She Who Became the Sun (Novel Recommendation )

#historical #defyingfate #lgbtqia+ 

"Are you weaker than Governor Toluchu, simply by virtue of your substance? This monk doesn't think so. Aren't you risking your life right now to bear and raise a child? A woman gambles all of herself, body and future when she marries." 

Months before my birthday I requested that, instead of something expensive, I wanted an annotated book that either was previously owned or was bought that my friends thought they would enjoy. My friend and I went shopping together a week or so prior to my birthday and he selected She Who Became the Sun, and when I received the novel, albeit not entirely annotated since they had such a short amount of time, but nonetheless the effort was there.

At the start of the novel, my friend wrote 'And so it begins...' and, in my opinion, nothing words it as perfectly as that sentence. She Who Became the Sun will be the start of many. The retelling of stories genre has existed for years before SWBS was published, but this book is different and fresh. The novel is a queer retelling of the ascension of Zhu Yuanzhuang, a Chinese emperor who reclaimed the throne from the Mongolian horde. The main character is a nameless female peasant who is given the future of 'nothingness', whereas her brother, Zhu Chongba, is said to have greatness. When their father is killed by bandits and her brother succumbs and gives up, the girl claims Chongba's name and future in his place. 

The story is beautifully written, and, as other reviewers have written, encapsulates the idea of desire, but so much more than that. Zhu's desire to be something is very deep and visceral, where she does everything in her power to reject the idea of nothingness. This fear ties to the other main character in the novel, a Chinese Eunuch soldier, Ouyang, who works for the Mongolians and is in love with his master, a Mongolian prince. Ouyang acknowledges his fate grudgingly, forced upon him after the actions of Zhu. Despite how both characters' fates are tied together and I found reading about Ouyang quite boring and depressing, but in a sense, I believe that is what Shelley Parker-Chan wanted, both Zhu and Ouyang's genders had caged them, and the influences and decisions of those around them. Ouyang could no longer be viewed as a whole man and, in my opinion, moped about it, whereas Zhu embraced the fact that she was neither man nor woman, and used it to her advantage. "in that ordinary, ugly little body was desire so fierce that it scorched and blistered those who came near it." 

Zhu's character being morally grey, using people and hurting them in the process all for her desire and need for greatness was a fun thing to read. Novels these days often feature very righteous characters, dedicated to being good, which is often a very boring subject to read. But in She Who Became the Sun, Zhu is an interesting and flawed morally grey character. She is intelligent and cunning, which is something a lot of writers attempt, but never managed to do well (one, for example, being the Throne of Glass series). "

The main point in the story that interested me was the theme of gender that ran throughout the entire story, after years of living as a male, Zhu became to identify herself as a male, in a desperate and needy sense, for if she wasn't male then she was to become nothing, as her fate was foretold. Throughout the progression of the story, Zhu's skills acquired when she was a girl were useful, and after certain situations that would have ruined her as a man, she realized she wasn't a man, nor exactly a woman. "Zhu didn't have a male body- but she wasn't convinced Ma was right. How could her body be a woman's body, if it didn't house a woman?" The development of Zhu's gender throughout the novel was an awesome sight to see, where the representation of something's gender identity developing and changing is shown, one could argue that Zhu was non-binary, neither identifying as male nor female, which is a gender identity rarely explored in historical/fantasy novels. 

Overall, I enjoyed the novel thoroughly, and I would recommend it for mostly everyone. The themes of war are particularly heavy, so be ready for that, as well as there is a certain sex scene halfway through the novel. If you're interested in history, morally grey characters and the discussion of identity and gender, I would 100% suggest you read it. 

"She didn't just want greatness. She wanted the world."