Reviews

Honestly disappointed after the first book. There was a lot of sex/rape to gain power etc that I didn’t love as it wasn’t in the first book at all. Some of the writing made me frustrated, like her overuse of certain words like “effeminate” about 20 times in 3 pages. I feel like I forgot most of what happened in the first book and honestly I just hated Wang with such a passion he has such a weird vibe to him like he’s that one character in a show or movie insistent on being sad and depressed all the time and finally sees the joy at the end of the series or movie. anyway this book was just not my cup of tea in the writing style. the plot however WAS exciting, but the book itself was long and tedious.

magsisreading's review against another edition

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4.5

i enjoyed she who became the sun but i didn’t love it; on the other hand, i DEFINITELY love its sequel. the writing was beautiful and the plot was well-paced and full of political intrigue, but the main thing that really shined in this book were the characters and the themes of gender and otherness. i greatly enjoyed being in all of the characters’ heads as they are all so fascinating (wang baoxiang in particular, i want to study that man under a microscope). i wasn’t that invested in ouyang in she who becomes the sun, but i really grew to appreciate his character in this book, especially his relationship with zhu. zhu, as always, was wonderful and i really enjoyed her character progression. i’m so happy that i finally read this book; i was worried that it had been so long since i read swbts that i wouldn’t be able to get into this, but the exact opposite ended up being the case!

lucboxall's review against another edition

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4.0

Like other reviewers, I struggled at first to manage the different tone and focus of this sequel. Once I got it and embraced both new voices and old favourites, I really enjoyed this.

A fair warning though - this novel goes to dark places and asks us, is suffering made permissible by noble end goals? What if these goals turn out to be mirages, attractive only if our senses are distorted?

Together with SWBTS, this duology is a beautiful, heart wrenching examination of gender, power, and life.

This is a very strong novel, marred only by an ending that feels underdeveloped and plot elements that feel in service of shock or fangirling, rather than a natural character progression.

zoeyjo's review against another edition

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3.0

I wasn't a big fan of this book but wanted to know how the saga ended. To be fair, I wasn't disappointed in the ending. It was crafted well, with enough time for the character development to happen that needed to happen for the ending to not feel abrupt. And having multiple characters fight for a thing that ultimately ended up feeling hollow because of what had been given up to achieve their objectives was an interesting way to explore what ruthless ambition can become.

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