#the radiant emperor duology

[doyouknowthisdisabledcharacter]

Do You Know This Disabled Character?

Zhu Yuanzhang / Zhu Chongba is an amputee.

[emmersreads]

My Top 5 Best Books of 2023

Scrolling through bookstagram's endless reels of folks bemoaning the state of readerly types - new publications are disposable crap, everyone else is reading too much, etc - it might seem like 2023 was a terrible year for books. But, of all my longlists, this one was the longest, and the one I had the most trouble cutting down to only six. I read 119 books in 2023 (you can read my round-up of my five worst here), and here are my five favourites. Every single one of these books deserves to top your tbr for 2024.

Read the post on my blog!

Honourable Mention: Yellowface - R. F. Kuang

R.F. Kuang has figured out how to use irony and its a good look on her. Kuang’s political messaging is great — I particularly enjoyed her depiction of the publishing industry’s white fragility as deeply stupid — but we already knew that. I would expect nothing less from the author of Babel. The think that elevates Yellowface in particular is Kuang’s self-awareness in depicting Athena, the Asian writer whose novel the protagonist steals, as a talented literary wunderkind, but also as frustrating and not necessarily innocent in the problem of who is allow to tell ethically-loaded stories. I’m definitely looking forwards to her next project.

Fifth Place: Small Worlds - Caleb Azumah Nelson

This is the diverse romance novel you’ve been looking for. This is the inspiring hopepunk novel you’ve been looking for. This is the insightful and emotional coming-of-age novel you’ve been looking for. Small Worlds is all the more comforting and heart-warming because it is primarily about persistence and joy in the face of crushing personal failure and devastating systemic violence. Caleb Azumh Nelson’s motif of relationships in which both partners must break up in order to become the kind of people who can be in a long-term relationship with each other is a kind of romance arc I unexpectedly love. This entry in particular gets extra credit for its incredibly good audiobook adaptation. The audiobook is narrated by the author, whose southeast London accent and obvious emotional connection to novel make it the ideal way to read.

Fourth Place: Breasts and Eggs - Mieko Kawakami

After a couple of truly miserable memoirs this year I declared that I simply did not want to hear writers talk about motherhood. I spoke too soon because then I read this. Breasts and Eggs is in incredible reflection on being a woman that has something to offer if you love being a woman, if you hate it, or if you feel ambivalent about it. I don’t like children and can’t imagine ever wanting one — to the point that I find the endless angsting about the conflict between writing and motherhood faintly nauseating — but I found that this was the first book about being a mother that had something interesting to say even for people who never want to be mothers. Kawakami’s novel-in-translation has (for the anglophone reader) a sense of strangeness both in form and content. The book’s approach to gender and family is often intimately familiar, but just as often introduces a perspective that is deeply strange to a western reader, provoking us to think about our own assumptions about the importance of family. I particularly liked the scene in which protagonist Natsu visits a bath house and encounters a woman in a relationship with a trans man in the female section of the bath. Natsu struggles through a long thought process of whether she ought to be offended or not. Would she be similarly offended if she encountered cis lesbian PDA?

Third Place: Penance - Eliza Clark

For me, Penance was intensely personal, like looking back on my own teenagerhood. I also grew up as a deeply strange child, something that was immediately recognized by the other children. That feeling of somehow being a different species from other kids, not doing anything right and not understanding how it is wrong, is something that this novel absolutely nails. That might be a strange association for a true crime story about a horrible schoolgirl murder. This is the dramatic extension of what could happen to five people who were once very lonely little girls, and I think reading too much into the ‘how could they do something like this?’ of it all is missing the forest for the trees and playing into the true crime gaze that the book criticizes. Clark is interested both in true crime that dehumanizes its subject matter, and true crime the aspires to humanize and platform them. Is it any more ethical to demand access to someone’s life out of love?

