I think this was an interesting premise and idea, with a lot of love and care put into it. But it isn't my thing.

I didn't think that the emotions portrayed here where anywhere near deep enough for me. It verged too close to a military fantasy, which decidedly isn't my preferred genre. I suspect this is probably a misalignment of expectations than anything. While I thought there were some interesting ideas here, primarily focused around power ("greatness") and gender, I just didn't feel like this was a cohesive whole. The pacing was so STRANGE. The character work wasn't there, for me. I felt like there was a lot of telling and not enough showing. I don't agree that Zhu seemed that clever or ruthless! It felt reported more than anything.

Idk. This wasn't a hit for me and I'm sad about it. Clearly, a lot of other people got what they wanted from this -- I can see that some people did think this was emotional and effective but it wasn't for me. The beginning was good, I will say: it has a great hook, an interesting premise, and I did think there was a strong sense of place and time. It just fell flat.

She Who Became the Sun hooked me right from the start. Though it got a bit slow in the beginning, later on I couldn't put it down. It's got everything I love in a story: fascinating characters, epic battles, and a plot that kept me guessing till the very end.

So, picture this: Zhu, a peasant girl with a destiny as forgettable as yesterday's news. But then, fate throws her a curveball when her brother dies. Suddenly, she sees a chance to change her fate. She decides to take on her brother's identity and his supposed destiny of greatness. And let me tell you, it's a wild ride from there.

What I really loved about this book is how it tackles some big themes – like destiny, identity, and gender – in a way that felt real to me. Zhu isn't just some cardboard cutout hero; she's flawed, she's complex, and she's totally relatable. And the way the author blends history with fantasy? It's seriously impressive.

But what really got me was the ending. I won't spoil it for you, but let's just say it left me feeling some things. It's the kind of book that stays with you long after you've finished it. And I can't wait to read the sequel.

I requested this book at a time I was high into my fantasy era and sadly I’ve kind of slumped out of this. The book has incredible reviews though.

I thought this was a very interesting, and not broached enough, time period to focus on, and Parker-Chan deftly navigates broad histories in an approachable manner.

She Who Became the Sun is an impressively well-written story. Wonderful progression of plot and character throughout, with multiple peaks and a shocking, satisfying conclusion to each storyline. On top of that, this is a unique story of the historical fantasy genre that appears to be gaining popularity rapidly.

“Destroying what someone else cherished never brought back what you yourself had lost. All it did was spread grief like a contagion.”

It appeared to me that the focus in this story is the characters, and how they are treated ultimately shapes their driving motivations and goals. We have two concurrent perspectives, both of which battle with the idea of reputation, the desire to be recognised, identity and power, all in a heavy political situation where our characters must commit previous acts in order to rise up, or most likely die or lose sight of all their ambitions in attempt to do the 'right thing'.

We are thrust into the historical setting of China, during the latter period of Mongolian rule. This is essentially a historical story. with a few low-fantasy elements thrust in to the mix to change the game slightly. Shelley Parker-Chan crafts a great balance between the historical detail and progression of events, alongside the characterisation which you would expect she has a lot more freedom over. In the foreword, it is said that the story follows a series of historical events, but adds characters and fills in gaps for the purposes of the story. Whilst this then does deviate from the authentic unravelling of this period, it has still strongly piqued my interest, and I now look forward to researching this time period at my own leisure.

“He had done what he had to do, and in doing so he had destroyed the world.”

I am not sure if this series will evolve into a duopoly or a trilogy, but whichever one it becomes I look forward to carrying on with the series as soon as the next instalment is released. I think this is one of those reads that most people would enjoy, and that everyone should try.

"She Who Became the Sun" by Shelley Parker-Chan is a captivating historical fantasy that reimagines the rise of the Ming Dynasty in 14th-century China. The novel weaves a gender-defying narrative around the ambitious and determined Zhu, who takes on the identity of her deceased brother to claim a destiny traditionally reserved for men. Parker-Chan's prose is evocative, and the story seamlessly blends history with elements of magic, exploring themes of power, identity, and destiny. This is a tale of resilience and transformation that challenges societal norms and creates a vivid, immersive world.

