“He Who Drowned the World” by Shelley Parker-Chan

This, unfortunately, falls into the category of “an excellent book that I did not enjoy on any level.”

I was well aware, the entire time I was reading it, that this is a masterpiece of a book. It was inventive, evocative, and compelling. Shelley Parker-Chan made some incredible characters and gave them wonderful arcs that took them to unexpected but entirely appropriate places. The book challenged me to think about important questions of gender, sexuality, and the price of achieving one’s dreams.

I just hated it.

Partly, the problem (which those who read She Who Became the Sun will understand) is that all of the primary characters are fall somewhere between absolute bastard and, at best, amoral. This very much includes our protagonist, Zhu. I am fine with morally gray characters, but when looked at in total this book’s cast was simply too bleak.

And the way the book approaches sex is rough to read. Everyone who read the prequel remembers That One Scene, which managed to be both romantic and tender. The sex scenes in this book (and they are many) are similar, but without the romance and tenderness. Sex is a complicated and powerful tool of manipulation here, and the glimpses we get that remind us it can be more just emphasize how tragic and disturbing most of the sex in this book is.

I don’t know if I’m going to read whatever Parker-Chan comes out with next. If I do, I’ll certainly read it a little warily.