Second Place: He Who Drowned the World - Shelley Parker-Chan

Shelley Parker-Chan’s The Radiant Emperor duology is the best queer fantasy series out there. Period. He Who Drowned the World takes its engagement with gender and sexuality to another level. At least for me, there is something much more meaningful and impactful to the theme of gender as something performed in spite of difficulties, distrust, and lack of acknowledgement. Parker-Chan understands that gender is often unpleasant or even hateful. This isn’t a book for a brave new utopia where every bra fits on the first try, it’s for the present, where the wrong bra gives you a fibrous lump. If She Who Became the Sun was Zhu embracing her gender, the sequel is about Ouyang’s often deeply upsetting ability to accept his. His hatred of any femininity, first and foremost his own, isn’t an easy read, but I found there was something incredibly resonant in it to my own ambivalent feelings towards femininity. No one else depicts self-hatred this well.

First Place: Chain-Gang All-Stars - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

As soon as I finished Chain-Gang All-Stars I knew it would be my book of the year. I read a lot of great books but this blew every single one of them out the water. It is Gladiator by way of The Shawshank Redemption by way of professional wrestling. It’s the scifi sequel to The New Jim Crow and Ava DuVernay’s 13th. It’s the best love story of the year. Chain-Gang All-Stars is an exploration of the humanity of inmates, who, in this world, are objectified both due to their involvement in the criminal justice system (as in ours) and from the gaze of sports and reality entertainment. It’s hard to decide which aspect of this book is most technically impressive. I usually don’t like when a political novel tries to comment on too many different issues, but this book deftly balances deep and effective discussions on a huge range of topics. I especially appreciated its engagement with an inmates’ personal feelings of guilt and culpability within a carceral system that doesn’t care at all about remediating the harm they have caused. This deft political messaging is combined with an insightful depiction of the ambivalent success of professional athletes, multidimensional characters, and a touching romance. My favourite part of the book was how effectively it traps the reader. I understand and agree with all the condemnations of the exploitation inherent to entertainment in watching primarily BIPOC athletes destroy their health (this is about wrestling but also boxing and American football), but I still found myself thinking about just how incredible this book would be as a TV series. The use of complicity as a theme is unparalleled.

[thoughtfulfangirling]

I am about 30% into He Who Drowned the World (spouse and I are reading it together which means I will be getting through it MUCH slower than usual), and it has been so utterly delightful. The interactions between Zhu and Ouyang are so incredibly delightful. Spouse and I are cracking up. Ouyang is just so... well, we're having a good time. I'll say that. XD

I loooove what Parker-Chan is doing with Wang Baoxiang. Meeting him through the eyes of Ouyang and Esen, they really tried to convince us that he's a pathetic and unlikeable character, but no actually, he made really good points and sometimes was so much more effective than his brother and general for being underestimated as he was. I knew he couldn't really be as awful as Esen and Ouyang thought of him, but I did NOT expect him to be such a bigger character in this book but am utterly delighted at where they could go with him.

So, so delightful. It's hard going so slow to see where this is all going, but it's so fun to listen with Empty.

I don't want to look up names using the second book's title, so I'm going to guess it's Madam Zhang that we're seeing more of too in this book, and she is fascinating. I have a feeling those posters were put up by General Chen and what an adversary he'll be for her. I would love to see her and Zhou become allies, but I can't really fathom how that could happen at this point. Alas.

I am waiting to see more prominent Ma stuff!

[maxalotlxl]

She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

3.75 Stars.

This book *I think* is like a historical fantasy and so much happened. I first picked this up thinking it was meant to be like a mulan story and there was similarities as Zhu takes on her brother's identity but to avoid poverty not to join a war.

The story mainly follows two characters from two sides of the war. And I think something I enjoyed about this was at first not knowing if the fantasy aspects (being Zhu seeing the dead and the mandate) was just part of Zhu's subconsciousness or actually there.

I will say there was some darker and graphic scenes but it's a book about a war so that's to be expected.

I am more invested in Zhu's story over Ouyang but I think I heard the second book is more Ouyang's story, not sure how accurate that is. I will get round to the second but not sure how much I'd enjoy it if it is more like that.

Finished March 7th.

[halflingkima]

@ the ppl confused by the fisting scene in book one...

