Shelley Parker-Chan: She Who Became the Sun

Hi everyone

I finished She Who Became the Sun, the first book in The Radiant Emperor duology by Shelley Parker-Chan. I read this on my e-reader.

"In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…
In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.
When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.
After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu uses the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness."

This was a medium-good book for me.

I didn’t really like the characters; they were very one-sided and unlikable. Ouyang, in particular, was very dramatic and kept thinking the same things over and over. Everything gets repeated so many times that it became frustrating.

But the story itself was really good. It’s a re-imagining of the rise of the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, something I know nothing about, so I can’t say how much is based on facts. Still, it was easy to read, the story engaged me, and I really wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen next.
So, even though I didn’t connect with the characters and hated most of their actions, I liked the book because of the writing, the world, and the plot.

Have you read She Who Became the Sun? Did you enjoy it more than I did, or did you feel the same way? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Happy reading
Helena