She Who Became the Sun follows the separate but deeply intertwined narratives of Zhu Chongba and General Ouyang and how fate brings the two together. It’s also the story of their personal (and professional) journeys. I don’t want to spoil too much so I’ll leave it at that. OH it’s also queer as hell!

Every page of this story was enthralling, vivid, and rich. The novel is a beautiful and painful exploration of fate, identity, and love. I felt every emotion on the spectrum while reading this novel. The prose is gorgeous and the characters have so much depth. I really felt like I was rooting for (almost) everyone throughout the course of the novel. Parker-Chan’s writing style made me slow down my usual reading pace and truly hang on to their every last word which made the experience even better. 

Immediately after finishing this, I reserved He Who Drowned the World from the library. Fingers crossed it comes in quickly because I need to know what happens next!!