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Zhu Chongba (Yuanzhang)- Radiant Emperor Duology by Shelley Parker-Chan

Luo Binghe- The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Vanyel Ashkevron- The Last Herald-Mage series by Mercedes Lackey

Patroclus- The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

[aussie0608]

The Radiant Emperor Duology makes me insane and is maybe the best book series I've ever read.

Zhu Chongba and Ouyang are so so interesting. They are the same yet they are different. One seems to grab a fate and make it theirs while the other trudges on doing what they see as inevitable.

They both have such great desires that no matter what they can't stop. Zhu Chongba says they could stop their climb for power as easily as they could stop breathing. Ouyang loves and desires Essen platonically, romantically, and maybe wholly but no matter what they want, that desire is a part of Ouyang.

Their identities are both a thing in flux, something deviant. While Zhu is born as a girl they reject this femininity and yet they are not a man. They are a substance not of either binary. Their gender is made up of things other than their sex at birth. Zhu Chongba is as much not a man due to their lost hand than the fact that they are afab.

Ouyang's masculinity is something that he's seen as having taken from him. He is no longer a man but he also very much not a woman, he too is a substance of neither. He reaches and craves masculinity far more than Zhu ever does.

Ouyang has also lost his identity as a Nandrin but he is also not Mongolian. He has been cut from everything and has killed the one person he wanted to understand him.

They both also have such an interesting relationship to pain. For both of them it is a tool and something they can and must survive on their journeys to their fate. Zhu Chongba seems apathetic to pain. They do not enjoy it but it is a tool that can use and they can bear it to get them higher while for Ouyang it is absolution.

I have so many more thoughts and they make me crazy. Someone plz talk about them with me

Anyway I'm going back to banging my head against the wall

[bleuarte]

Lord Esen in she who became the sun

And General Ouyang in he who drowned the world

[kassi-danae]

Even if I hadn't known the historical context, and if the story hadn't largely centered around Zhu, I would have known without the shadow of a single doubt that she was ultimately going to win after the scene where's she's taking her army on the ship past the ghosts, like

You don't ignite that kind of loyalty, that kind of trust, in people and lose. If your mere suggestion convinces an entire army to march to deaths door and play ding dong ditch, you've already won.

[randomnameless]

@fantasyinvader I was looking at the "Claude gives the Alliance like a hot potato to Dimitri to fig off to Almyra" convo, and he says this :

I'm leaving Fódlan. There are things I have to do. Dreams I need to see to fruition. That's why I became the Alliance leader to begin with, actually. But it left me no time for what I was really after. You'd better not take on too many responsibilities yourselves, or else you'll end up in the same boat. And remember...both the living and the dead cling to us without any regard for our own lives. It's up to us to break free of that weight and follow the path that we believe in.

Apparently, becoming the Alliance Leader burdened him too much to work on his "let's make people accept each other" ? Like, it left him no time to work on his goals??? When, as the Alliance Leader, he could have influenced the people of Leicester to, uh, not be so biaised against Almyrans (if only Almyrans accept to not invade for funsies, but that's something Claude will never tackle on, on-screen at least).

And the "living" who cling to him are a weight?

A burden??

Sure AM is all about living for yourself and making your own choices - but this game is also allergic to duty and responsabilities : is Claude basically saying having to look after the living people of Leicester is a weight or a burden that prevents him from achieving his goals?

Especially when this convo happens after Dimitri's return to Firdhiad, aka, him answering the hopes and wishes of his people as the King?

Sure the setting is not as heated as, say, Roland and Serenor from TS fighting over inheritence and Serenor accidently calling "ruling Glenbrook and being a King to its people" a "burden", but damn if Dimitri's reaction is, uhh...

Yeah.

Subdued is an understatment.

Bar the plot making as much sense as Thales not nuking Gronder Field when the mock Eagle and Lion mock battle happens to get rid of Rhea and the remaining Nabateans, Claude gives the Alliance away - after its lords agreed to be part of the Kingdom - because being the Leader of the Alliance prevented from reaching his goals.

