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Erika (17788 KP) created a video about The Death Of Stalin (2017) in Movies
Apr 20, 2018 (Updated Apr 20, 2018)
ClareR (5577 KP) rated She Who Became The Sun in Books
Jun 13, 2023
She Who Became the Sun is a book that I could really immerse myself in. It took its time over laying the foundations of what will continue to be, I’m sure, an epic story. This is a re-imagining of the life and rise of Zhu Yuanzhang - the peasant rebel who expelled the Mongols, unified China and became the founding Emperor of the Ming dynasty. So, no small story then!
Shelley Parker-Chan has added a twist to the story, though. The Zhu Yuanzhang in this story is actually female. Born a girl, she steals her brothers identity when he dies so that she can survive - girls were not important enough to survive otherwise. She decides to live her brothers life, and as a fortune teller has foretold, she will rise to great heights in his name. And this process starts by Zhu being taken in and educated by the monks at a monastery.
This isn’t fantasy as much as it is historical fiction. Ok, there is a little bit of magic, but I took that as being an explanation of a leaders charisma. The writing IS beautiful, particularly the descriptions of the relationship between Zhu and the eunuch General Ouyang, and the queer story of Zhu and her wife.
We’re left on a bit of a cliffhanger, I’ll warn you, but we won’t have long to wait for the sequel!
Shelley Parker-Chan has added a twist to the story, though. The Zhu Yuanzhang in this story is actually female. Born a girl, she steals her brothers identity when he dies so that she can survive - girls were not important enough to survive otherwise. She decides to live her brothers life, and as a fortune teller has foretold, she will rise to great heights in his name. And this process starts by Zhu being taken in and educated by the monks at a monastery.
This isn’t fantasy as much as it is historical fiction. Ok, there is a little bit of magic, but I took that as being an explanation of a leaders charisma. The writing IS beautiful, particularly the descriptions of the relationship between Zhu and the eunuch General Ouyang, and the queer story of Zhu and her wife.
We’re left on a bit of a cliffhanger, I’ll warn you, but we won’t have long to wait for the sequel!
Lottie disney bookworm (1056 KP) rated She Who Became The Sun in Books
Aug 30, 2021
Beware those who journey further – a fairytale this ain’t!
After a fortune teller destines her brother for greatness and her own life to be worthless, a peasant girl may be expected to resign herself to her fate. However, upon her brother’s premature death, the girl seizes an opportunity to adopt both his name and his destiny.
She Who Became the Sun is a brutal, hard hitting debut to The Radiant Emperor series. Comparisons tend to quote Mulan due to the setting and the nature of Zhu disguising her female birth, but this is honestly where the comparison ends. For me, this novel is as if Mulan was in the Game of Thrones novels: warring factions, political backstabbing and the quest for power, Parker-Chan really doesn’t hold back.
As the debut novel, She Who Became the Sun has a lot of work to do in world-building and revealing the history behind the main characters. As a result, the pace of writing can feel a little slow at times but the final few chapters are well worth any previous perseverance.
Despite the pace in the middle of the novel, Parker-Chan’s writing is lyrical and intense simultaneously. Zhu’s desire to live gives a desperate, raw undertone to every one of the chapters under her POV. This is in direct juxtaposition from our other main character, Ouyang, who exudes cold detachment.
Zhu and Ouyang are both orphans, both queer and, as a girl and a eunuch, are both shunned by society. However, they consistently find themselves facing each other on opposite sides of a war: they may be ‘like and like’ but they are both characters who believe that their path is already decided for them, and neither will let anyone stand in their way!
Zhu and Ouyang are complex, well-developed characters, but they are nothing without their stunning supporting cast! I particularly loved Xu Da, Esen and Ma who never showed any prejudice against our main protagonists and purely accepted them for who they were.
She Who Became the Sun intertwines historical fiction with fantasy, war strategies with spirits and death with fate. This novel manages to be gritty and violent whilst also exploring gender identity in an open and refreshing manner. Morality is blurred and ghosts are rife: I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for gifting me an e-ARC of She Who Became the Sun.
After a fortune teller destines her brother for greatness and her own life to be worthless, a peasant girl may be expected to resign herself to her fate. However, upon her brother’s premature death, the girl seizes an opportunity to adopt both his name and his destiny.
