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When I finished She Who Became The Sun, I was disappointed to have to wait for this sequel, I had loved that volume so much. But this one really didn't draw me in in the same way.

I'll start with parts I did enjoy. Parker-Chan is a great writer, both as a conjurer of scenes, and in the way they draw characters richly by switching between interior perspectives and the perceptions of others. The arc of Zhu and Ouyang haltingly moving towards understanding each other is compelling until it's cut short, and the "Zhu's capers" scenes are just as much fun as in the first volume.

But I found the shifting motivations of the characters took a lot of interest out of this oen. Wang and Ouyang felt flattened by their hyperfixation on revenge at all costs. Madame Zhang's fixation with the self-imprisoning role of Empress when she had so much real power as Queen makes no sense. Zhu's shift from desperate, audacious attempts to survive to grasping at "greatness" apparently for its own sake had the odd effect of making the stakes seem smaller even as the story gets bigger, which makes the violence feel gratuitous in turn, in a way that it never did in the first volume no matter how grim things got. And Ma and Xu both seemed shrunk by their portrayal as basically martyrs for the revolution.

I spent much of the book wondering why Zhu and Zhang couldn't just come to some detente and enjoy their successes, and why anyone other than Xu Da and maybe Ma Yinzi followed Zhu with such loyalty. Towards the end Ma has some lines which seem to explain it in a sort of social justice way, but coming so late in the book they felt tacked on.

I'm still looking forward to the next thing Parker-Chan writes, but found this one kind of a let-down.

#SFFBookClub

Some more historical context: the real world Lín Zéxú confiscated the British traders' opium this week in 1839 sinica.substack.com/p/this-week-in-chinas-history-lin-zexu

I continue to be amazed at the nuance of the characters who act within the context of their position in society, making me both feel deep hatred and immense compassion. With the span of a couple chapters, I was goaded into the same bloodlust for Letty as Robin felt (which was not a common reaction for me, violence is not typically my jam), and then was able to nod in understanding through the eyes of Letty in this interlude. Nothing outlined here was new or a surprise, it was just lost in the bigger tapestry, and the more front and center suffering of the other characters. The short interlude brought this so deftly into focus; a reminder that anyone who isn’t on top is fighting tooth in nail in the social dogpile for space to breathe and be seen, to be accepted.

No matter how morally suspect or potentially thoughtless the decision was, she too took action that aligned with her beliefs and convictions. Brutal. #SFFBookClub

@screamsbeneath@bookwyrm.social One of the few things I wish the book had expanded on is the difference between Letty and Professor Craft. Letty is presented as an understandable villain, in ways that Lovell and Playfair [appropriately] aren't, but I was left wondering if Craft had been like Letty once. Was there a different place Letty might have got to given more time? I'm not sure which is more believable, and I'd love to know which Kuang had in mind.