REVIEW: She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

If you loved The Song of Achilles, you won’t be disappointed in this sweeping tale! She Who Became The Sun is a potent, queer re-imagining of the beginnings of China’s Ming Dynasty. Shelley Parker-Chan’s novel is loosely based on the events of The Red Turban Rebellion and Zhu Yuanzhang’s rise to power.

Shelley Parker-Chan

You’d expect nothing less from Parker-Chan, whose addiction to epic East Asian historical TV dramas is evident in this ruthless saga about glory and self-preservation. Parker-Chan’s writing is exquisite in its description of setting and her seamless transitions through time. Her voice blends and shifts effortlessly with the band of characters’ perspectives, bringing them to life with profound depth.

This story follows an unnamed female narrator on her quest for greatness. As a child, a local fortune teller predicts that her life will amount to nothing while her older brother is promised ‘greatness’. After the death of her family, our heroine absorbs her brother’s gender, identity and destiny. Known by her brother’s name for the duration of the novel, Zhu meets an assortment of interesting and complex characters including Ouyang, a eunuch general who has long bided his time for revenge and Ma, a beautiful general’s daughter whose empathy catches a certain protagonist’s eye.

What I loved were the strong parallels between She Who Became The Sun and the rich historical truth woven throughout the book. As much as I don’t want to admit it, I could almost hear Disney’s ‘I’ll Make A Man Out Of You’ from Mulan whenever I noticed the similarities in the beginning of Zhu’s story. However, the comparisons end early because Zhu is no Disney princess; she is cunning, cold-blooded and unpredictable. This is not a light-hearted story about belonging and dragons voiced by Eddie Murphy. It’s a bleak, yet promising historical fantasy about female resilience in a man’s world.

—She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan (Pan Macmillan Australia) is out now.

She Who Became the Sun

by Shelley Parker-Chan

In a famine-stricken village on a dusty plain, a seer shows two children their fates. For a family's eighth-born son, there's greatness. For the second daughter, nothing.

In 1345, China lies restless under harsh Mongol rule. And when a bandit raid wipes out their home, the two children must somehow survive. Zhu Chongba despairs and gives in. But the girl resolves to overcome her destiny. So she takes her dead brother's identity and begins her journey. Can Zhu escape what's written in the stars, as rebellion sweeps the land? Or can she claim her brother's greatness - and rise as high as she can dream?...

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