I have the opportunity to take part at the She who became the sun book tour. I am so happy I have been chosen to read this book because the cover gives The Priory of the Orange Tree vibes, just the cover because the story is incomparable. I haven't read The Song of Achilles so I can't compare them, but I think everybody knows Mulan story and I can tell you that She who became the sun is harsher.

The main character is the a strong girl who knows she has to do anything to survive. In a place where she is the only girl alive, she refuse to be nothingness. So she becomes a boy. Her adventures are full with dangerous situations, blood, fights, even death, but her motivation is bigger than any obstacle and you can't stop a girl who has just one wish: to live!

Absolutely sensational start to the series!! I had been sitting on this one for a while because I saw all the glowing reviews and was reluctant because I wasn't sure if this book would live up to the hype, but I really shouldn't have been worried, because it did and then some. This is one of the best fantasies I've read. And honestly, now I'm glad that I waited, cause now I can read the sequel immediately. WHAT A STORY!!

I don't think I've ever read and enjoyed a book before where I ended disliking virtually every character. So there's a first for me, and I've got to give props to the author for managing it what I'd previously have considered as impossible. Even characters that I thought I empathised with to begin with, had me denouncing them by the end. It's a gritty novel where resilience, survival instinct and power struggles are twisted into showing the darkest elements of humanity, time and time again.

She Who Became the Sun is a sprawling narrative, and throws you off course when you switch from Part 1 which is focussed entirely on a coming of age arc for one character into the rest of the novel which spreads across a variety of characters and events. It's not a period of history that I'm particularly knowledgeable about, but I'm reliably informed that it's an alternate re-imagining of the rise of the Ming Dynasty emperor. It doesn't shy away from the widespread horrors of 1345 China, with famine sweeping the land and civil war ongoing, yet also focusses in on the individual power struggles and narratives.

It is certainly beautifully written and conveys a wonderful sense of time and place, drawing even those of us with no prior knowledge of the period and region into the events and struggles of the characters. Character development is cleverly done, with absolutely no character being 'the hero' and by the end, it's seriously debateable if you want any of them to survive let alone win. Talk about a cast of antiheroes. I did enjoy the themes of gender and the religious connotations of destiny and how we can cheat it very interesting though, and they worked well with individual character narratives, never feeling shoe horned in.

I did find the switch from the first single character arc to the rest of the novel jarring and that's probably my biggest complaint with the novel. It sets you up for one thing and it's beautifully written, truly draws you into Zhu's perspective and the challenges of taking her brother's identity and serving as a monk. Then without warning it throws you into multiple perspectives that take a long time to get going. You've invested in one thing and then thrown to the lions, particularly when the second act of the novel takes a long, meandering path through events until it finally picks up again. This switch could absolutely have been done better and the mid section of the novel needed a bit more pace to offset the huge cast of characters that were difficult to keep track of at the best of times.

But, despite that I very much enjoyed the novel and I'd be interested to see what the author manages in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my free review copy of this title.

What an interesting book! For the first 100 pages I was absolutely in love with this story, I loved the authors writing and was loving the setting. Sadly along the way as it started to branch out and get more intense and as more character perspectives were added I kind of lost it a little. I still think it’s a great read but I didn’t end up loving it as much as I’d hoped in the beginning. I am however very interested in reading more from this author because they have some serious talent.

I would definitely recommend this if you haven’t tried it already.

I really enjoyed this, especially on audio. I'm excited to continue the duology when my audio loan comes in from the library, although I already got a copy of it in hardback!

This book was an entire journey and definitely in a good way. Parker-Chan managed to fit so much into this book that I'm surprised it wasn't longer. But somehow when reading, it doesn't feel rushed and seems to be paced really well.

The world building is amazing and I can still picture everything so vividly. I really did feel like I was somewhere else while reading this.

The reasons that this wasn't a five star read for me were, firstly, there were a lot of characters. Sometimes it was a little hard to remember who people were at first after a scene change. Secondly, I found it a little jarring after the time jump. I got used to it but it made me put the book down for a couple of days before I got back into it.

