Spotlight on: She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
"What I really like about SFF is how it can offer meaningful representation of marginalized identities in a gentler and more cathartic way than realistic contemporary fiction…SFF is really good at is creating types of otherness that don’t exist in the real world. Readers can project aspects of themselves into these characters without having to have the character accurately represent all of our real-life experiences. It helps sidestep that reaction of “oh, that isn’t my experience of my identity.” "–Shelley Parker-Chan (via Locus Magazine)
What booksellers are saying about She Who Became the Sun
- What a powerful book and an epic of a debut! The exploration of gender and gender identity wrapped in the epic fantasy package is just *chef’s kiss* This book is so magically queer, and it was extremely powerful to see these amazing genderqueer characters take center stage in such a sweeping and beautiful story. The writing is immersive and lyrical, the characters are compelling, and I was sucked in right from the beginning. It’s brutal, it will wreck you, and you will finish wanting so much more. A must read of the summer!! ― Candice Huber from Tubby & Coo’s Mid-City Book Shop in New Orleans, LA
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- This powerful, sweeping debut tracks female monk Zhu Chongba as she refuses to succumb to nothingness in 1345 Mongol-ruled China. The side characters are complex, the world building is immense, and Zhu’s quest to be great is filled with unexpected twists and turns. ―Chelsea Stringfield from Parnassus Books in Nashville, TN
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- She Who Became the Sun is a grim military fantasy about identity, gender, public versus private perception, and most of all ambition: who are you when you force destiny to take notice of you? What horrors will you commit to keep destiny’s attention? Zhu Chongba disguises herself as a man (specifically, a monk) in order to stave off death by starvation during a drought. Along the way, she gets involved with fighting the invading Mongols, using her cleverness rather than military brawn to gain power. — ―Whitney Sheppard from The Snail on the Wall in Huntsville, AL
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- I can say without a doubt, right now, this is my number one book of the year. And I’ve read a lot of books already and have many more to read. I’m a history person, I have a bachelors in history, so when this book was pushed to me as the reimagined story of the founder of the Ming dynasty but Sapphic, I, a Sapphic history lover was very intrigued. It takes a little bit to properly slide into the flow of the book and the main character, but once you’re in, you are IN. The dialogue flows so beautifully and snappy, the characters fold around each other as the history we already know unfolds around them. And the betrayals! The hunger for destiny and revenge! I loved every single second of this absolutely golden book, and can’t wait for the next! ―Caitlyn Vanorder from Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, NC
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About Shelley Parker-Chan
Shelley Parker-Chan is an Australian by way of Malaysia and New Zealand. A 2017 Tiptree Fellow, she is the author of the forthcoming historical fantasy novel She Who Became the Sun. Parker-Chan spent nearly a decade working as a diplomat and international development adviser in Southeast Asia, where she became addicted to epic East Asian historical TV dramas. After a failed search to find English-language book versions of these stories, she decided to write her own. Parker-Chan currently lives in Melbourne, Australia, where she is very grateful to never have to travel by leaky boat ever again.
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