She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

[superborb]

Originally this was meant to just go into a monthly round up, but it was a bit too long ^^;

Anyway, this book was ULTRA hyped, as a queer Chinese-inspired historical fantasy! The premise: the second daughter of the Zhu family goes from less than nothing--a child during a multi-year famine with a fate of nothingness--to found the Ming Dynasty.

Unfortunately, I didn't like it overall.

Let me start with what I did love: General Ouyang, the eunuch general of the Mongol forces, in service to the empire and Prince who executed his family to the ninth degree, who still feels desperate admiration and love for Esen, the shining perfect Mongol warrior son of said Prince. Good tormented feelings, A+, STELLAR ending scenes, will be looking up fic of him stat.

But despite moments of shining glory like that, and some other good interactions and scenes, the majority of the book was just-- lackluster. My main impression was that the world (and maybe half of the characterizations?) felt pasted on. Characters would have an interesting thought, but then it wouldn't feel integral to their worldview. The world never felt lived in or had depth.

Part of this came in the form of moments where I had to stop and forcibly reconcile with the rest of the world. For example, "it was like seeing that the road ahead had collapsed down the side of the mountain, but not being able to stop" -- from a peasant who has never known anything but famine and seen the army only at a distance? What could she possibly have been on that could have that inevitability? When the love interest gets described with phoenix eyes at one point and willow leaf eyes in another; these are distinct and different eye shapes? The methane as having scent -- perhaps there are other gases being released in that area, but the description of it uses a coal mine, where it is famously odorless. I could go on, just lots of small details that required a "did I misread" stopping.

The other half of the uncomfortableness was how much of the early narrative made me feel like I was being told something that didn't need saying. It was very in your face, let me describe everything so you don't misunderstand level description. This handholding and lack of mystery is generally something that doesn't appeal to me, though perhaps appeals to others.

HOWEVER, saying all this, I do think a lot of these issues may be debut novel problems? There was the skeleton of interesting characters for sure, and confidence in not telling too much comes with experience. Also, if you're interested in queer Chinese-inspired historical fantasy, your choices are somewhat thin on the ground (in English anyway).

Comments

[douqi]

I agree with a lot of this. Given how hyped the book was, I found it overall a letdown, though I enjoyed the in-the-moment reading experience more than I think you did. Definitely felt some things were over-explained, though I chalked that up initially to my familiarity with the period (obligatory Jin Yong reference: a bunch of these historical characters crop in up Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, which was my first introduction to them). Some of the choices I found odd, coming from webnovel translation spaces — e.g. the inconsistency of how the text deals with character names. There's a good reason for Zhu to be just Zhu, but why is Ma Xiuying referred to as 'Ma' more often than not, even though Chang Yuchun and Xu Da get to keep their full names?

Ouyang was also the standout for me, as was his relationship with Esen — fandom is absolutely going to lap him up, if they haven't already. Zhu I found less compelling by contrast, and the Zhu/Ma Xiuying romance had next to no development, despite this being billed as one of the 'sapphic trifecta'.

[superborb]

I think I'm maybe 0.2% familiar with the period (I've read the overall wiki article for the era) and found it overexplained on the period stuff, though I know I tend to be quite extremely on the "just move on, I'll figure it out" side of that debate.

I wonder if it's because we get nicknames for Ma Xiuying or something about her being a more major character?

All six of the AO3 fics atm are Ouyang/Esen or Ouyang focused lolol. I found Zhu less compelling and sometimes 'pasted on', despite her far greater screentime. I did buy the Zhu/Ma Xiuying romance, even if it did feel a bit more forced than the Ouyang/Esen one? Though it's true, I think people tend to just want ANYTHING for f/f, as we've discussed.

[cortue]

I like this whole review but I'm really stuck on the fact that I apparently read the sentence 'smelled like methane' and it didn't phase me at all! I have failed as a chemist.

[superborb]

Oh it wasn't specified to be methane, just a flammable gas in a coal mine! (So I guess fantasy, could be something... else...)

[cortue]

Ahh yes, fantasy methane. It's got a strong smelling ketone group on it, but a flashpoint of like 10 degrees.

[superborb]

*g* or just other gases released with it! In this fantasy world, methane comes with hydrogen sulfide always!

[sophia_sol]

Coal mines actually do have a number of other dangerous gasses beyond methane, including ones that are both smelly and flammable. So if the book doesn't specify methane, then this is actually perfectly within the realm of what is possible, from what I understand.

Anyway I'm sorry the book overall didn't work for you; I absolutely adored it, but different people have different tastes!

[superborb]

It's true! But it was just the kind of moment where I had to pause to recalibrate based on how it was presented.

I'm glad it worked for you!!

[issenllo]

I was pretty curious about this book, 'cos (unfortunately?) my headcanon of the founding of the Ming dynasty IRL will forever be linked with Heavenly Sword and the Ming sect *g* and it's too lovely a fantasy to spoil. Maybe I try looking up the Ouyang/Esen fic first.

[superborb]

Hah, I think that's a common association to have!

[lirazel]

I am sorry it didn't work for you! We all have that book that seems universally adored that we just don't get, don't we?

[superborb]

I /do/ understand why people love it at least! That part isn't a puzzle hahahahah

[hiddenramen]

I had a similar response to this one: I found it very shallow, and a lot of things felt more like aesthetics than a dynamic, living, breathing world. There were some interesting character moments, and some interesting ideas, but ultimately the execution just didn't do it for me. Glad to see I wasn't the only one! A lot of people adored this one and I was really disappointed that I couldn't get into it as hard.

[superborb]

SAME to everything!