She Who Became the Sun

Book Title: She Who Became the Sun

Author: Shelley Parker-Chan

Series: The Radiant Emperor #1

Date Started: January 17th 2021

Date Completed: January 29th 2021

Genres: Historical, Fantasy

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

She Who Became The Sun was a massively anticipated book for me this year, and I'm so glad I got to read it early. It was ultimately pretty dense; a sprawling epic that moves a bit too fast to appreciate, but I did enjoy turning the pages.

The last 10% of this book was actually fantastic, but everything else had been constructed to make those final events (and moral points) happen, rather than an organic story coming to fruition. In general, there were a lot of things that were great in principle, or when they actually happened, but only from some angles: the characters all had different morals, values and tactics, but their dialogue all read exactly the same. And the fantastical element with the ghosts and elemental magic was really cool - but obsolete for much of the story.

In many ways, what I believe will draw many people to this book is its representation and point of view. And wow, it was so nice to see such varying and fluid sexuality, and without it having to be a character trait; it was the character's identity, wrapped up along with their own individual desire and goals layered on top. But I did also note it felt like it was written for a man in the way that all the feminist things were over-explained. You can tell Parker-Chan has a political background because there's a lot of providing excess evidence and analysis to prove a point.

This book was enjoyable to read, but it didn't have enough of a humanising edge to the characters to make me root for them when they did terrible things. At the end of the day, even though you know their origins, they're all horrible, manipulative people that always seemed like horrible, manipulative people. It made me think of R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War, not just for its Chinese historical inspiration, but also it's very questionable protagonist. But I felt much less empathy for Zhu here, and it made a massive difference to the story.

This is a good example of why I don't like blurbs that compare books to other stories. Yes, it's easy to draw comparisons to Mulan, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Song of Achilles; and sure, they're not bad comparisons. But none of them are really good parallels to the essence of this story, and it creates an expectation in the reader that can't be met and sells this new story sort of itself.

The Amber Spyglass

Book Title: The Amber Spyglass

Author: Philip Pullman

Series: His Dark Materials #3

Date Started: December 31st 2020

Date Completed: January 17th 2021

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure

Quality Rating: Five Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Five Stars

Review:

Of all the books in the His Dark Materials trilogy, it's what I remember least of from my childhood. Rereading it again as an adult was a weird mix of the novel and fragments of my own memories scattered through. It's not really what I remembered, but that made it all the better to rediscover.

I can't help but feel this review is going to be less of a review and more of an afterthought having finished my reread of this trilogy. Lyra and Will remain fantastic protagonists, and while I'm not here to compare the novels with the BBC show, I definitely appreciate Mary Malone more as an adult and having watched Simone Kirby's wonderful portrayal.

It's so good, and in a lot of ways I find it hard to grasp why, but it has to do with being honest and not underestimating its (mostly younger) audience. It did not disappoint but I am at a loss of what to say about it. I only know that I am glad I grew up with these books, and am excited to begin the sequel trilogy now that I truly remember the original story.

10 TBR Books for 2021

Welcome to 2021, another year likely to entail us stuck indoors with nothing much to do (or, in my case, stuck in a trailer with a mask on for ten hours a day), with an increasingly smaller selection of comfort television and films to rewatch over and over again.

2020, while terrible in a variety of ways to say the least, did allow me one thing I haven't been able to really experience since teenage summer holidays: disappearing into books for literally days at a time. Despite working solidly since September, I made more of a dent to my TBR than expected last year - so I'm hoping it might be one silver lining to 2021 also.

To celebrate, kill some time, and organise a list that will inevitably change in less than a month, I've put together ten of the novels I'm most excited to read this year.