Yeah, in a way, that's a good thing, because I suppose no one would like to be ruled over by a leader like that, who calls "responsability and duty to his people" burdens that prevent him from reaching his goals.

But more importantly,

What kind of insight does this convo bring to his S support with Billy?

All those weak people who have nothing to cling to but their goddess... They'll rely on you just like they used to rely on Rhea. You'll be a leader all who are struggling to survive in war-torn lands can look up to.

If the living clinging up to him - or relying on him - prevent him, or anyone else, from achieving their dreams, that what is basically saying to Billy?

Is he saying Billy should bear that burden - people relying on them - even if it means they won't be able to achieve their dream, while he'd be free to do so?

I must return to my homeland. As for ruling this new, unified land... Well, I'll leave that to you.

Is it up to Billy to mop up Fodlan while Claude can still return home nilly-willy, claim his Almyran crown and work on his dream? Like, Billy takes care of the people and supports them, while Claude "works on his dream" or whatever this means?

I was joking earlier about this, but taking into consideration what this Claude believes, aka people relying on him is a burden/a weight preventing him from reaching his dream, his Nopes convo with Dimitri makes a frightening amount of sense :

That's right. Think about it. Who steals your freedom and gives you an endless list of duties and obligations simply because you have a Crest?

Bar the Rhea BaD/crust BaD hate boner, being a ruler means having your freedom stolen and instead receive an "endless list of duties and obligations".

That's basically what Claude is complaining about in FE16 as the one who had to lead the Alliance, so him complaining about the same thing in Nopes makes a frightening amount of sense!

Ultimately, I know we can't compare Fodlan's writing to FE10's excellent part 2, but we're very far from Elincia going from this

“…Why does this happen?! My people fight, brother against brother… And no matter what I do, I can’t stop it! I’m a miserable failure. I just want to crawl into a cave somewhere. How can anyone believe in me now?” “I never asked for any of this… I never wanted to be queen!”

To this :

“I will not. It is my indecision that has allowed the rebellion to come this far. As the one responsible for protecting this country… I refuse to run from this problem any longer.” “Thank you, everyone. I am indeed the queen of Crimea, and a queen does not hide. Our enemies are fellow citizens of Crimea. But we can no longer sit idle as they destroy the harmony of our nation.” “You’re wrong. Strength without compassion does not a ruler make. Protecting people is what it means to protect the country. You care nothing for the people, so you are unfit to become king. You cloak your desire to rule with pretty speeches, but it is petty avarice nonetheless!”

Credit where it's due, F-Claude at least tries to keep Leicester people out of harm's way, but the way he words it to Dimitri, bar his nebulous "IdEaLs", Claude, in this convo, cares nothing for the people of the Alliance. They're just a weight preventing him from achieving his dream.

And this is a character IS wants to push as a Lord, similar to what Marth, FE5!Leif, Ephraim or Chrom are, when his mindset is completely opposed to them.

Granted, given how he is a Supreme Leader expy, and how IS force feeds her as a "Lord", that's not surprising but damn.

[queereads-bracket]

FINAL: Queer Historical Fiction Book Bracket

Book summaries and submitted endorsements below:

The Radiant Emperor duology (She Who Became the Sun, He Who Drowned the World) by Shelley Parker-Chan

Endorsement from submitter #1: "extremely nuanced portrayals/discussions of gender and sexuality within the relative historical context; very primarily historical, secondary genre is arguably more magical realism than straightforward fantasy"

Endorsement from submitter #2: "A cast full of queer characters who do awful things to get the throne"

In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…

In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother’s identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future her brother’s abandoned greatness.

Setting: 14th-century China (1345), Yuan and Ming Dynasties

Fantasy, historical fiction, alternate history, epic fantasy, 1340s, series, adult

Mrs. Victoria buys a Brothel by Talhí Briones

Endorsement from submitter #1: "A sapphic western where women help women (bury the body of your abusive husband.)"

Endorsement from submitter #2: "This is a story about women who age, gossip, drink, love, and help you hide the body of your dead husband."

