"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 ...
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"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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Add this copy of She Who Became the Sun to cart. $9.00, very good condition, Sold by Dunaway Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Saint Louis, MO, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Tor Books.
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New. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 416 p. Radiant Emperor Duology, 1. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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Fine. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 416 p. Radiant Emperor Duology, 1. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
I tried with She Who Became the Sun, reading it before it was published, getting just past the first part before not really having impetus to keep picking it up. This time I started from the beginning, got 50% of the way through and sadly have had to DNF it for good.
I really liked the first half of this book which focuses on Zhu, a girl who has to take on the identity (and therefore fate) of her dead brother and joins a monastery in disguise. Although it is a bit of a cliche (and heavily influenced by Mulan), I thought it was done well and I enjoyed the scenes in the monastery. Part 2 however, time jumps forward and is split perspective between Zhu but also eunuch Ouyang and woman Ma. I found the chapters from Ouyang's perspective focusing on politics and warfare to be tedious and I didn't feel that I got to know him as a character. I think Ma might have been an interesting character though so I should reserve judgement on her.
Zhu in these latter parts also seems to be a little odd, I didn't understand any of the reasons behind her decisions, particularly her solution to taking the city of Lu. This seemed so far removed from the character we had learnt about in the first part of the book.
Overall, I was finding myself finding excuses to not pick up the book any further as quite frankly, I was bored with it, which was a shame. Thank you to NetGalley & Pan Macmillan - Mantle for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
