Lei che divenne il sole by Shelley Parker-Chan

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When Zhu comes to desire a woman in her circle, we get a fuller portrait of how queer lives might have been lived in 14th century China. Parker-Chan doesn’t establish Zhu’s male gender expression as merely a trick to survive it is very much a part of her identity. Whether lugging slopping washbasins or binding her breasts to prevent exposure, Zhu is sympathetic and resilient. In the book’s opening chapters, Parker-Chan masterfully balances poetry and tension, keeping the reader flying through the pages as they watch Zhu gain a foothold in life. The jacket copy of 'She Who Became the Sun' describes this epic as “Mulan' meets 'The Song of Achilles,” but the fantasy hit that it most resembles is 'A Game of Thrones.' The world Parker-Chan has built is structured by ambition above all else, and the characters within manipulate, murder and connive to get ahead in a hardscrabble world. Over the course of this ambitious, sweeping novel, Zhu works her way into positions of greater power, until control of all of China is within her grasp. She assumes her brother’s identity – down to his very name and male gender – and enters a monastery in his stead. It is his nameless sister, with “none of the roundness that makes children adorable,” who survives their ordeal. The brother, Zhu Chongba, is the supposedly lucky eighth-born child, but he soon dies. Two starving children are orphaned by bandits in 1345 Mongol-ruled China in Shelley Parker-Chan's 'She Who Became the Sun' (Tor, 416 pp., ★★★½ out of four). Watch Video: Trans teen publishes children's book about inclusivity

Lei che divenne il sole by Shelley Parker-Chan