she-who-became-the sun-shelley-parker-chan-2023

BookNotes author: Shelly Parker-Chan

Fantasy set in 14th century China, concerned with a sister attempting to take her brother’s destiny.

It’s sweeping and epic, whilst mostly avoiding being bogged down with battle scenes.

I know nothing about Chinese history and it’s always good to see a fantasy novel from a different tradition, which foregrounds queer characters as well. I did find some of the obstacles are swept aside too easily, without much challenge to the protagonist. The question of their hidden identity just gets swept aside for example. I also didn’t realise it was a trilogy, so got frustrated when the book just ended.