She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Rating:

I'm starting to find that more Asian inspired books are becoming more and more refreshing and new, especially in the fantasy genre and this one definitely lives up to that.

While finding it had similarities to the very popular The Poppy War trilogy by R.F. Kuang, it never felt quite the same or like it had taken any aspects of those books and just re-shaped it to seem new.

In this book we follow a nameless young girl who takes the name of her late brother Zhu Chongba in order to change her fate and take his.

Throughout this book I was inspired and impressed by Zhu's strength and will to not succumb to all the pressure and situations that occurred and put her at risk of being exposed.

Another thing I really did appreciate from this book is that we got to see other characters in a fully fledged out way, these characters weren't just thrown in for the conflict, they had their own stories and I found myself emphasizing with them as they weren't just portrayed as the antagonist.

For the first time in a long time I can honestly say I am truly anticipating the release of the sequel because I am 100% certain it won't be a disappointment where a lot of other sequels have been.