She Became The Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan

A young, peasant girl, starving to death in small village, is confronted with the stark ignominy of her fate: She is nothing and she will die nothing. The girl refuses. In a devastating act of will, she pitches herself into a new destiny, one that will upturn the boundaries of possibility and bring her into battle with heaven itself.

Set in 1300’s China, this epic story—much like its captivating heroine—does not concern itself with boundaries. The narrative is a re-imagining of the rise to power of the peasant rebel, Zhu Yuanzhang, who after claiming victory against the Mongols, reunited China and became the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The historical setting is rendered with loving attention to detail and the considered treatment of gender, catapults the story into the 21st century. In addition, the adroitly managed flavourings of Chinese myth and legend expound the fantastical elements of the story, helping to heighten the vertiginous scale of the narrative, extending it across the plains of China and out into the heavens and the spiritual realm of hungry ghosts.

For a moment she saw the two of them as Heaven might: two briefly embodied human spirits, brushing together for a moment during the long dark journey of their life and death… She Became The Sun

The book is absolutely dripping in honours and deserves them all. It won both the Best Novel and Best Newcomer awards at the British Fantasy Awards, and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction, the Locus award, the Aurealis Award and the Hugo Award for Best Novel.

This is a massive, masterful book that you should definitely read. I absolutely loved it. Everything from the glimpse into ancient China, to the morally ambiguous but explosively alluring heroine, to the battles and the politics, the love stories and tragedies. It truly deserves the mantle of an epic, and spares the time to line up some emotional gut punches that will take your breath away. 

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Buy on kindle £4.99 

Paperback from Abe Books £3.64

Follow the author on twitter @shelleypchan

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