1. She Who Became the Sun, Shelley Parker-Chan

I remember hearing about this book months ago as I fell in love with R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War and Asian-inspired literature in general. Back then it was sold as Mulan meets The Song of Achilles, with a little bit of Avatar: The Last Airbender in there - I'm not usually sold on comparisons in book blurbs but when you put three of my favourite stories in the world together I'm going to interested. Here's hoping it doesn't disappoint.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/56337658-she-who-became-the-sun

2. Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo

What more is there to say than there's a new Leigh Bardugo novel, styled as dark academia, being compared frequently to The Secret History? In all honesty, I haven't even read up on what the book's about - I just know I want to get to it, and get to it soon.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/52198857-ninth-house

3. The Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho

I saw this book in Waterstones back when I was in university and was always intrigued. Cut to a few years later when I get approved its sequel on NetGalley for review so I now have an excuse to buy the first one. It's unfortunately been collecting digital dust on there for a while just because I read so much fantasy that I try and diversify my list a bit. But I'll get to it this year, I swear.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/45419659-sorcerer-to-the-crown

4. The Children of Jocasta, Natalie Haynes

Another book that's been sat on my shelves for a while now, but maybe a little more deliberately. I love my classical mythology, but given the often grim tone of their retellings I like to put a bit of space between each one. Last year I read Natalie Hayne's other Greek retelling, A Thousand Ships, based on the women of the Trojan War. I definitely enjoyed it, though wasn't utterly blown away as I've read that story a thousand times. I'm hoping that a retelling of Oedipus' slightly less overt-old story will show off the author's style a little more.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/36524694-the-children-of-jocasta

5. Girls of Paper and Fire, Natasha Nga

Girls of Paper and Fire is one that I've been seeing around for a while but just wasn't that engaged with because the title and cover make it seem like just another YA fantasy novel - which there's nothing wrong with, but I've read enough in my time to veer in different directions now. But the more I heard about it and its representation, plot and writing, the more I gradually became interested in it. Who knows, maybe it will turn out to be another YA fantasy novel, but I'm always willing to follow a good recommendation.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/38530684-girls-of-paper-and-fire

6. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee

I started learning Korean about a year ago, fueled by a love of Korean cinema and the desire to learn more about it's cultural. As part of that, I'm trying to read more Korean literature, and Pachinko is one that comes up again and again on recommended reading lists. The specific period and themes it explores (the early 1900s, family and the relationship between Japan and Korea) are areas I know less about too, so I've got high hopes for it.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/40730474-pachinko

7. Muse of Nightmares, Laini Taylor

Ah yes, another sequel that's been on the digital shelf for ever that I keep putting off. Look, I didn't dislike Strange the Dreamer, I just felt so betrayed by its ending completely changing the story it was telling. For a while, I didn't want to read the sequel at all. That passed, but now the page length is making it less attractive to me. But I know I'll enjoy it when I read it, even if it doesn't live up to what Daughter of Smoke and Bone meant to me. I just have to get around to it... easier said than done.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/45158895-muse-of-nightmares

8. Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell

Hamnet received so much positive critical acclaim last year that when I was finally able to go into a bookshop again (for as long as it lasted) it didn't take me long to pick it up compulsively (look, I felt like a kid in a candy shop, it had been so long since I'd been surrounded by so many books). Honestly, the synopsis itself always puts me off a bit; a story about marriage and family strife isn't really my cup of tea. But Maggie O'Farrell writing a story about Shakespeare's son? Come on, of course it's on the list.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/43890641-hamnet

9. Darkdawn, Jay Kristof

Finishing the Nevernight series has been a long time coming, but I'm determined to do it in 2021. Jay Kristoff's books are ones that I really want to be able to sit down and focus on which is why I've been putting it aside for now. They're so full of action and twists and beautiful writing that you really need to be focused to be ahead of the game (if that's the way you like reading like me). Hopefully, with all the free time we're likely to have, I'll be finishing Mia's story off sooner rather than later.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/39283509-darkdawn

10. Piranesi, Susanna Clarke

One of the most strongly-advertised books of last year, Piranesi was getting on my nerves a little bit by how often I saw it - I read the synopsis the first time and immediately put it on my list. It worked! Now leave me alone! That being said, the positive reviews of this book kept flooding in and with a 99p price on kindle who can you really complain?

www.goodreads.com/book/show/52702097-piranesi