Words I Write Crazy: Week 8 Reviews: She Who Became the Sun, He Who Drowned the World, Take His Memory to Your Grave

Saturday, February 22, 2025

Week 8 Reviews: She Who Became the Sun, He Who Drowned the World, Take His Memory to Your Grave

From Goodreads:

Mulan meets The Song of Achilles; an accomplished, poetic debut of war and destiny, sweeping across an epic alternate China.

"I refuse to be nothing…"

In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…

In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family's eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family's clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu uses takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness.

From Goodreads:

The sequel and series conclusion to She Who Became the Sun, the accomplished, poetic debut of war and destiny, sweeping across an epic alternate China. Mulan meets The Song of Achilles.

How much would you give to win the world?

Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King, is riding high after her victory that tore southern China from its Mongol masters. Now she burns with a new to seize the throne and crown herself emperor.

But Zhu isn't the only one with imperial ambitions. Her neighbor in the south, the courtesan Madam Zhang, wants the throne for her husband―and she's strong enough to wipe Zhu off the map. To stay in the game, Zhu will have to gamble everything on a risky alliance with an old the talented but unstable eunuch general Ouyang, who has already sacrificed everything for a chance at revenge on his father's killer, the Great Khan.

Unbeknownst to the southerners, a new contender is even closer to the throne. The scorned scholar Wang Baoxiang has maneuvered his way into the capital, and his lethal court games threaten to bring the empire to its knees. For Baoxiang also desires to become the most degenerate Great Khan in history―and in so doing, make a mockery of every value his Mongol warrior family loved more than him.

All the contenders are determined to do whatever it takes to win. But when desire is the size of the world, the price could be too much for even the most ruthless heart to bear…

From Goodreads:

He Who Drowned the World Preorder Reward

My Review:

Author: Shelley Parker-Chan
Series: The Radiant Emperor #1, 2, 2.5
Read: February 20th, 20th, 20th, 2025
Source: Library, Bought, Online
Reason Why: Sounded really good, and they're 2025 Retelling Reading Challenge Books, Historical Fiction 2025, Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Books, and She Who Became the Sun is a DAC Book, and He Who Drowned the World is a End of Series 2025 Book and a Sophomore Challenge Book!
Publisher: Macmillan Audio, Tor Books, Shelley Parker-Chan
Published: January 20th 2021, July 16th 2024, August 22nd 2023

She Who Became the Sun: