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A review by woodslesbian
He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
There is something so unbelievably special to me about a book following just the absolute worst, most morally gray genderqueer and gender-nonconforming people backstab, scheme, and manipulate their ways to the throne <3.
She Who Became the Sun is one of my favorite books of all time, so naturally I put off reading this sequel for over a year even when it was just sitting there on my shelf. I was worried about it not living up to my expectations, but it totally did! I had a great time with this and loved the continued handling of themes surrounding deviance, misogyny, and nonconformity. I love Zhu SO much and she is absolutely one of my favorite characters of all time, and one of the few characters I really see my gender experience in. Speaking of, I love how well the discussions of misogyny and transness are still grounded in Yuan Dynasty China and feel historical, rather than fitting into modern discussions. I'm always going to be obsessed in the nuanced explorations of the way different characters feel about gender presentation and ostracization and such based on their experiences and positions--in particular, Ouyang's misogyny is soooo interesting to me and he's also a favorite character of mine.
Parker-Chan's writing is also equally gorgeous, with beautiful descriptions and building tension and some deeply powerful writing about grief. I loooove all the political scheming and military discussions personally, and how every character's motivations were interwoven so well and were just so compelling. I think my only gripe is that I would've liked more of Zhu's perspective and especially Ma's, just because they were both so dear to me and Ma's compassion and perspective on misogyny was a very strong part of the first book. I understand why we had so much focus on other perspectives, though, and this wasn't enough to detract from my enjoyment of this sequel. I did in fact cry several times, and it made me want to go through the emotional rollercoaster of the first book all over again.
Over all this was just a super satisfying conclusion to a series I ADORE, and I will read anything Shelley Parker-Chan ever writes forever.
She Who Became the Sun is one of my favorite books of all time, so naturally I put off reading this sequel for over a year even when it was just sitting there on my shelf. I was worried about it not living up to my expectations, but it totally did! I had a great time with this and loved the continued handling of themes surrounding deviance, misogyny, and nonconformity. I love Zhu SO much and she is absolutely one of my favorite characters of all time, and one of the few characters I really see my gender experience in. Speaking of, I love how well the discussions of misogyny and transness are still grounded in Yuan Dynasty China and feel historical, rather than fitting into modern discussions. I'm always going to be obsessed in the nuanced explorations of the way different characters feel about gender presentation and ostracization and such based on their experiences and positions--in particular, Ouyang's misogyny is soooo interesting to me and he's also a favorite character of mine.
Parker-Chan's writing is also equally gorgeous, with beautiful descriptions and building tension and some deeply powerful writing about grief. I loooove all the political scheming and military discussions personally, and how every character's motivations were interwoven so well and were just so compelling. I think my only gripe is that I would've liked more of Zhu's perspective and especially Ma's, just because they were both so dear to me and Ma's compassion and perspective on misogyny was a very strong part of the first book. I understand why we had so much focus on other perspectives, though, and this wasn't enough to detract from my enjoyment of this sequel. I did in fact cry several times, and it made me want to go through the emotional rollercoaster of the first book all over again.
Over all this was just a super satisfying conclusion to a series I ADORE, and I will read anything Shelley Parker-Chan ever writes forever.