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heartbrekker's Reviews (797)
This novel was such a dark, enticing read. I loved getting to see this THG, PJATO crossover of sorts, and Bracken was very successful with the overall plot and ending. I'm truly a sucker for anything Greek mythology, so it was a delight to see these new interpretations of long known gods/ goddesses I adore.Bracken definitely gave a modern interpretation to these long beloved beings, and she DID NOT back down from the sucker punch that is Greek myth cruelty.
This was definitely Bracken's darkest book, in my opinion. I feel as if I have seen her grow and evolve through her writing over the years from TDM to now Lore, and while this book was hard at times to read due to certain themes, I still found times to smile and laugh. Bracken's humor could never be extinguished!
I think the only thing that delayed this book was the slow pace at the beginning and start to the middle. It took quite some time for the actual storyline with the other hunters to progress, and this led me to not pick up the book as frequently as I expected. I wanted more development of the world too, which then factored into my relationships with the characters. I honestly didn’t care much for them, and it was very upsetting.
TW: Detailed violence & gore, loss of loved ones, pedophilia implications, sexual assault threats, child abuse/ death, torture, child cancer, bombings, suicidal thoughts, and slavery
This was definitely Bracken's darkest book, in my opinion. I feel as if I have seen her grow and evolve through her writing over the years from TDM to now Lore, and while this book was hard at times to read due to certain themes, I still found times to smile and laugh. Bracken's humor could never be extinguished!
I think the only thing that delayed this book was the slow pace at the beginning and start to the middle. It took quite some time for the actual storyline with the other hunters to progress, and this led me to not pick up the book as frequently as I expected. I wanted more development of the world too, which then factored into my relationships with the characters. I honestly didn’t care much for them, and it was very upsetting.
TW: Detailed violence & gore, loss of loved ones, pedophilia implications, sexual assault threats, child abuse/ death, torture, child cancer, bombings, suicidal thoughts, and slavery
As a historical nerd who had a total Titanic phase as a kid, I loved the fact that this story shed light on the lesser known/ unknown POC stories in significant historical moments, but I was disappointed that the actual sinking only took place within the final 15%. I WANTED MORE.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"Salt is fire, and salt is life, and without it: even an empire falls to nothing."
Note: I will be using she/her pronouns for Zhu because they are the pronouns during her POV. There's a long complication over her identity since she took her brother's name and has pretended to be him for so long. Zhu constantly mentions how she knows she is not a man but also believes herself not to be a woman. While I am a cis-woman, I do think that her identity was handled with care. This is certainly not another cross-dressing Mulan tale, but a complex story about identity, especially when your identity is innate to your survival.
She Who Became the Sun is pitched as The Song of Achilles meets Mulan, and I think that is a marketing genius description. A round of applause for whoever came up with that! Obviously, I think this story is more complicated than that description. The Mulan reference could lead people to think this is simply a crossdressing situation, but it is DEFINITELY not that in the slightest. I mentioned above the complications a bit if you need a refresher. Now I'd personally add The Poppy War as a comparative title because while I don't think this is as grim dark as TPW, SWBTS gets very brutal at times. I'd recommend you look at other content warnings of reviews because it is probable that I missed a few.
Anyway, to be honest, this book was a masterpiece of a debut. Parker-Chan comes in swinging with all of her might, and it pulled on my heart strings in a variety of scenes. It's so interesting to see Zhu take up her brother's identity for survival. From the beginning, we see just how willing Zhu is to live and fight for her life. She's one of the most determined characters that I have ever met, and I cannot wait to see her in action more. Not to mention, the other POVs and side characters are extremely fleshed out. I physically felt like all the characters were visceral and tangible, which I cannot say for many books. Their personalities were completely their own as well as their intense desires.
