This review will contain spoilers for She Who Became the Sun. If you haven’t read it yet, feel free to check my review here.
He Who Drowned the World was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023, and probably the most anticipated. It is in no way a hyperbole when I say I was counting the days until its release. And it was worth every minute.
It’s a book of reckonings and consequences. General Ouyang and Wang Baoxiang, in particular, have to come to terms with their earth-shattering betrayal, the aftershocks of which set the tone for their respective arcs.
Ouyang has always been a…not very balanced and well-adjusted individual. He then murdered the only person in the world who anchored him to a semblance of sanity. Book 2 Ouyang is, therefore, even more unhinged than usual, which is saying a lot for a character with already oh so little pretension to hinge-ness. He is a naked blade, sharpened to a lethal edge by grief and self-hatred. He has already paid the highest possible price for his revenge; every other thing in the world is therefore cheap coinage to be spent carelessly, including his safety, health, and the safety and health of his army.
Zhu and Ouyang have always been in contrast and their dynamic is the beating heart of She Who Became the Sun. It is even more the case in He Who Drowned the World, with them striking an improbable alliance. Zhu understands Ouyang, and they both recognize in each other something ruthless and implacable. Their relationship now takes a new form, and it’s powerful and devastating (and yes, sometimes, very funny. Look, Zhu has an unshakable certainty in her claim and her abilities, and can almost be sunnily optimistic. Ouyang is choking, at every waking moment, in anguish and grief. I wouldn’t go as far as calling their dynamic grumpy/sunshine, which would be simplistic to the extreme, but there are moments where the tonal difference in their respective life views has made me laugh out loud).
Baoxiang, my favourite character, is weaving his own web of ambition and deceit. His point of view chapters take us to the heart of the imperial palace and its court intrigues. Baoxiang’s machinations have always been delicious to follow but they are now laced with an edge of frenetic madness and self-destruction. He weaponises every perceived weakness in himself, leaving a sharp hollowness behind. Shelley Parker-Chan’s character work is exquisite. I was actively grieving the person Baoxiang could have been in another life.
Zhu also has her moments of character growth, although probably in a less dramatic fashion than Wang Baoxiang and Ouyang. Ultimately, it’s a book about the price we are ready to pay for our ambition, and the value we give to past sacrifices. Zhu is at the centre of it all. After outsourcing her conscience to her wife (the amazing Ma, who is too precious and pure for this world) for most of the previous book, it’s time for her to see if she can develop her own. Is greatness worth it when it’s drowned in blood?
And of course, we have Madame Zhang, the newly minted Queen of Salt, who is more comfortable playing puppet master to a string of deeply flawed men. She can’t conceive of wielding power in any other way, which makes her a wholly different kind of player in this particular game.
The story is, in short, a powerful and irresistible tangle of ambition, desire, and destruction. Characters are fighting for their lives and their fates. They are turning anything within their grasp into a weapon, including sex and desire, people’s expectations of them, of their perceived desires and identities. It is intense, and thankfully balanced by moments of…I wouldn’t exactly describe it as levity, but moments of tonal shifts, of grace and deep empathy.
The Radiant Emperor Duology is a masterpiece. He Who Drowned the World is the kind of book that you need to recover from, in the best possible way. I am looking forward to whatever Shelley Parker-Chan writes next.
