4.5 stars

Go ahead. Revile me.

I laughed I cried I gasped, but most of all I felt at peace in the end. It has been a Journey and I am so glad I decided to take it. For a book about the drowning and subsuming nature of grief and anger, it delighted me that the main feeling I took away from it at the end was of love and acceptance. THIS is how you land an ending that is both fulfilling and satisfying after so much buildup. Endings and characters truly make and break a story, Shelley Parker-Chan managed to nail both in a two-part voyage of fate, destiny and autonomy.

He Who Drowned the World is immediately a lot darker, angrier and more gruesome than its predecessor. Given the way the last book ended, that's not a big surprise. The sequel focuses more on the themes of grief, identity, gender and desire. While in the first book, there are ways where you can excuse the characters' actions or understand why they are going to such extreme lengths, in HWBTS the characters' begin on a path of no return. They are willing to do anything and everything to get what they want no matter who or what the cost. That makes for a rather grimdark book, with some gruesome scenes. Though most scenes aren't as graphic in nature there is a sexual assault scene at the end of Chapter 8 that I would warn readers about, since it was a bit more graphic for me.

I have a hard time marshalling my thoughts about HWDTW since I don't think all those emotions I felt reading it can be bottled up and labelled nicely. There were moments where I was absolutely horrified at the cruelty and disregard for human life, there were scenes where I couldn't help but feel a dark well of anger over a world that reviles anyone who deviates from the norm. The grief of losing someone who you love but who never saw you as an equal or deigned to tolerate your presence was gut-wrenching. Parker-Chan can write. I don't think there is any doubt about that. They proved that with Zhu's journey in the first book but in HWDTW Parker-Chan delves even deeper into Zhu's relationship with her body and gender. It's absolutely wonderful to see her journey to accepting her body for who she is, and her determination to make the world accept her.

Zhu's character foils beautifully with the other dramatis personae. Madam Zhang and how she never thinks to strive for anything more than what a woman can strive for in a patriarchal world. Her utter lack of imagination that she can only be worth something in relation to a man, is sadly a very real cause of internal misogyny. Ouyang, and his self-hate and refusal to accept himself as who he is instead of destroying himself to take revenge thinking that will be his only path to peace. Wang Baoxiang (my favourite in this book easily. I need to write essays on this disaster of a man) and how he accepts himself as a social deviant but is bent on making the world hate him for it because he feels he is incapable of love.

The way the author mirrors and contrasts these characters, their journeys and their motivations is so so good. Anyone who follows me on Goodreads knows how much I love a doubling narrative trope, and the doomed by the narrative trope. Except, Parker-Chan paints the doomed by the narrative trope in different shades depending on all 4 of the main characters. It is utterly brilliant and writing and characterisation at its best. This is an English teacher's and a book critic's dream of a novel. There are so many motifs and themes to dissect, I would love to reread this duology with a friend someday and discuss all the tiny bits of hints and foreshadowing scattered about. I can see this becoming a polarizing book however, I feel like there are bits that people will be "controversial" about and try to ban in libraries and schools. Sadly that is the world we live in, but thank you Shelley Parker Chan for giving us a series so inherently and unapologetically queer. This duology will go up in my hall of fame of queer books. I look forward to whatever they write next.

HWDTW is also a lot more plot-rich than SWBTS. There is almost no slow part, so much happens and continues to happen so readers will not be bored at all reading this. It also has a lot more court politics and drama which I absolutely loved. I enjoyed that a lot more than the battle scenes which was surprising. The court intrigue is very reminiscent of seaguk KDramas, the exaggerated acting of the courtesans etc. would be so very historical KDrama-ish that I would be giggling and gasping over the reveals and backstabbings. Truly a joy to read. If I had to make a complaint about this, it would be the lack of Ma Xiuying in this sequel. I wanted more of her and more of her influence on Zhu but she was only really in it at the end and while I loved her contribution to the plot and how it all led to a series of events, I still missed her dearly.

A tour-de-force, He Who Drowned the World has the characters look back on their actions in book 1 and say "I can do worse". Full of queer injustice and anger, HWDTW is about the queer and marginalised people who learn to make their place in a world that tries its hardest to erase and crush their identities. But at the same time, it's about making a place for others like you by accepting and loving them regardless of their identities.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.