were glossed over. I needed intimate action scenes like the bridge and duel scenes. Not this “oh we planned out a strategy. We have X amount of men, they have Y amount of men. The fighting was all around me. In the end, we survived and they retreated.” Like where’s the expression on people’s faces, how are they fighting? I want to feel in the moment and when it came to the political scheming and action, I felt like I was reading observations.
  
  I found myself getting bored for a good portion of the book. I enjoyed the book enough and may continue the series depending on how reviews look, but ultimately I am disappointed that I didn’t love this as much as I expected to.
• 
  Bethany Luke

  This book did disappoint me I'll be honest. After seeing all the hype and the buzz around this I really thought it was going to blow me out of the water, but it just kinda left me thinking meh 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ I always gage how much I like a book by how mad my imagination runs with imagery in my head and the whole time reading this it was just so colourless and monochrome. The main character was just so bland and one note and I just really couldnt connect with her at all. The only time I ever felt anything towards her was when she was with Ma, a character I actually kind of enjoyed. I felt like the MC had an absolute personality changed come the end of the book totally out of the blue and not really for the better in my opinion. She got and unlikable as she went along. I did prefer the other side characters a lot me and was intrigued and involved on their side. Ouyang was definitely intriguing and so conflicted.
  
  The love interests on both sides I did like. Ma is such a sweet character and I liked how she brought a little something out of Zhu that I couldnt find anytime else. Although I was not expecting the spice that was just thrust upon me so out of the blue. My jaw literally hit the floor with what was being described to me. Again out of the blue hahahhaa
  
  I did enjoy the multiple POVs and the jumps in time. I know others found them very spontaneous and chaotic but I really dosnt mind. For it being a historical war fiction and wars are long.
  
  I was disappointed at the lack of fantasy elements it really was just historical fiction for me. I did pick this up as it was made out to me to be a fantasy.
  
  My interest would peek up and then just disappear but it did keep me picking it back up. I did want to see how it all faired in the end. I didnt originally know that it was a trilogy I believe in the making. I do think I will still pick up the next but maybe wont be in a massive rush to do so.
• 
  LynBarTri.

  Set in 12th Century China, this story draws into that time and because it is so expertly presented, makes you suspend belief and accept the basics and the arch of the story. Really entertaining.
• 
  R Hogan

  This was unlike anything I’ve read, in all the best ways. It shines in so many areas. The exploration of gender is fantastic: this is no simple woman disguised as a man story, but rather a person born into a female’s body but living as the full mental and physical embodiment of a male, through every core of her being. Though she never changes pronouns, it’s very clear that she is becoming who she believes she’s meant to be. Gender is also explored through a character on the opposite side of the conflict, a eunuch who feels robbed of being the male he was born as, and struggles with both gender and sexuality as he doesn’t know whether he loves his best friend, hates him, or wants to be him. The second really powerful element is the belief in fate and desire, and the way Zhu ties them together as one: she in essence wants to steal the fate that was meant for her brother, and believes that if she wants something badly enough, she can fool heaven into believing it belongs to her. This theme is handled incredibly artfully, with a gradual progression from Zhu’s simple wish to survive to her slow realization that conquering someone else’s fate can go as far as her desire for it can take her. It introduces questions about what fate is, really, and whether it has ever meant anything just wanting something badly enough and deciding to get it, no matter who or what gets left in your wake. It’s a dark message the way Parker Chan writes it, and powerful every step of the way. One of the best Asian historical fantasies out there, hands down.
• 
  :)

  When reading I tend to just keep speeding whether I know what's going on or not. It will eventually make sense.
  
  Well with this book that was not the case. I only cared for what happened to Zhu, Xu Da and Ma. I practically skipped everything else because it was boring. The the book progressed the I got annoyed with the pov switching that kept throwing me out of the interesting part of the story.
  
  I did like the identity, sexuality and gender themes. Also the Sapphication 😗 (yes I made up that word)
  
  I wish we'd seen of Zhu's and Xu Da's friendship. I also missed the epicness of battle scenes. They were just in the background and not actually on page.
  
  It does have potential but I was expecting to love this . Maybe I'll reread someday to actually understand the half of the book that I skipped.