He Who Drowned the World: the epic sequel to the Sunday Times bestselling historical fantasy She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor, 2)

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But she won’t just have to go against the reigning dynasty but also others who have designs on the throne. It shows us their brokenness, it shows us how fractured and desperate and damaged they are and asks us to root for them anyway.

When I was growing up in Dadu, when my father was a general of the Yuan’s central army, we spoke our own Kipchak language at home. I cannot believe that I am saying this, but I almost think that this duology should have been a trilogy. Recasting Chinese myth and history with a fantastical twist, the follow-up to Parker-Chan's lauded She Who Became the Sun finds the Radiant King Zhu Yuanzhang forced into an uneasy alliance with an embittered eunuch general in a determined bid to be crowned Emperor. In this epic and most long waited sequel to “She Who Drowned The Sun” we continue to see the ambitions of Zhu Yuanzhang and her plots to become the greatest of all. Parker-Chan has secured their place with great surety as one of my absolute favourite authors, I will clamour for any scraps of writing they deign to give us.Because of this I honestly think the last 80 pages of this book would have made a thrilling third book. Despite knowing from the beginning how the series would end—this is, after all, a retelling of the first Ming emperor’s ascent to power—I could never predict what was going to happen next; in fact, I realized at one point that I had fifteen pages left in my e-book and the story hadn’t wrapped up at all. What hope can you have against my larger army; against my general who was even hailed as an equal by the Yuan’s feared General Ouyang? There were many twists and turns throughout the story, but what made them land so effectively was the bleeding heart at the centre of each betrayal. She Who Became the Sun explores grasping the intent of desire with both hands and claiming your fate, it is the hunt for greatness, it is about the strength it takes to become great, it is the knowledge that you will do anything and suffer anything to achieve that greatness.

This shared pain these two characters are plagued by pulls very evocative parallels, but it proves these character's differences more. I think it’s truly a remarkable feat to keep one’s readers guessing until the last chapter of a five-hundred page tome. As such, the final part of the book, instead of being a build up to an explosive ending, was a bit drab and overly extended.It’s fascinating historical fiction, with a compelling cast, and I can’t wait to see what Shelley Parker-Chan has to offer next. Ma being her caring self and reaching through to Baoxiang’s darkness because all he ever wanted was someone to be kind and loving towards him but once it actually started happening it was too late 😭😭😭 But I hope that glimpse of a happy future was enough to change him for the better and bring back that forgotten caring part of himself.

She is a porcelain doll, perfectly broken and made up again, all smooth surfaces without cracks and without scars. Unlike Zhu’s chapters, there was so much sadomasochism in both Ouyang’s and Baoxiang’s that it was hard to read at times.

That empathy makes all of the punches hurt just that much more; on some level, despite knowing that these are terrible, no-good, very bad people, you often find yourself still wishing that they would win the day and finally find some peace. Second, the ending relies on a bond formed between two characters that felt unbelievably rushed—especially considering who one of the characters is. A dark, often brutal, and occasionally gory follow-up to (excellent) historical fantasy She Who Became the Sun.