He Who Drowned the World

Right on par with the first half of this duology, so if you enjoyed SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN then I'd definitely recommend this book.

I loved the pacing - despite being longer than the first half, it's an easy breeze of a read, with awesome fight/battle passages, intriguing and intense drama, and twists that you may not see coming. Each of the three parts that this book is broken into has its own intense climaxes.

The settings and descriptive passages in HE WHO DROWNED THE WORLD are just as amazing as in book 1. I don't read a lot of novels that take place in ancient China so I found them very refreshing. Parker-Chan gives you just the right amount to describe the beauty (and ugliness) without going overboard and boring the reader.

There are a few difficult passages to get through because of their subject matter, and it's worth pointing out that survivors of major trauma may want to skim over those sections or avoid them all together (rape, dismemberment, etc.)

At the time that I'm writing this review, Shelley Parker-Chan has only written this outstanding duology. I am very much looking forward to future efforts from this rising star.