1865, United States— It took thirty years and a dislocated arm for Victoria to leave her abusive husband. Heartbroken, she has to choose her own life over the hope of ever seeing her son again. She escapes the manor in the dead of night, only bringing with her a white wedding dress.

She ends up in Swainsburg, a minuscule town in Wyoming, where she’s adopted by the local prostitutes. To save them from expulsion, she buys the building and learns that in these parts, entertainment is worth more than gold. It’s almost easy, even fun, to organize piano recitals and cancan shows for the cowboys of the area, but being a Madam comes with responsibilities and dangers she isn’t ready to face. Her husband, after all, has contacts everywhere.

It’s hard to navigate the delicate tensions between respectable ladies and whores, between white society and the ‘others.’ Her new friends are women who carved their place in this merciless life; people who, like her, ended up in Swainsburg when they got tired of running.

Victoria falls in love. She doesn’t notice, she can’t even imagine the possibility. The townfolk say the widow Díaz is strange. Natane is actually incredibly awkward, kind, and very lonely. Victoria has no name for this burning friendship, but the feeling grows and demands to be acknowledged.

This is a story about women who age, gossip, drink, love, and help you hide the body of your dead husband.

Setting: Western; 1865 Wyoming

Historical fiction, Western, 1860s, adult

[leojurand]

you need so much brain power to read dunnett in part because you're constantly trying to figure out why characters are doing whatever the fuck they're doing. this information will not be presented to you in a clear and concise way. sometimes the characters themselves don't even know the reason they're doing those things, so you have to figure out things that are hidden from you by the author, and from the character because repression/self-denial/trauma/etc. sometimes they know exactly why they're doing all of that, but they have so much more information than you do, so you're at a disadvantage still. if you're lucky you'll be following a character who is honest and open about their feelings... but this is a dorothy dunnett novel so those characters are 1 out of a 100.

and i wouldn't have it any other way!! i can imagine how these books would be written by someone who didn't love subtlety as much, or someone who didn't trust their readers enough. they'd be so, so much worse, that's for sure

[dvasva]

Tbh? I think the radiant emperor duology deserves more critique than it gets in its tag, so after stewing it over for a couple weeks and also discussing it with my friend, I have decided to do it myself.

So. Spoilers for She Who Became the Sun and He Who Drowned The World ahead.

First off, so nobody accuses me of hating the series, I liked the series. I'd say I'd give the first book a 4.5/5, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I like both books. I truthfully skipped the fisting scene, it triggered some dysphoria that I wasn't comfortable with personally but I don't have problem with it existing in the book, it's good where it is, no changes.

No, my critiques come mostly from the second book, hwdts. Which sucks because I absolutely loved Baoxiang in it, it's a well known fact that my ideal type is pretty, really mean, characters. ('What about Madam Zhang?!!!???!? Shes mean and pretty!!' I hear you ask. Give it a second cause i will get to my beloved madam zhang) So, my critiques are mostly organized as 'The first part I didn't like in Hwdtw that signals the thing that became my biggest issue, the bits in the middle that i did like along with the bits that I felt didn't really work well, and Act 3 which is where my issues really were exacerbated.'

By the end of book one, I had a general annoyance but acceptance that Ma Xiuying was a bit of a weak character, and not weak as in 'dang shes a woman and cant fight' or any other sexist way you may interpret that, but weak as in structurally, she didn't really have as much depth as other characters. I thought she didn't have as much time put into her character as others. And yeah you could have a million character analysis essays over Ma and her place in the story and etc, but for me, her setup for the next book as potentially having conflict with Zhu or her own morals was the most interesting part of Ma. In general I think a lot of people tend to overlook this flaw partly because Ma is a cis lesbian character and the main 'love interest' in a book that is usually marketed to people as sapphic, which yeah there is certainly a sapphic relationship in the book but I think saying it's a major part of the book is really giving the relationship a load bearing wall ot isn't strong enough to carry. The Radiant Emperor Duology is not a romance, first and foremost. To describe it as a wlw romance is gonna leave people who read ot specifically for that reason kinda dissappointed by the end of book 2.

