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babewiththepower.bsky.social · @babewiththepower.bsky.social@bridge.neodb.net

Rated She Who Became the Sun 8/10

I do like historical fiction, but doing a "what if?" always takes it up a notch for me. Aside from seeing many good reviews for this book, the premise sounded interesting. It was really engrossing! I would've probably finished it faster except not being too familiar with older Chinese history I would stop to look something up and next thing I knew I was in a Wikipedia and academic articles rabbit hole.<br/><br/>Which is great! I learned some things of recorded/academic Chinese history. Just like with science fiction launching off of current/accepted science, I like reading historical fiction as take-offs from known records of famous people and cultures and doing a fictional filling in the blanks. The lead character's confidence and tactical genius is refreshing and the interactions between characters are well written. Not normally being into tomes about wars and who fought who and how, I appreciated that not too much was spent on that DESPITE this book covering a period of rebellions/civil wars.<br/><br/>I look forward to picking up the sequel shortly!

#book

Published 2026-08-18 17:59 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere