It is really unlike me to DNF a book but I feel like I just couldn’t gel with this one which was ar real shame as I’ve also heard so many brilliant things about it! It was also a suggested poll pick and my first unsuccessful one. It’s definitely a book I may return to in the future as I think I simply wasn’t in the mood for this book at the time!

Set in 1345, a girl uses her deceased brothers identity in order to achieve his date of ‘greatness’ after his death.

I read this as part of the @tandemcollectiveuk readalong and I enjoyed the book. It gave me Mulan vibes as Zhu assumes her brothers identity and becomes an unlikely warrior to try to achieve greatness, but a grown up and more representative Mulan.

I loved the character of Zhu and thought that she and her motivations were complexly and interestingly written. I enjoyed the other characters too and also got some Don Quixote vibes at parts of the book as there is a subtle humour to the writing style.

Where the book fell down for me was that there was a lot happening for a single book and it felt that the plot was just Zhu rushing from one battle to the next. I would have liked more exploration of her characters and her relationships with others.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and will continue with the series. I really want to see what happens next in the story!

AD - This copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

She Who Became The Sun reimagines the rise of the Hongwu Emperor, but there’s so much more to it than that.

From the first page you’re pulled right into 14th century China and historical details are woven throughout. Shelley has made the story her own though and it’s inventive and original in a way that makes it stand out.

This story is told from multiple points of view, all of them well developed with interesting motivations. The main character, Zhu, has such a desire to survive and while that leads them to make some questionable choices you still want to root for them! There’s something about General Ouyang that just made me like him as a character as well. He’s a formidable opponent for Zhu and has an intriguing background which I’d love to learn more about.

While I loved the beginning and the end of this book, I did struggle for a few chapters in the middle. There’s quite a change in tone and more characters are introduced so I had to reorient myself. However, Shelley’s writing is beautiful throughout.

I can’t wait for the second book and only wished I’d read this one sooner!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book shouldn't have taken me as long as it did to finish - I really enjoyed it!

Though I sometimes got a bit confused keeping track of the secondary characters (we have two storylines going on each with their own complex webs of political intrigue), I otherwise found pretty much every character very compelling, especially our main character, Zhu. It took me a bit longer to warm to Ouyang's storyline as he's less likeable/charismatic (in a good way, but it was still a shift in tone) and I missed Zhu when we weren't in her POV, but he definitely grew on me and is probably the most complex character in the book.

I think it's good to know going in that the fantasy element of this book is really minimal - it reads more like (alternative) historical fiction for the most part, with a huge focus on political intrigue and war. In fact I'd say it's 95% alternate history, 5% fantasy. I didn't actually mind this at all, but it won't be for everyone for that reason.

Overall I had a great time with this book, and look forward to reading the rest of the sapphic trifecta, continuing with The Unbroken by C.L. Clark next month!

Unfortunately did not finish; I’m just having a hard time getting into it and feel a bit overwhelmed with all of the different characters and back stories. I’d like to think I’ll come back to it one day, because I’m sure it’s a brilliant book, but it’s just not working for me right now.

My only regret is that I have to wait for the second book to come out

This was fantastic. The two main characters were some of my two favourites I've read about it in a long time. Both characters occupy that morally grey middle ground, admittedly straying more often into evil than good, it's so refreshing to read a story about characters who don't really care about that one way or the other. They care purely about their own goals and what they are willing to do to achieve them. And despite their more unpleasant attributes, I couldn't help but root for them, especially Zhu.

Zhu is ambitious to the point of being ruthless, determined to seize the fate wasted by her brother. I love that this subverts the common prophecy tropes and that Zhu has to rely on her smarts, charisma and a little bit of luck to get by. Her journey throughout the book and her yearning to have her great destiny, her fierce desire to live and her growth to be someone beyond the shell of her brother she has been wearing was fascinating to watch unfold.

Ouyang is fierce and brittle and uncompromising. He's somewhat difficult to like but at his heart a tragic figure. He's disgusted by his own body and desires and his feelings about other people. It's impossible not to view him with some pity even whilst he is being completely awful.

The story centres strongly on desires and fate and how the two can be opposed or united and in either case can cause heartache along the way. The other main theme was about gender identity and dysphoria as both characters are gender non conforming and the two entirely different ways this effects their character arcs.

Beyond all that it's just an excellently written fantasy with an expansive world and cast of characters. There's political intrigue set against a backdrop of war and battles. Friendships, brotherhood, love and betrayal. Great victories and great tragedy and so many moving pieces that it was sometimes a little hard to keep track! It's clearly a world that Parker-Chan knows intimately and I can't wait to see where else they take us in this series.

I definitely want to read this one again physically before I read the second one but the audiobook was fantastically narrated and enjoyed every minute.

I struggled to put into words how I felt about this.
Don't get me wrong I did enjoy this. I'm left wanting more.
The first half intrigued/interested me more than the second. Even if the last 25% did pick up.
But I enjoyed reading about the monastery part of Zhu story. I would have been happy if more time was spent there. Seeing Zhu master taking her brothers identity.
There was a moment just after half way where I lost interest slightly but that didn't last too long.
The discussions around gender identity and gender roles added another layer to this intriguing story.

DNF at around 60%.

I didn't not like the book but something wasn't clicking for me. I felt like things were happening too easily and coincidently. I will probably go back and finish the book but I didn't have a lot of time due to projects and there were other releases I really wanted to read too.

A beautiful debut by an author I will be on the lookout for!
I absolutely loved "She Who Became the Sun" and will definitely be recommending in the future!

