schneefink

I set myself a (low pressure) goal of reading 40 books this year. At first I thought it would be easy, then I started playing more computer games and suddenly had less time for reading books and it looked more challenging, and then I went on semi-vacation and read 13 books in July so now it looks easy again. Most books I haven't really felt like posting about, and/or was too lazy.

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan is the latest book I read and I enjoyed it a lot. I borrowed it as soon as the library got it after reading an interview where the author said she wanted to write a story about an evil monk, and that sounded intriguing. It's set in 14th century China, with many historical liberties taken, and has very few but important fantasy elements.

Most notably: the "Mandate of Heaven" China's emperors claimed is here an actual visible sign, i.e. magical fire that some people can summon. So obviously when the Mongol emperor's fire seems to burn less bright, and the Red Turban rebels find a boy with the mandate, this strengthens the conviction of the rebels. And when there are multiple people who appear to have the mandate, this is obviously a problem, since There Can Only Be One…

I was not surprised that Zhu killed the Prince, only by the timing, though in hindsight it makes sense that she wants enough time to build up her own reputation as future emperor. That the mandate comes with the ability to see ghosts is interesting – that aspect hasn't had much of a payoff yet so I expect that for book 2.

I thought of this book as two stories: Zhu's and Ouyang's, and their connection and the parallels between their storylines worked very well.
Ouyang's story was the best kind of tragedy, the kind that feels inevitable, where I can't even think of a canon-divergent AU that could possibly be a fix-it because these characters and what their situations do with them etc. leave no other possible outcome. Ouyang's whole family was killed and he himself mutilated and enslaved, how could any amount of military honors make up for that, and what makes it all so much worse is that his best friend has no idea that any of this still pains him. The scene where Esen and Ouyang almost kiss and then Esen compares his beauty to that of a woman, ouch. (It can be read as more of a romance but for me their romantic/sexual attraction was a less important aspect of their strong connection.) Esen is so – at first I wanted to say naïve, but that's not even completely it: he's a good son of both his father and his culture, the problem is that his father is an asshole and more importantly his culture is racist and narrow-minded. Esen is incredibly privileged and never had to confront that in any way. There is one moment each where he realizes that, unlike what he previously believed, Ouyang and his adopted brother Lord Wang never had the chances he had, no matter if they had been the best and most obedient warriors, but then he never follows those thoughts to any conclusions because he doesn't have to and it's easier not to. It even feels tragic but inevitable that Ouyang and Lord Wang can't stand each other: they're both shamed for different reasons, but instead of that being a connection it just divides them further.
I loved Ouyang's angst about betraying Esen and how much he hates it even as he feels like he has to and hates how much he hates it, and the scene where Esen finds out that Ouyang betrayed him (and Ouyang finds out that Lord Wang helped.) And the scene where Esen refuses to fight Ouyang and then dies on his blade in his arms, mmm yes.

I also liked Zhu's story a lot. I wish there'd been a bit more emphasis on Zhu having been raised a monk and what that means for her: her fear of Heaven seems fairly consistent from when she's a little girl to when she's a monk, and I don't know enough about Buddhism to extrapolate. (I also really hope that in the sequel we'll get a longer conversation between Zhu and Xu Da. Xu Da admitting he'd be willing to murder to protect Zhu's secret was one of my favorite scenes.)

I enjoyed Zhu's strong desire to reach for greatness, even after or maybe especially after realizing that Zhu Chongba's fate and hers were no longer the same. I like how she both accepts her own increasing ruthlessness but part of her also wants to keep it in check. She wants Ma to be that check, which is clever delegation, and it's probably going to work even as they both acknowledge how painful it's going to be for them both. I really liked Zhu encouraging Ma to think about what she herself wants; so far that resulted in Ma marrying Zhu and them becoming lovers and Ma trying to influence Zhu, but I hope we'll see more of Ma's goals in book 2. It's always great when books in a series manage to both be very satisfying on their own and make me want to really read the next one.