4 stars, a really strong debut with some fantastic use of imagery

She Who Became the Sun bills itself as part reimagining of the founding of the historical Ming dynasty and part reimagining of Mulan. The story follows her as she goes from merely trying to survive by adopting the name of her dead brother to actively accruing power and many of the book's best moments come from our protagonist, Zhu's scheming to get more. The novel hints that Zhu is slowly being corrupted by power and that her motivations are slowly becoming nefarious so I look forward to seeing that aspect developed in the sequels. Zhu herself is an interesting character who understands political pragmatism and ambition but is hampered by the circumstances of her birth and the reality of society around her. Despite her slow turn to cruelty, it's still surprisingly easy to root for her much of the time because of just how much she has overcome to be where she is and how capably she responds to serious setbacks.

That said, the book isn't without its flaws. The pacing can trip up from time to times. It's first noticeable in the section between Zhu studying at the monastery and eventually becoming a soldier. The book suddenly shifts to multiple POVs in a way that is a bit jarring and feels like it derails Zhu's story ever so slightly. The biggest pacing issue comes near the end though with pieces falling into place a little to quickly to get Zhu to her new position. After what felt like a much slower and steadier pace to get to this point, I was a bit taken aback how the whole plan leapt forward by a few bounds in the final pages and I think this section could have been drawn out a bit more. That aside, it is a really well done book and I admire Parker-Chan's use of imagery throughout the book which often gives the novel a cinematic quality and makes it easy to picture every scene.

This book was the best book I've read all year. I do not say that lightly. The worldbuilding was expansive and yet real, the characters relatable yet shocking, and the gender feels were intense. As a trans person, reading this felt like being seen. Although I gotta admit, as much as I love Zhu, I really hope I wouldn't pull a Zhu (that twist at the end OH MY GOD). This book is what other epic fantasies aspire to be. I hope Parker-Chan gets to set the new standard for fantasy, because this. This is it.

I received an ARC of She Who Became the Sun from TOR.

Going into this, I didn't know what to expect. I realized I have been reading a lot of alternate histories/retellings of classic stories with new LGBT spins on them. I have always had a passing interest in the histories of China so was looking forward to reading this take. As the blurb says this is a retelling of the rise of the Ming dynasty.

The main character of the book is Zhu is born a girl child, fated to "nothing", of a very poor family in Southern China during the time of the Red Turban rebellions. After bandits kill her father and her brother, who is fated for greatness according to a local monk, dies in despair over the loss of their father Zhu takes his identity and "steals" his fate. They travel to the monastery and gain admittance and train to be a monk.

Their story is contrasted against the story of the Yuan general Ouyang, a eunuch who serves the Yuan after rising from slavehood to command the armies. The lives of these two characters continually arc away and towards each other over the course of the story as they both follow the course of their Fates. They are contrasted by one trying to change their Fate and the other constantly aware of knowing where their Fate would eventually lead and trying to fight and delay it's occurrence as long as possible.

I enjoyed this book and appreciated the LGBT elements and changes to the original story. It will draw a lot of comparisons to The Poppy War for the obvious reasons, but they read completely different to me. I enjoyed them both but this one is much more of a slow build with a lot of the character arcs building and evolving until the last third of the book when the pace picks up rapidly.

My one complaint about the book is the rapidity of the last third to quarter of the book. After the slow builds it feels rushed like there was a certain point to get to and there were only a set number of pages allowed to do it. But that is a minor complaint. I enjoyed the characters and really appreciated the addition of the LGBT elements into the story.

I loved this novel! I found the writing style captivating and the story incredibly interesting.

I have been attempting to read more female-written lit as well as more AAPI literature, and this novel ticked both boxes!

I haven't read song of achilles yet- which this novel is compared to, but I can say I found it reminiscent of The Poppy War because of the dark undertones in this novel, as well as the war/coming of age/coming into your power themes.

The MC is power-hungry, but still relatable as it is in third person limited, so you get to see what is going on inside her head and the why behind her actions.

I did receive this novel as an ARC in exchange for review

I echo a lot of other reviews when I say the Mulan/song of Achilles comparison is simultaneously accurate and also very inaccurate. There are elements of both stories, but also a lot of darkness and morally grey characters.

I loved the introspective nature of the narrative, it reminded me of Curtis Sittenfeld at points with the incisive way it drew thoughts out of my own head that I thought were unique.

I will be thinking about this book for a long time!

This book is getting a lot of hype, and it’s just! That! Good! GREAT characters, the politics, the tensions, the character dynamics, the twists and turns, we’re all so spectacular!
The ebook was something like 950 pages, but it was gripping the whole way through; no downtime, no lull, just escalating tension and so many unexpected moments, my jaw literally dropped every couple pages!