This book hooked me in immediately, and from Part One I was completely sold on the story Parker-Chan was trying to tell. With amazing character work, and interesting plot work, this story is a must read.

Beautiful, clever, incredible, wonderful... I could just wax lyrical about this book. My only critique would be that at times it was very intense, but that was to be expected. If you pick up this book, don't expect to do anything else for a while after!

This book is described as Mulan meets The Song of Achilles but it’s so much more than that!

Parker-Chan tells this story incredibly well, using Tensions, atmosphere, and emotions. She Who Became the Sun is, simply a masterpiece of a debut. It’s such a powerful book and a ,just read, I am so excited for the next book!

While I thought the premise of this book really intriguing, it didn't live up to my expectations. I love military-focused fantasy, yet this one didn't hit the mark for me. I struggled to get a sense of the characters and to care for them, so the story always kept me at a distance, unfortunately. I understand why so many readers loved it, but it sadly wasn't for me.

A tale of a girl in a man's world who stole her brothers name to survive. From becoming a monk to leading armies and treading delicately through the political mine field of ancient China, Zhu is powered by the old fortune tellers prediction that she was born to greatness

What a amazing book! I feel in love with this one. The story is spectacular, all the characters are super vivid. I recommend with my heart.

A huge thank you to netgalley and the publishers for an eARC in exchange of an honest review.

I was so excited to read this one! A historical novel about a girl who disguised herself as her dead brother to live another day. That’s some Mulan stuff we all grew up with so of course I was interested.

But this just did not work for me.
Maybe it’s the writing style, which is beautiful but very much detached from the characters, or perhaps the pacing, but I couldn’t get fully invested.

We don’t even know the main characters name until she takes on her dead brothers name. Until then she’s just the girl or she. And the beginning is kind of slow to get anywhere, though I understand that we are being given context for our main characters background. We don’t really get to understand inside her head properly. It’s this weird kind of third person past tense which both tells us bits of what she’s thinking but isn’t fully inside her head and it doesn’t quite work for me.

I did, however, start to get more and more invested as she takes her journey becoming a monk. I thought that I would get more time there but we have quite a few time jumps. Again, not great for getting to know a character. I believe this is based on a real person so this may be why, but even if that were the case, since it’s not a standalone book, I’d have liked to get to know our main character and the other monks better so I cared about them when big important plot stuff happens to everyone.

As it was, big important plot stuff happens and I was like ah whatever okay. I didn’t really care? I hadn’t been given a reason to care as I only knew like three monks by name and one of them was an asshole.

Anyway, just when I’m starting to settle into this story the point of view is changed. And it’s not like an alternating chapter by chapter pov, we’ve had about 40% of the book already, and now we are in someone else’s head-not-head.
I was entirely pulled out the story. If you’re going to introduce another character as a POV, in my opinion it has to be early. The problem is, unless you also like that character then it’s hard to want to read their point of view. I didn’t like the things this character had done up to that point and so it entirely ruined the book for me. I got bored and I just wanted the book to end.

So yes, this clearly wasn’t for me. I was excited to learn more about life in China and Chinese history which I did get, but I didn’t get characters I could engage with as I was never deeply enough in their personalities or feelings that I could get attached or get any sense of them other than as vague concepts. This was the failure for me personally. I assume that this is maybe a similar style to older Chinese writing or maybe even the ballad of mulan, and while an amazing concept, made it hard for me to care about the characters enough to enjoy the novel.

I hope this appeals to others who are a fan of this style of writing though!

Objectively, this is book isn't bad. At least until I decided to DNF this book, I didn't see anything that would make this a bad book. I just couldn't tolerate all the descriptions of poverty and constant hunger. In general, the dismal atmosphere of this book made it hard for me to continue.

When the Zhu siblings are orphaned, the girl, who was destined for nothing, assumes the identity of her brother, Zhu Chongba, who was destined for greatness.

As she begins her journey to greatness, we're taken on a journey through history, adventure and revenge with a little bit of fantasy thrown in.

✨
I've had this book sitting on my shelf for the whole year and I finally got the nudge I needed to read it when a book pal and I discussed our common books to pick one to buddy read. I don't know why I waited this long.

One of our favourite things about this book was the way the author was so intentional with her use of language. It was subtle when exploring gender and queer relationships. It was evocative when exploring the dynamics between characters. And it was impactful when making clear the restraints placed on women during this period of time.

While the book starts off with a very clear good vs evil plotline, the further in I got, the more I realised it wasn't as clear cut as this. As the main characters desires were revealed their antihero nature did to and we all know how fun morally grey characters are to ponder over.

If you enjoy books that will keep you on the edge of your seat as you try to figure out everyone's agendas, power play and historical adventure, you'll want to give this one a go.

A great start to a series!

The world building was great and I enjoyed how the author managed to write such complex characters.

The story itself kept you hooked and would definitely recommend for people who enjoy political fantasies.

i enjoyed this! it was an entertaining, military based fantasy that gave a hint to what's to come in the later books. it did feel somewhat like an extra-long introduction into the world and the background of the characters. the characters themselves were interesting, particularly "Zhu", and her progression. i did wish we spent more time in learning about her development from a child in the monastery to where she is by the end though, but i think that fits with my thoughts that this book is just an introduction to the <i>actual</i> story in the next book/books.

i liked the sapphic relationship, even if it did spring a little out of nowhere by the end of it, but i'm excited to see how it goes in the future books.

for people who are about to pick it up, the one thing i can recommend is MAKE A CHARACTER MAP. you'll need it, to refer back to who is allies with who and their positions within their respective organisations.

overall, super intriguing and interesting, genuinely shocked me at parts, and was almost gory in the descriptions of warfare.