Week 33

So I took two weeks off work, and while I’ve been running around regardless, it is genuinely wild how much that frees up time! I’ve done so much reading!

This week: SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN by Shelley Parker-Chan and THE GAME by Linsey Miller

#50) SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN by Shelley Parker-Chan

I LOVED this.

I’m always interested in historical retellings with a twist, and this hit every single one of those buttons for me. If you liked The Poppy War trilogy, or The Conquerer’s Saga, you’ll probably enjoy SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN.

This book, in the fashion of the others I mentioned, is technically a retelling of the events leading up to the fall of the Yuan Dynasty and the rise of the Ming, following the person who will become the Hongwu Emperor. (This almost feels like a spoiler but it’s also like 800 year old Chinese history, so, y’know, keep up.)

It’s that, but also so much MORE. I found that the examinations within of destiny and gender to be fascinating, and the connection between main character Zhu and the eunuch general she’s against one of the most interesting character dynamics I’ve read recently.

It’s an interesting look at Chinese history, but more than that, I just really sunk into the characters and their interactions. I loved Zhu, who’s such a well-written character - she’s both fun and entertaining to read, and her drive and literal cut-throat ambition, and how that develops throughout, make her such an amazing standout.

I can’t wait to read the next book in the series!

#51) THE GAME by Linsey Miller

So I feel like people writing YA murder mysteries have to walk a pretty fine and strange line, and I’m not sure that anyone I’ve read has managed to do it totally successfully.

I would say that THE GAME does an…okay job of it.

On the pros side, the depictions of grief and anxiety at the loss of classmates and the existence of a killer is done decently well, if somewhat truncated due to the shortness of the book itself. Also, it doesn’t drop into using ableist language or tropes at all, which I appreciate - way too many thrillers go the lazy route of “well I guess the killer is just a CRAZED MANIAC”.

On the cons side, well, this book does the thing that frustrates me where the characters seem to have a direct line to the author. They refer to there being a “murder” while the first death seems like an accident, and assume that the killer knew one of the victims was allergic to latex despite latex gloves being, uh, a pretty easy thing to get one’s hands on.

Also, while the concept of the “Assassins” game that the book is based around is interesting, the set-up of it (in teams?) defies my disbelief a little, and I didn’t think it was well integrated into the core story.