She Who Became the Sun is a raw rendition of how desire can be used to chart a path otherwise closed to you because of gender or status. Our main character takes her fate into her own hands in complete defiance to what was prophesied to be an existence of nothingness.

She travels from her impoverished and starving village to the gates of a monastery where she will take on a mantle not her own, apply herself to learning, becoming aware of the difficulties of hiding one's physical gender and identity, and facing misgivings about the path upon which she has placed her feet.

I love that Parker Chan has made this story character-driven without sacrificing any of the intricacies of world-building. The intrigue engrosses the reader in the drive to claim a destiny not one's own; but that clearly should be, not because of any stated destiny, name, or maleness; but because of strength of will, perseverance, and cleverness that one embodies and uses to strive beyond what is expected; subverting the norm. Where one main character has put on the cloak of maleness, the other has had to relinquish that oh so important mark of manhood, become subservient in order to embed themself into an enemy family and through strategizing, climb the ranks to be in the right place at the right time to enact a vengeance for those that were brutally taken.

Parker Chan has vividly depicted Zhu's determination, cunning, and perception that allows her to use situations to capitalize on her desire to rise; upending the destiny cast for her, by taking her brother's name and fate. It was her will, selfishness, and desire to rise as far as possible that had me engaged; despite her gender, in spite of the name she wore, in the end it was her person that accomplished what she set out to do.

Suffering plays an integral role in the progression of plot and character arcs as our two main characters are willing to suffer in order to achieve all they have planned, denied, and schemed for.

Parker Chan also utilizes her minor cast to show how tradition and family can function as a trap, enclosing and shaping sons and daughters as dictated by the head of the family and the dictates of society. They nailed the ways in which power is sought and used at court, the political machinations and stratagems of the mind to elevate and serve a particular purpose and outcome. The confrontation was well executed and ratchets up the expectation of what is to come. A solid debut.

I enjoy authors including details such as how the same room is viewed by different personalities: what aspects are noted and why perhaps it is so, as that serves to add dimensions to the narrative.


Call it providence that this book was being read at the same time that I found a collection of essays exploring women's desire and how that conversation is navigated with regards to their bodies, relationships, and identity. One of the essays even mentioned the Buddhist tenet that drove one of the main characters in this read.

This is the story of Zhu Chongba. Zhu starts this story as a young woman in a peasant village, during a drought. Her father and brother are dying of starvation, as she is, but her brother is given a fortune that says that he is fated for great things, while the fortune teller says that she has no fate. When her brother dies, she takes his place (and his fate) and leaves her starving village to join a monastery.

Fast forward into adulthood, Zhu’s monastery is destroyed by a Mongol army, Zhu joins the rebel army and starts commanding troops and becoming a leader in the army.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fantastically written, and the world was well built. Many times, I felt like I was part of the world. I really liked Zhu as a character, and I found that it was very easy for me to cheer for her to win the day, and the war, and the… well everything else I guess. The themes of gender and gender roles are done very well in this novel, and I had a very hard time putting it down to do things like sleep.

This historical fantasy was immersive and while the fantasy elements were often not in-your-face, I still found it fantastical in many ways, and can’t wait to see what happens in the next volume!

Parts of this certainly shone brighter than others - so much so that getting through the bits told from the perspective I didn't favor became a bit of a slog.

I just really really reeeeeeeeally loved She Who Became the Sun. I’m actually having a hard time writing this review because I’m just like 😀 😀 😀 at it sldfjlsf This was a wonderful story, if filled with hardship and loss, and Parker-Chan’s writing was wonderful to read.

The opening chapter did a great job at setting the tone and introducing us to one of the main characters. I loved how Parker-Chan showed us the core of this character right from the beginning and how that was developed throughout the novel. I was very much attached to Zhu Chongba and their journey, even when they did things I didn’t necessarily agree with.

I did love love love love looooooooooooove all the political scheming and twists and turns. It was brutal and intricate and the way in which Parker-Chan chose to reveal some of those moves was fantastic. I particularly enjoyed Ouyang’s entire subplot and how that was resolved.

The final chapter was so!!! good!!! I did and didn’t expect for Zhu Chongba to arrive where they arrived to and the choices they made so they would get their heart’s desire??? But it fit so so so well with their character and, even so, made it pretty clear to us that things weren’t going to be easy and magical and fine in the aftermath of that.

Honestly, an amazing read!

