• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN by Shelley Parker-Chan | ARC Review

    19th January 2022
    Cover of She Who Became the Sun (Shelley Parker-Chan)

    SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN (The Radiant Emperor #1) by Shelley Parker-Chan

    The most amazing feat is that I felt like I was reading in Chinese. I especially adore all the cussing (yes), including “turtle egg,” “white-eyed idiot,” “water leaked into brain,” “fuck eighteen generations of that bastard’s dog ancestors,” and other non-vulgar phrases like “blowing up the cow skin” (boasting), “chicken-skin” (goosebumps), “eat tofu” (sexual harassment), etc. The language aspect of the book was wonderful.

    She Who Became the Sun is essentially the genderbent story of Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋), the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1662). The main character Zhu (sapphic), stole the identity of her dead brother Zhu Chongba (朱重八, Zhu “Double Eight”) who was promised a great future. She spent her childhood and early teens at a monastery and subsequently joins the Red Turbans, a band of rebels fighting against the ruling Mongols. One of the Mongols’ general is the eunuch Ouyang (achillean). Despite fighting for the Mongols, Ouyang holds a deep hatred again them because they were the reason his family was slaughtered and he castrated. The complicated relationship between Zhu and Ouyang continues to play out through the story.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Holiday Detour by Jane Kolven | ARC Review

    16th September 2020
    Cover of The Holiday Detour (Jane Kolven)

    The Holiday Detour by Jane Kolven

    Content warnings: misgendering from main character and minor character, car accident, recalling parental loss

    As someone who is both genderqueer and sapphic, The Holiday Detour is very difficult for me to review. I wanted to love it so badly but I didn’t. I appreciate Kolven writing a sapphic story featuring an f/gq relationship however, so I rounded up my rating. There are too many issues that kept me from fully enjoying the story, but it was nonetheless chaotically entertaining.

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