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frasersimons 's review for:

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
3.0

2.5 rounded up

This felt like it spent a lot of time on stuff that wasn’t very interesting, which only annunciated the pacing issues. I did like the exploration of sexuality and gender, when it did get there, but otherwise it felt fairly generic in voice and style. The world building acted as a counterpoint sometimes, but inconsistently. In the final third of the novel things start picking up and it does nail some of the things it’s going for. I just wish it didn’t feel like a slog to get to each part I did enjoy.