She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

It’s Watch Wednesday! Let’s talk about this queer epic fantasy debut…

The first in the new The Radiant Emperor series by Shelley Parker-Chan is a glorious tale of love, loss, betrayal and triumph. She Who Became the Sun is one of the most anticipated reads this year by a powerful new voice. This story is a historical fantasy re-imagining of the rise to power of Zhu Yuanzhang, a peasant rebel who expelled the Mongols, unified China under native rule, and became the founding Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Goodreads user Snowbubs asked: Hello! So I know this book comes out in 2021 but I’ve seen some people that have read it already, so, which aspect of the story is lgbt? Is it the two main characters/ the main couple or is it side characters? I don’t want to asuume or anything.

Author Shelley Parker-Chan replied: Hopefully you don’t mind if I answer this one! There are two storylines, and each storyline has a genderqueer protagonist: one is assigned female at birth (but doesn’t identify as female), and the other is assigned male at birth and identifies as male (but is a eunuch with a gender nonconforming appearance). The AFAB character has a relationship with a woman, and the AMAB character has a relationship with a man.

Synopsis

Mulan meets The Song of Achilles in Shelley Parker-Chan’s She Who Became the Sun, a bold, queer, and lyrical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty from an amazing new voice in literary fantasy. To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything. “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 takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother’s abandoned greatness. 

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Reviews

4.29 stars on Goodreads with 587 ratings and 425 reviews.

“A dazzling new world of fate, war, love and betrayal.” – Zen Cho, author of Black Water Sister

“She Who Became the Sun is epic, tragic, and gorgeous. It will wreck you, and you will be grateful.” – Alix E. Harrow, author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January

“A thoroughly engrossing read with a fabulous, tragic-trickster protagonist. The exploration of gender and personhood was totally absorbing…I’ve been waiting for a book like this.” – Megan Campisi, author of Sin Eater

“As brilliant as Circe… a deft and dazzling triumph.” – Tasah Suri, author of The Jasmine Throne

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

1. 153 in Fiction About Disability for Young Adults (Books)

2. 253 in Fiction About Depression & Mental Illness for Young Adults

3. 290 in Books on Disability for Young Adults

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Author

Shelley Parker-Chan is an Asian-Australian former diplomat and international development adviser who spent nearly a decade working on human rights, gender equality and LGBT rights in Southeast Asia. Named after the Romantic poet, she was raised on a steady diet of Greek myths, Arthurian legend and Chinese tales of suffering and tragic romance. Her debut novel She Who Became the Sun owes more than a little to all three. In 2017 she was awarded an Otherwise (Tiptree) Fellowship for a work of speculative narrative that expands our understanding of gender. She currently lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her family.

Publication Information

Publication Date: 22nd July 2021

Author: Shelley Parker-Chan

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format: Hardback

Pagination: 416 pages

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Other Themes: Science Fiction, Myths & Legends, LGBQT

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