My big critiques didn't start until book two, and a particular scene, though. Ma, at the start of book two, was generally filling the niche of 'nagging wife' to zhu, which yknow, is a fine place to start from. I was a little disappointed there was no further discussion of Ma's disapproval of the morality of Zhu's actions, and in fact the dead child was pretty much entirely forgotten by Ma in favor of being Zhu's wife. Which, yknow, sure.

The Scene I had issue with happened (Spoilers once again) after Zhu finally captures Ouyang and imprisons him at her base of operations. Ma, dressed in her empressly regalia enters his room with the intention of being the bigger person. She walks in, looks at the stripped down and humiliated general who killed her father and famously is also really a women hater, and tells him she forgives him for killing her father. And then she gets upset and cries when the prideful general who hates women gives her a dressing down and taunts her and is like 'I'm glad I killed your father'? She nearly cries because Ouyang was mean to her (notably only cause he was mean to her and didn't gracefully accept her forgiveness, not because he killed ehr father) and runs off to Zhu. And Zhu responds with 'Wow, he's just a weirdo, everyone likes you and everyone in existance immediately knows you're a good person and you change people.' Which, my friend suggested before she finished the book, was a case of Zhu placating Ma and dismissing her feelings which would be an interesting dynamic.

Really my hangups with this scene come from multiple parts.

1. Ma' few character traits including being observant and reading people really well (a thing she's praised for in book 1) and having good social intuition are completely thrown out by her thinking being alone with ouyang and forgiving him would be a good idea and then her being shocked and upset when he spat on her forgiveness. And

2. Zhu's response is never once treated by the text as her dismissing Ma and placating her, and Zhu's statement despite never being shown to be true before and that moment being the first time it's ever mentioned, ends up becoming Chekov's moral purity by the end of the book, where the plot hinges on Ma being able to magically heal a damaged character's mind enough for Zhu to win in the end. Which I will get back to. There's a lot of other stuff happening between here and the end.

So, before I get back to Ma and her role in the story, I'll address some other bits from after this scene. Both problems and things I enjoyed generally.

Madam Zhang and her parallels to Baoxiang and her being the absolute queen of dissociating really was interesting (before act 3). She was a very compelling character who I completely understood and felt positively about. She had a way more interesting relationship with gender imo than Ma did, especially in book 2. I didn't really like that she was overwhelmingly shown having sexual villence done to her, that felt weirdly like a punishment. But, I did like her a whole bunch, and I liked the look we got into her head. She was probably my second, maybe third, favorite character in the whole book until Act 3.

I really, really liked Ouyangs dynamic and relationship with Zhu. The weird sexual tension between them, their weird kinda nonsexual but also kinda very sexual S&M relationship. It was somehow the most sensual, sexual part of a book that featured Madam Zhang having sex with multiple people, and Zhu going down on Ma, and a lot of other mentions of sex or scenes involving sex. Tbh I feel like, in a way, Ma was left to the sidelines for most of the book because Ouyang became the primary 'love' interest for a hot second there and the only reason Ma could get her spot back was Ouyang and Zbu's separation. Also, from what I've seen when people talk about this book, they always kinda try to express Zhu and Ouyang's dynamic as very nonsexual and nonromantic, as platonic mostly. And there is no inherent superiority of romantic over platonic, but I think to insist that it is only platonic, and not a strange swirl of romantic, platonic, sexual, frustration and relief, and a swirl of familiarity and vulnerability all wrapped into one, is doing the dynamic a bit of a disservice. And ther is, imo, very clearly a subtle hint of romantic intent and interest on Ouyang's part before he realizes Zhu has a body he hates.