Wow this certainly kept me entertained with its feudal ideas of dynasties and what it takes to start and actually defend one. Our protagonist is Zhu who from the first page is written as clever and determined. She quite literally steps into her brothers shoes to become not just a survivor but one who achieves greatness. There’s very little character development of Zhu if blunt as she is always a force to be reckoned with but she goes from a girl to something a lot more !
Ok I struggled with the idea of a young female living amongst men and going through puberty unnoticed but do commend the author on how she dealt with certain aspects although honestly I still had doubts. What certainly worked are two characters that impact on Zhu namely the monk who befriends her Xu Da and actually turned out to be the most normal male in the story and Ma, the young woman with kindness inherently in her heart. Both these characters have profound effects on the events in Zhu’s journey but perhaps there’s another character who resonates more. Ouyang like Zhu is a character whose sexuality has been twisted. Whereas Zhu hides her sex until she finds someone she loves Ouyang has had changes forced on him that now colour his every moment. He’s a strong male who is pilloried by almost all and yet he remains true to himself even if that means destroying the one part of himself that tastes freedom. Yes this book challenges what it means to be different as society here embraces LGBT and as much as I was happy to share the joy of Zhu and Ma I did feel the inevitable pain and heartbreak of Ouyang truly resonated.
So definitely not a Mulan retelling but a story of forbearance, deceit and political machinations. I didn’t like all of the actions these characters made but I never once wanted to put this book down so definitely an interesting and entertaining read for me.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

A beautiful, lyrical book. Shelley blew it out of the water for me with their writing. I was enraptured and felt as if I was actually watching a C-Drama while reading it. I love the genderqueer part of the book, as well as the constant theme of ambition and glory. This book will definitely live in my head rent free for a while.

She Who Became the Sun is a fierce story about a young girl in China in 1345 who is told that she has no fate. We follow Zhu as she hides her identity to survive in a world that does not cherish women. I felt like I was there with Zhu on her journey and I look forward to the authors' next work. This book was well written, packed with action, adventure and romance! I will be telling my customers to read this one for sure.

How do I describe She Who Became the Sun?

The official answer is that it is a queer fantasy retelling of Zhu Yuanzhang’s rise to power as the founder of the Ming dynasty, something like Mulan meets The Song of Achilles. It is so much more than that, though. It is about power, morality, fate, gender identity, revenge and even love.

Shelley Parker-Chan reimagines Zhu as genderqueer, assigned female at birth. When her brother, the last member of her family, dies when she’s not even a teenager, she takes his name and goes to study in a monastery. By taking her brother’s identity, she hopes she can achieve his fate as well, one of greatness. And then, years later, the Mongols burn down her monastery, and she joins the rebellion, quickly rising up in the ranks.

Parker-Chan’s prose is at once easy to understand and also extremely beautiful and well-crafted. I don’t always do well with literary fiction, but this was entirely manageable for me. Even in a backdrop of war and battle, Parker-Chan still finds ways to include moments of humor and fun. At the same time, however, there are still multiple depictions of violence; check their notes on Goodreads for a list of content warnings.

Books like this really make you think, especially if you’re like me and mostly read fluffy YA novels with morally righteous protagonists. But I had a great time reading this book, and I was very invested in Zhu’s storyline. (I was particularly invested in her love interest’s point-of-view chapters; Ma Xiuying can do no wrong, in my eyes.) The other main storyline, following a leader of the Mongol army, didn’t capture my attention nearly as much, but that’s entirely my personal taste.

As with any fantasy book I’ve ever read, I already do not remember about 75% of what happened in this book. I do remember the vibes, though, and they are immaculate. I’m thrilled for this book to come out this summer, and I’m absolutely terrified for the sequel.

(Last little bit to add: I found a pronunciation guide on Parker-Chan’s website. Happy to report that my Mandarin pronunciation is pretty solid.)

I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

"However tired I am, however hard it is: I know I can keep going, because I'm alive."

How do I describe the ways in which this book ensnared me?

I absolutely loved the writing style. It was hauntingly beautiful and poetic. It invoked a lot of feelings in me. I loved Zhu and Ouyang the most. The complexities of their emotions were, somehow, comforting. Every sentence was beautifully structured.

This story was unique to me, with POVs from the two main characters on opposing sides of a war. I rooted for both of them. Zhu really inspired me. When I finally understood why the book was compared to The Song of Achilles, I got more excited, if possible. And my masochistic side was extremely satisfied.

I loved everything about this. The writing, the characters, the worldbuilding, the plot - it seamlessly blended together to form one of my most favourite books.

Some of my most beloved quotes, be it because it was a source of inspiration or because I found it really clever:

"There are no kind solutions to cruel situations."

"..all of them had been acts of exquisite aloneness. She knew that when it came down to it, you survived and died alone. But perhaps there was still a comfort in having someone at your side while it happened."

"The pain was like being crowned with burning stars."

"If the outside world contained greatness as well as nothingness - then the only escape from one was to become the other."

"Not-wanting is a desire too; it yields suffering just as much as wanting."

I have more, but these are just examples of the author's exemplary writing. I'm in love with them.

Thank you Tor for gifting me the ARC.

