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Wang Baoxiang has been a favorite of mine in this book because his chapter that focuses on palace intrigue are rather riveting. Not that I was unmoved by the end of part two, but it did feel like this was the emotional crescendo when the plot itself hadn’t yet finished. I think the author effectively showed how self-loathing and bigotry can destroy not just the individual, but society as a whole. It helps that the plot is fast-paced and action-packed, full of twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat.
In broad strokes, of course, but enough for me to dust off my memory of it after two and a half years.The only way for Zhu to defeat Madam Zhang is to gamble everything on a risky alliance with an old enemy: the beautiful, traitorous eunuch general Ouyang. Disclaimer: I got sent this on netgalley from Tor Publishing Group for a review but my thoughts and feelings are my own. All of the characters in this book are rich and complex providing unique perspectives on how pain, power, and grief can change a person. The story along with its dynamic characters will linger in my mind for days (probably even weeks) to come.
A truly memorable fantasy duology that I will be thinking about for a long time to come and has set a new standard for me for what I want out of fantasy books from this point forward. Her lowered voice issued an invitation for Zhu to lean down from her horse, to let her ear drift so close to those murmuring lips that she might have felt each syllable on her skin had it not been for the thin barrier between them. I don’t know if this is what happened with the real life Zhu Yuanzhang, but it kind of bogged the book down at points and there were several times I thought that the sole reason for an event was simply to stop Zhu reaching the capital too early since, at that point, the book would have been over. These novels beautifully capture the feedback loop wherein queer-coded characters are reviled, which drives them to unbearable viciousness, which in turn fills them with self-loathing. And even when we start to unravel this hatred and glimpse his grief, it is an inescapable burden that he carries across his back as his pain turns in on himself and consumes him.She Who Became the Sun explores grasping the intent of desire with both hands and claiming your fate, it is the hunt for greatness, it is about the strength it takes to become great, it is the knowledge that you will do anything and suffer anything to achieve that greatness. There is sex but it is all manipulative, there are alliances, but they are desperations based on lies, there is torture and murder and self-harm and sadomasochism and sexual violence and characters who not only wallow in but celebrate their debasement and cruelty. I need a million more books set in this time and about these characters, complete with Parker-Chan's lush prose and evocative themes.
We see performance used in Baoxiang's perspective as he fits into the role they have decided for him, we see it in Zhu's perspective as she plays into and adjusts the world's perceptions to achieve her end, we see it in Madam Zhang and her porcelain surface, as well as in so much more.The beginning of part three has a line that would have been the perfect cliffhanger ending to this book (I don't know why I would want that but it would have been awesome). Now all that separated the Zhangs in the east from Zhu’s own kingdom in the west was a stretch of flatlands in the curve of the mighty Yangzi River as it wound its way to the sea. A king and queen strolling through their palace grounds proceeded without impediment, since everyone in their way stepped aside and bowed, but the sheer profusion of construction workers in every direction made Zhu think of herself as a boat cutting through a weed-clogged pond. Because of this I honestly think the last 80 pages of this book would have made a thrilling third book.
What is so brilliant about these characters is that even if you dislike them, they are still riveting to witness and to explore. I read She who became the sun, last year and I was highly looking forward for the next one that comes out later this year. We see the biting edge of a pain that is weaponised against the world and we see a maddening one that is sure to be their doom. Unlike Zhu’s chapters, there was so much sadomasochism in both Ouyang’s and Baoxiang’s that it was hard to read at times.They may be an established character in the duology but I personally think it was a strange shift for them to suddenly be incredibly important at the very end. She switched to one of the languages she’d learned in the monastery (but never practiced) and said very badly, “You can speak Uyghur, can’t you? He's maneuverered his way to the capital, where his courtly games threaten to bring the empire to its knees. Her neighbor in the south, the courtesan Madam Zhang, wants the throne for her husband―and she’s strong enough to wipe Zhu off the map.
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