Which is also another point I didn't like. Ouyang and Zhu's relationship end felt off. The entire bit with the pirates felt off, but especially how Ouyang found out about Zbu's body, and how Zhu reacted. I think Ouyang finding out second hand, from a combination of being suspicious and from Jiang saying it, was a poor way for that to be revealed. I think there was a better way for that to happen that woyld have felt more like a betrayl to zhu than this did. The fact that Zhu and Ouyang were so in tune and could see each other perfectly, but this one thing was a blind spot for both of them because of how unaffected by gender Zhu was compared to how overaffected by gender Ouyang was is a really interesting thing to explore, an interesting disconnect between two character's whose entire basis for their relationship is 'like recognizes like'. I think Zhu seeing it as a betrayl would have been more impactful if she had presented this informatuon to Ouyang herself and been rejected than how it went down. And, I think her not realizing Ouyang would be disgusted that he felt connected and felt a sameness to someone with a body he found grotesque and that he feared would have been more interesting for zhu, who views herself outside of womanhood and didnt really think that other people would not see her outside of womanhood, if she was the one who told ouyang herself.

Also, less importantly, think going into Ouyangs annoyance that zhu kept moving his target further away was a good move but it wasn't expanded on as much for my taste. I also really liked it when (spoiler) Xu Da dies, and that entire part despite some minir bits, was extremely good in that Zhu finally has tasted loss. She had, up until that point, been riding a wave of positivity, she was the underdog who won over and over again despite all the odds and despite her own reckless choices. So I did appreciate that everything went wrong for her at least once. that would have been, imo if other things were changed, a good place to end a book two in a three book series. Which will make sense as to why I mention it im a bit.

I also didn't like how Ma was nonexistant unless the plot was like 'ok we need to remind people that Ma exists.'

And there's of course other stuff but those are the main points of acts 1 and 2 that i wasn't fond of or that i liked.

Act 3 is a wholely different behemoth which can be encapsulated with 'I wish it was longer but also different' (courtesy of the convo my friend and I had).

My friend and I both agreed that we liked this kind of courtly drama game it was playing. My friend doesn't tend to like the structure or writing style of a lot of the chinese wuxia, danmei, or courtly drama translated books i read, so it was nice to know that the genre content isn't the issue for her there.

The biggest problems I had with the ending though was 1. I think Baoxiang and Ma had an interesting dynamic despite it being really rushed and how distasteful I found the entire concept of Ma being such a good wholesome goody good good person that she could change Baoxiang, quiet his demons and fix him in some way. That was annoying in an otherwise interesting dynamic. And 2. I think Madam Zhang's character traits and cleverness and all that were wiped away to make her inexplicably jealous of Ma in a way that I don't think fit her character and just served to fit a trope of jealous empress who hates the favored concubine.

So, here's my major proposed changes.

1. Ma gets sent to Khanbaliq extremely early on. Like, act one maybe after ouyang is captured early. This serves three purposes. A. Ma has something to do and is more present in the story. this could be a good xhance to let her actually feel frustrated or upset at Zhu in some tangible way that needs to be resolved or talked thru eventually. B. she gets more time to build a relationship with Baoxiang, whose entire defeat hinges on him having a strong connection with her. and C. Her absence in the other parts of the book feel less like she's being ignored or forgotten. It makes Zhu's lack of haste more than just a way to annoy Ouyang, and turns it into an interesting moral choice. Should she rush to Khanbaliq to save Ma or trust that Ma will be ok in favor of gaining power? Her lack of haste means Ouyang leaves, depressed, and she loses Xu Da, all while she doesn't even have the assurance that Ma is ok, she is truly at her lowest point with nobody with her. If Ma is in Khanbaliq and that's explored, then Zhu and Ouyang can also explore their dynamic without Ma feeling a bit like she is battling for Zhu's attention.

2. Madam Zhang is suspicious of Ma, or feels actually tangibly threatened by Ma. In act 3, Madam Zhang's anger towards Ma feels really out of place. She got exactly what she wants, she is empress, her emperor isn't interested in removing her from her position and her position isn't threatened by anyone. Baoxiang won't get rid of her, he won't demote her, he has shown zero sign of ever even considering it. So, why is Madam Zhang jealous of Ma? Imo, especially since she very clearly has dissociated into oblivion and has no love or affection for anyone anymore, and no real desire or motivation to secure her position further aside from maybe producing an heir to make sure shes taken care of after Baoxiang dies, there's no reason for her to be inextricably jealous of Ma. It kinda just erases all of Madam Zhang's political savvy and cunning into jealous, petty woman, and that sucks. If she was suspicious of Ma's intention, or Baoxiang genuinely expressed spmething that actively threatened her position, her hatred of Ma would make sense, but instead she hates Ma cause Ma is ugly and spends every night with Baoxiang. She hated rice buckets concubine cause that concubine used a lot of funds and competition genuinely made her position less stable. She needs better motivation for hating Ma.