You know when you read a book where the concept and setting are so great that you forget that the main character is kinda one dimensional? This is one of those books.
I wasn't surprised by how good this book was. I heard a lot about it, but let me tell you, it's well worth the hype.
I would highly recommend it and I can't wait for the next installment. Between this book and Black Sun, I found two new favorite series this year :)

There’s a lot to appreciate about this book, so although it was only a 3 star read for me, it’s easy to see why it’s a 4 or 5 for others. The exploration of gender is fascinating and nuanced, and I particularly enjoyed watching Zhu’s own relationship with her physical body and sense of identity develop and change as her understanding of herself deepens. Zhu and Ouyang both are complex, well-written characters whose inner struggles with their fates and gender parallel each other, and though I found the balance between the two a bit off, I appreciated both POVs.

The biggest reason this book wasn’t for me was because of the pacing. It felt like it dragged on while little happened, the chapters were long, and the writing, while lovely, was dense. I also struggled to deeply connect with most of the characters, so while I found Zhu and Ouyang interesting as protagonist and antagonist (or perhaps both are anti-heroes?), Ma was the only one I felt emotionally engaged with for most of the book.

Though it was dense and not a writing style I particularly enjoyed, I think adult historical fantasy readers who like a sweeping, political epic will find this right up their alley.

I was planning to rate this 5/5. Within the first few paragraphs, I was emotionally invested in Zhu. However, I got to the end and was sorely disappointed in the direction it took. Despite my dislike of Zhu's decision toward the end of the book, it was an enjoyable read.

Very intense book which sweeps you right into the world of Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty China. I really enjoyed the magic/religion in this book, which externalizes forces which in our world are intangible or imagined - i.e., ghosts, and the effect of ghosts on things in the world, and the visible mandate of heaven which makes the transfer of power even more tangible. The main character's grit is their most powerful attribute, with the possibility of their being an overpowered protagonist balanced out by the blows she takes during the progress of the story, and the fact that there are very strong antagonists with their own stories also creating their own waves and changes. Overall, I really want book 2, but also don't want book 2 because, of course, things can certainly get worse and this is the kind of book that doesn't pull punches and also reminds you to be careful what you wish for.

One of my most anticipated and hyped release of this year She Who became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan tells the story of the girl who became Zhu Chongba, the first Ming Dynasty’s Emperor: born poor in the twelfh century China, a unnamed girl steals the fate of her older brother, Zhu Chongba, after his death and tries to archive the greatness her brother was born for. By doing so, she becomes a monk first and a warrior after. Zhu is smart, ambitious, never afraid to speak her mind or sacrifice those who follow her; Zhu desires and wants grateness and wanting greatness often means pain and sorrow, doing terrible and even immoral things. As you can imagine, she is no innocent heroine.
She fights as a commander for the Red Turbants, the rebels that want to defeat the Yuang dynasty (the Mongols), and during this period she meets Ma, a quite but clever girl that will have an important role in the story. Ma has her own pov in this novel and she’s also one of my favourite characters. Her growth is amazing!
Another important character, and my absolute favourite, is General Ouyang: he serves the Prince of Henan (they fight on the Mongol side) and his family as a slave first and as a soldier after. Ouyang is a complex and interesting character: like Zhu, he also follow the path of his destiny and he’s not afraid to do everything he can to have his revenge and to achieve what he believes is his fate. He’s a morally gray and ruthelss man, but at the same time he is fascinating and beautifully written. He is the best one for me, period!

This novel is not alwasy easy to read due to violence and a lot trigger warnings: death, torture, public executions, war themes, plague, child abuse, male castration etc.
If you decide to read She who became the Sun, please be prepared.
I heard that it’s similar to The Poppy War trilogy, but I have to read it still. In spite of this, if you like books with oriental settings and Chinese/Asiatic culture this is the right one.
I simply loved the settings and the worldbuilding: while reading the book you can’t help but notice the work behind this novel. Parker-Chang has done a tremendous job and she archived her goal: write a book that is the perfect mix between History and Fantasy, classic and contemporary, tradition and innovation. Also, she has a very good writing style, the kind that perfectly convey pathos, despair, insecurity but also joy, friendship and love.

The only thing that I didn’t like so much were the chapters’ lenght: every single chapter was at leat 15 minutes long and sometimes it was way to much. This is not necessarily a bad thing – if you like long chatpter than go for it – but from time to time I felt a bit bored. All in all it has been an amazing reading (the last chapters detroyed me, goddamit!) and I really liked the political schemes and the betrayals between the main and secondary chatactes – yes, even when they broke me. Take nothing for granted while reading this book, ‘cause you never know what’s gonna happen next!

Looking forward to reading the second (and last) book and knowing how Zhu’s story will continue.