Going off of the *intense desires* mention, the political game was my favorite part of this book besides Zhu's overall journey. At first, I just wanted to continue on with her story whenever a separate POV showed up, but of course, Ma and Ouyang are quintessential to this plot. I found myself rooting for both of them in different situations. Ma never led me astray because she's such a loyal, gentle soul, and then Ouyang just tugged on the heart strings with his backstory of non-consensual castration. He's constantly torn about his identity and status as a eunuch. He's so damn confused for a variety of reasons (*cough cough* spoilers), and while not all of his decisions are the best, he really needed a hug. It's always a testament to an author's skill when they can make characters on opposing sides enjoyable and sympathetic. Parker-Chan could of very well made Zhu the fan-favorite and left Ouyang out to dry as the evil villain, but she is too good for that. You'll see this world is built off of a foundation of greys, and I certainly prefer my reads that way.
I may add more to this review in the future, but for now, without spoilers, I'll end it here. Thank you to Tor Books for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own!
"There are no kind solutions to cruel situations."
Note: I will be using she/her pronouns for Zhu because they are the pronouns during her POV. There's a long complication over her identity since she took her brother's name and has pretended to be him for so long. Zhu constantly mentions how she knows she is not a man but also believes herself not to be a woman. While I am a cis-woman, I do think that her identity was handled with care. This is certainly not another cross-dressing Mulan tale, but a complex story about identity, especially when your identity is innate to your survival.
She Who Became the Sun is pitched as The Song of Achilles meets Mulan, and I think that is a marketing genius description. A round of applause for whoever came up with that! Obviously, I think this story is more complicated than that description. The Mulan reference could lead people to think this is simply a crossdressing situation, but it is DEFINITELY not that in the slightest. I mentioned above the complications a bit if you need a refresher. Now I'd personally add The Poppy War as a comparative title because while I don't think this is as grim dark as TPW, SWBTS gets very brutal at times. I'd recommend you look at other content warnings of reviews because it is probable that I missed a few.
Anyway, to be honest, this book was a masterpiece of a debut. Parker-Chan comes in swinging with all of her might, and it pulled on my heart strings in a variety of scenes. It's so interesting to see Zhu take up her brother's identity for survival. From the beginning, we see just how willing Zhu is to live and fight for her life. She's one of the most determined characters that I have ever met, and I cannot wait to see her in action more. Not to mention, the other POVs and side characters are extremely fleshed out. I physically felt like all the characters were visceral and tangible, which I cannot say for many books. Their personalities were completely their own as well as their intense desires.
Going off of the *intense desires* mention, the political game was my favorite part of this book besides Zhu's overall journey. At first, I just wanted to continue on with her story whenever a separate POV showed up, but of course, Ma and Ouyang are quintessential to this plot. I found myself rooting for both of them in different situations. Ma never led me astray because she's such a loyal, gentle soul, and then Ouyang just tugged on the heart strings with his backstory of non-consensual castration. He's constantly torn about his identity and status as a eunuch. He's so damn confused for a variety of reasons (*cough cough* spoilers), and while not all of his decisions are the best, he really needed a hug. It's always a testament to an author's skill when they can make characters on opposing sides enjoyable and sympathetic. Parker-Chan could of very well made Zhu the fan-favorite and left Ouyang out to dry as the evil villain, but she is too good for that. You'll see this world is built off of a foundation of greys, and I certainly prefer my reads that way.
I may add more to this review in the future, but for now, without spoilers, I'll end it here. Thank you to Tor Books for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own!
"There are no kind solutions to cruel situations."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Murder
Minor: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism
More content warnings: non-consensual castration (sexual violence), starvation, public execution, depression, mass death (war themes), misgendering, dysphoria, and the physical abuse/ violence partly refer to a life-altering injury. One of the child deaths is offscreen whereas another is suicide.
Wow. Well.
I don't really know what to say besides: disappointment.
Now it wasn't wholly bad by no means, but my disappointment kept mounting as I continued on with this book. I felt like not a great deal happened, and nothing let me gawking like everyone said it would. This was definitely a case of over hype for me, and I think the story sadly suffered from that. It didn’t feel anything special at all. Everyone I followed made this out to be the best book, yet I just didn't see it that way. Jude was mildly interesting as was other characters, but I couldn't find myself caring. I was excited for it to end more than anything else.