3. As I mentioned earlier, Zhu needs to be the one to tell Ouyang that she does not have a dick. That's just all around better, it feels more like a betrayl to bare your secrets and be rejected, etc etc.

4. The duology should have been a trilogy, with book 3 starting when Zhu is at her lowest, ouyang is dead, ma is in khanbaliq, Xu Da is dead, a new guy is the emperor. This is where a book three should have started. in a series that has so many important characters, i feel like it needs more space. she's in a 10 gallon tank when really she needs a 30 gallon tank. Lots of it, especially towards the end of book 2, felt rushed and the extra book will absolutely push that back a bit and make it less rushed.

Anyways that's my critique of The Radiant emperor duology. Once Again, I liked the series, its one of my favorites i've read all year. I don't dislike it, and having a critique or opinion about something doesnt mean I didn't like the book or understand the book (because obviously if i understood it i would understand why its flawless). I liked it, there are things I wish were different, that's it.

[naysaltysalmon]

Terrible likeness - naysaltysalmon - a Radiant Emperor fic - AO3

Words: 3,066 Genre: Drama/tragedy Rating: M (body dysmorphia, sexual content)

Pairings: Ouyang/Zhu, Ouyang/Esen Characters: General Ouyang, Zhu Chongba/Zhu Yuanzheng, Esen-Temur

A/N: I wrote this fic months ago now but Tumblr hasn't been letting me post AO3 links for some reason, so here I am finally posting it!! Enjoy~

Summary:

“Did you let Fang Guozhen fuck you? You did, didn’t you.”

It wasn’t a question he expected to have answered, but he could already tell: The flush lingered in Zhu’s cheeks, and there was an unusual slackness in her spine, all-too-familiar in the months they’d been traveling together, shared clandestine moments together. The accusation had made her eyes widen with bemusement and consternation, but more than that, Ouyang had sensed it after the competition in front of all of those people, Fang’s interest in him. In the woman he presumed Ouyang to be, how this large and powerful man pursued every rare and interesting thing in his midst until it was in his bed.

Would he have pursued Ouyang still, had he known Ouyang’s true nature?

Or would he have become nothing in Fang’s eyes, a disgusting conventionality?

Ouyang trembled from the thought. A powerful man like that – he didn’t deserve to gaze upon Ouyang’s body, or the man Ouyang presumed Zhu to be.

Except it was all fake.

A lie.

A deception.

Zhu was using him for her own end, all along.

––

Ouyang learns from Jiao that Zhu is female, but things turn out quite differently.

[yoshizora]

i read 50 books this year and picked out my top five favorites + bottom worst five! here's the complete list, with content warnings included. all my reviews should be spoiler-free as well.

if anyone has recommendations pls throw them my way... i don't use goodreads and am not part of any book communities so i usually just let my local libraries' algorithms guide me around.

[thelonghairedone]

The thing about Wang Baoxiang including Ouyang killing the Khan in his plans to become emperor, is that also depends on Ouyang living long enough to accomplish that.

Which given Ouyang's uh...less that stellar social skills/ lack regarding anyone else's feelings on his revenge quest, he is kind of lucky that Ouyang was not poisoned to death or died by "friendly fire" by one of his own men before that ever came to pass.

(Granted he could have came up with a different method of assassination but still....)

Like honestly, given the way Ouyang was acting at the beginning of HWDTW, it is honestly surprising it took that long for him to be betrayed.

Was like Geng running interference behind the scene to make sure Ouyang killed before his time and was just imprisoned and not executed?

Wang Baoxiang gets a message report saying "So General Ouyang has started flaying deserters alive....." and has regrets about committing to this particular plan