This has been one of my most anticipated, Australian-authored debuts of 2021 and it didn’t disappoint! She Who Became the Sun is a queer re-imagining of a particularly brutal and unforgiving period of Chinese-Mongolian history during the 14th century. At its heart, is a young unnamed girl who is born a peasant fighting tooth and nail for the power she believes is her destiny.

After stealing her dead brother’s name, what follows is her journey from destitute, famine-stricken peasant; to monk; to ingenious general (I don’t think I’m spoiling anything really – even the title admits the main character attains greatness). Despite the serendipity surrounding many of these events, its still made clear that nothing is handed to her; there are no incidences of deus ex machina whereby an unlikely solution solves all the main character’s problems. At every crucial juncture, it’s clear that Zhu manages to find some sort of clarity or solution.

My only gripe is some of the deeper political machinations, which Parker-Chan wrote very well, it’s just that I often struggle with understanding it, so I tend to skim a little over it…

I also enjoyed the exploration of a gender identity and dysmorphia in Zhu’s character in this setting and how she grows more comfortable with herself as the story progresses. I’m extremely keen for the sequel!

I really struggled to care about the characters and the stakes just didn’t feel high enough.