I was very bored while reading to put it simply, so I'm thankful this book is so short. Maybe that's a bit rude, but it's what I felt in the moment, which is never a good sign.
*sigh*
I'm so upset with my thoughts for this book.
I don't really know what to say besides: disappointment.
Now it wasn't wholly bad by no means, but my disappointment kept mounting as I continued on with this book. I felt like not a great deal happened, and nothing let me gawking like everyone said it would. This was definitely a case of over hype for me, and I think the story sadly suffered from that. It didn’t feel anything special at all. Everyone I followed made this out to be the best book, yet I just didn't see it that way. Jude was mildly interesting as was other characters, but I couldn't find myself caring. I was excited for it to end more than anything else.
I was very bored while reading to put it simply, so I'm thankful this book is so short. Maybe that's a bit rude, but it's what I felt in the moment, which is never a good sign.
*sigh*
I'm so upset with my thoughts for this book.
Edit: The longer I think about this book/ trilogy.. the more I realize how much I can’t stand it. It’s not 1 star worthy by any means, but I’m lowering my rating again.
“I stand in front of my window and imagine myself a fearless knight, imagine myself a witch who hid her heart in her finger and then chopped her finger off.”
♔
I finished this dark grit of a book last night in one sitting, and I’m stunned by it.
I’ve heard such divisive opinions about this novel, and now I can finally put myself somewhere in that spectrum.
I ~liked~ this novel, but I use that term very loosely. I’m basically just neutral about, and I lean slightly on the more positive spectrum because I like bad characters. I like that this novel doesn’t try to show a healthy relationship. It’s about twisted people who have to survive in a two faced court.
Jude is bad. Cardan is bad. Everyone is bad, and this novel is unapologetic in declaring that. I see people hating on Cardan for being a bully, which is whole heartedly true, but in reality, Jude is up there with him. She just hides it better. She honestly ends up having to be worse because she’s a human living in Faerieland. It calls into play the idea of whether nature or nurture truly build someone’s character, and it’s pretty obvious nurture did this to Jude.
I don’t think this novel perpetuates the idolization of unhealthy relationships. Though there’s certainly some people who read this novel that do that, but at its core I don’t see that in the novel. To me, I think it’s a critique on the darker side of humanity mixed with some pure faerie folklore, which is inherently twisted and dark.
I don’t know if I’m making sense, but this novel was an okay one. I’ll always adore some good politics, and I only wish those took the center stage sooner than they did.
“I stand in front of my window and imagine myself a fearless knight, imagine myself a witch who hid her heart in her finger and then chopped her finger off.”
♔
I finished this dark grit of a book last night in one sitting, and I’m stunned by it.
I’ve heard such divisive opinions about this novel, and now I can finally put myself somewhere in that spectrum.
I ~liked~ this novel, but I use that term very loosely. I’m basically just neutral about, and I lean slightly on the more positive spectrum because I like bad characters. I like that this novel doesn’t try to show a healthy relationship. It’s about twisted people who have to survive in a two faced court.
Jude is bad. Cardan is bad. Everyone is bad, and this novel is unapologetic in declaring that. I see people hating on Cardan for being a bully, which is whole heartedly true, but in reality, Jude is up there with him. She just hides it better. She honestly ends up having to be worse because she’s a human living in Faerieland. It calls into play the idea of whether nature or nurture truly build someone’s character, and it’s pretty obvious nurture did this to Jude.
I don’t think this novel perpetuates the idolization of unhealthy relationships. Though there’s certainly some people who read this novel that do that, but at its core I don’t see that in the novel. To me, I think it’s a critique on the darker side of humanity mixed with some pure faerie folklore, which is inherently twisted and dark.
I don’t know if I’m making sense, but this novel was an okay one. I’ll always adore some good politics, and I only wish those took the center stage sooner than they did.