She Who Became the Sun is a brutal, hard hitting debut to The Radiant Emperor series. Comparisons tend to quote Mulan due to the setting and the nature of Zhu disguising her female birth, but this is honestly where the comparison ends. For me, this novel is as if Mulan was in the Game of Thrones novels: warring factions, political backstabbing and the quest for power, Parker-Chan really doesn’t hold back.
As the debut novel, She Who Became the Sun has a lot of work to do in world-building and revealing the history behind the main characters. As a result, the pace of writing can feel a little slow at times but the final few chapters are well worth any previous perseverance.
Despite the pace in the middle of the novel, Parker-Chan’s writing is lyrical and intense simultaneously. Zhu’s desire to live gives a desperate, raw undertone to every one of the chapters under her POV. This is in direct juxtaposition from our other main character, Ouyang, who exudes cold detachment.
Zhu and Ouyang are both orphans, both queer and, as a girl and a eunuch, are both shunned by society. However, they consistently find themselves facing each other on opposite sides of a war: they may be ‘like and like’ but they are both characters who believe that their path is already decided for them, and neither will let anyone stand in their way!
Zhu and Ouyang are complex, well-developed characters, but they are nothing without their stunning supporting cast! I particularly loved Xu Da, Esen and Ma who never showed any prejudice against our main protagonists and purely accepted them for who they were.
She Who Became the Sun intertwines historical fiction with fantasy, war strategies with spirits and death with fate. This novel manages to be gritty and violent whilst also exploring gender identity in an open and refreshing manner. Morality is blurred and ghosts are rife: I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for gifting me an e-ARC of She Who Became the Sun.
ClareR (5577 KP) rated He Who Drowned the World in Books
Nov 1, 2023
The very worst thing about this series, is that it was only two books - and now it’s over!! I mean, I’m happy to be told that I’m wrong, and that book three is on it’s way. THAT’S how much I loved it.
Zhu Yuanzhang is the Radiant King and is now after the throne she needs to crown herself Emperor. All power to her, I say!
There are battles, feats of cunning to outwit stronger and more numerous enemies, acts of heroism, friendship and love.
This book is my crack, and I would happily have read on and on, but it ended, I was sad, and then I came here to tell you all to go and read it. Because if you haven’t, then you most certainly should.
Oh, and I’m still waiting to be told that there’s a third in the pipeline (🙏🏻!).
Zhu Yuanzhang is the Radiant King and is now after the throne she needs to crown herself Emperor. All power to her, I say!
There are battles, feats of cunning to outwit stronger and more numerous enemies, acts of heroism, friendship and love.
This book is my crack, and I would happily have read on and on, but it ended, I was sad, and then I came here to tell you all to go and read it. Because if you haven’t, then you most certainly should.
Oh, and I’m still waiting to be told that there’s a third in the pipeline (🙏🏻!).
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated The Sadness (2021) in Movies
May 12, 2022
Let's get the obvious out of the way, The Sadness is pretty damn gory. This aspect is both a positive and negative. Most of (if not all) the gore is achieved in a practical manner, and as such is undeniably impressive. It goes for the jugular, with the intention of shocking. There are multiple moments where everything is just caked in blood and viscera, but to be honest, it does come across as gore for the sake of gore. There's little else on offer, which is a great shame. There are some solid enough performances from Berant Zhu, Regina Lei, and Tzu-Chiang Wang, and the general look of the infected people is genuinely quite unsettling, but everything else feels a bit empty. It's hard to care about any of the characters trying to survive, and the attempt at an emotional ending falls flat as a result.
Gore hounds and horror fans will no doubt find things to love about The Sadness. It's bleak, nihilistic, and doesn't shy away from its depravity. I certainly didn't dislike it, but the overall experience left me very unmoved. It's ultimately a movie that is just an extreme splatter flick, and it could have been so much more.
Gore hounds and horror fans will no doubt find things to love about The Sadness. It's bleak, nihilistic, and doesn't shy away from its depravity. I certainly didn't dislike it, but the overall experience left me very unmoved. It's ultimately a movie that is just an extreme splatter flick, and it could have been so much more.