But don't let those put you off reading. This book is really worth a shot! I'll definitely be reading the second one 😊

I loved it. I have a soft spot for women who want everything and this is that to a T. The relationships were complex and layered and so well developed. The book itself was written with such care and attention and you can tell the author was enjoying themselves writing it. The author clearly understood what it means to write realistic characters who are a sum of their flaws and those will always be my favourite kind of characters. I cannot wait to get into book 2

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan, and sorry for my delay in this review.

Really wonderful YA story that I should have read sooner! I can see why this one was so successful online.

This is a magnificent book. A fantasy reimagining about the rise of the first Ming Emperor as a woman, and the fall of Mongol rule in fourteenth century China, this is a book of desire and brutal wanting. People are morally grey, occasionally kind, and shaped by their harsh pasts, unshakeable ambitions, and worst impulses. There are queer characters, but this is not a romance: characters often hate themselves and thus, indirectly, hate their feelings for other people. It has really interesting thoughts on gender, and how it ties into the characters and their societies.

It’s also funny, compulsive, and difficult to put down. I can’t wait to see how it all comes together in the second book.

I'm so sorry for the delay in sending my review I thought I'd done it a lot sooner!

At the time of this I hadn't wrote a review in a long time so a short and sweet one will have to do!

It really gave me the feels I had when I read The Poppy War for the first time!

I really enjoyed the story, but found it a bit too formulaic for it to really stand out to me. The writing felt a little bit YA too which isn’t my cup of tea

My thanks to Pan Macmillan for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘She Who Became the Sun’ by Shelley Parker-Chan. It was originally published in July 2021. My apologies for the late feedback. I have in the interim purchased its ebook and unabridged audiobook editions.

This is Book One in Parker-Chan’s Radiant Emperor Duology, which is a queer reimagining of the rise to power of Zhu Yuanzhang, the peasant rebel who expelled the Mongols, unified China under native rule, becoming the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

In the novel’s opening in 1345 China is under harsh Mongol rule. In a famine ridden village, the Zhu family are barely surviving. At the request of their father a fortune teller shows two children their fates. For the boy, Zhu Chongba the eighth-born son, there will be greatness yet for his sister - nothing.

When a bandit raid wipes out their home and family, the children must find a way to survive. When her brother gives into despair and dies, his sister resolves to overcome her destiny. So she takes on her dead brother’s identity and begins an journey in which she hopes to claim her brother’s greatness and rise as high as she can dream. As it’s an epic covering Zhu’s life from 1345 to 1356 quite a lot happens, so no more details to avoid spoilers.

I understood that this was a reimagining of this period of Chinese history, though I began reading with no knowledge of Zhu Yuanzhang and the Ming Dynasty. Still, I was pleased that the author provided on their website some material about the historical figures that feature in the Radiant Emperor Duology.

Once I started my read/listen of this novel, I was quickly drawn into the narrative and quite captivated by it. There are elements of fantasy in the story such as an awareness of the presence of ghosts and the like.

Shelley Parker-Chan is a gifted storyteller and I could appreciate why ‘She Who Became the Sun’ has been so highly praised. The sequel, ‘He Who Drowned the World’, is due to be published in August.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

"She Who Became the Sun" by Shelley Parker-Chan is a gripping and immersive historical fiction novel set in 14th century China. Parker-Chan's writing is lyrical and evocative, and she deftly captures the political intrigue and social hierarchies of the era. The protagonist, a young girl who takes on her dead brother's identity to survive, is a fascinating and complex character whose journey is both captivating and emotionally resonant. While the pacing may be slow at times and the story can be bleak, "She Who Became the Sun" is a richly rewarding read that will leave readers eagerly anticipating the sequel. A solid four-star review.

The only negative at all I have about this book was the pacing was a bit slow. The rest of it though...it was all amazing, incredible, an absorbing retelling.
I've found that I've gone back to the book again and again, it's so well written and enjoyable. And even the issue I've said about the only negative is the pacing was a bit slow, in places, it's a really tiny nitpick.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an option to review this book.