To stay in the game, Zhu must gamble everything on one bold move. A risky alliance with an old enemy: Ouyang, the brilliant but unstable eunuch general. All contenders will do whatever it takes to win. But when desire has no end, and ambition no limits, could the price be too high for even the most ruthless heart to bear?

As brilliant as Circe . . . a deft and dazzling triumph’ – Tasha Suri, author of The Jasmine Throne This is where He Who Drowned the World strides in larger steps than She Who Became the Sun (as perfect as that book also is). Its focus on suffering and on pain is where this book shone even brighter. We are tortured by the shifting moralities of the main characters, by the new ambiguity around how much suffering is worth the ultimate goal of greatness. We witness these characters driven to madness by their pain, we witness their suffering as it eclipses their hope, we witness them despair and cry and break. There are many ghosts that haunt the characters of this story, there are many torments that the world wounds them with, but the most fascinating element of this discussion around pain is when we witness the pain the characters inflict upon themselves. Sparkling crystalline eddies scrubbed across the bare surface of the plain. Life-sustaining salt that, in such concentration, became life-denying. The sequel and series conclusion to She Who Became the Sun, the accomplished, poetic debut of war and destiny, sweeping across an epic alternate China. Mulan meets The Song of Achilles. Her father, who had betrayed the Yuan and joined the Red Turban rebellion in Anfeng, only to be betrayed in turn by his rebel compatriots and left to die on General Ouyang’s sword. Zhu felt a pang at the thought of the life Ma had lived before they met. Everything she had suffered. She found she couldn’t muster up much regret for the deaths of Ma’s father, or the two Guos: Old Guo and his son Little Guo, Ma’s unfortunate fiancé. “None of them saw your talents.”Zhu and Ouyang have always been the most interesting to me. In She Who Became the Sun we see their similarities discussed alongside their vast differences, but in this book we are allowed to see their connections in an even sharper light. We are allowed the clarity of their sameness, the ache of their joint wounds and sorrows, we feel the reverberations of that string pulled taut that binds them. And so it is with even greater betrayal that we see the jagged edges of their differences once more. Baoxiang wields his effeminacy against the Mongol Empire and its warriors like a sword. He becomes the things they think of him, as we have already seen in the first book. He shrouds himself in the worthlessness that they perceive of him. He performs the role that they have given him.

This shared pain these two characters are plagued by pulls very evocative parallels, but it proves these character's differences more. We see the biting edge of a pain that is weaponised against the world and we see a maddening one that is sure to be their doom. The Radiant Emperor series has never been a story of lightness, even during some of She Who Became the Sun’s softer scenes of queer love, friendship, and bonding, but He Who Drowned the World reads far darker. Parker-Chan’s writing is as captivating as ever, though, eloquently describing everything from the landscapes and wardrobes—to physical encounters, both sexual and not. The series’ heat burns from beginning to end with battles, sexual espionage, and greed-confused determination. What really made the book so enjoyable for me, however, were the characters. While the protagonist Zhu is definitely morally ambiguous, her antagonists reach such hellish levels of perversion that she almost seems like a well-adjusted human in comparison. I was captivated by their tragic arcs, their Machiavellian schemes, and their supremely twisted relationships with one another. Ultimately, this is a story about the value of self-acceptance and the devastating consequences of social rejection and self-hate, particularly in relation to gender identity and expression. I think the author effectively showed how self-loathing and bigotry can destroy not just the individual, but society as a whole. With a surge of delight, she said to the faceless woman behind the curtain, “I don’t want to be great.”The story centers on four major groups in the search for power. Zhu Chongba, former monk and her wife Ma (Zhu is a woman who took her brothers identity after he died and became a monk) are one group. The Zhang family ruled by a king but actually run by Lady Zhang is a second group. General Ouyang, former slave, and out for revenge on the Khans is the third and finally Lord Wang Baoxiang the prince of Henan and master at planning is the fourth. The first 3 groups all have their own armies, while the final main character choses to manipulate the chess pieces. Zhu, The Radiant King, finds herself feeling unstoppable after her victories and wants to crown herself emperor. But she won’t just have to go against the reigning dynasty but also others who have designs on the throne. Zhu realizes she can’t go it alone and makes an unlikely alliance with someone who is more like her than he realizes. But no one vying for the throne realizes that there is someone who lurks in the shadows with their own designs to rule and is much closer to claiming the throne than anyone else. As they’re all willing to do whatever it takes to rule, who will have to sacrifice the most, and who will emerge victorious?

It is with heavy heart that I write this: He Who Drowned the World did just not live up to expectations set by She Who Became the Sun. This was a good book, to be sure, but it never quite reached the heights of the first. Call it second book syndrome, if you will, although perhaps this only applies to me. Perhaps everyone else will have an entirely different experience. Who can say. as for wang baoxiang - he's the star i fear, my insane unhinged wrathful fave. this was truly his book. the painful doomed sibling relationship of him and esen is one i won't be forgetting anytime soon. In Baoxiang we find an incredibly interesting perspective. What is so brilliant about these characters is that even if you dislike them, they are still riveting to witness and to explore.Zhu hustled to keep up. “Better to posture than to take them on. Which is something Madam Zhang knew as well as I did. She wanted me to surrender.”