12 must-read science fiction and fantasy book releases for a magical July
By Lacy Baugher
July 2021 release: She Who Became the Sun – Shelley Parker-Chan
A bold reimagining of the fourteenth-century Red Turban rebellions and the rise of the founding emperor of China’s Ming Dynasty, She Who Became the Sun is truly like nothing else you will read this summer.
A thoughtful exploration of gender and identity, this is the story of Mulan meets The Song of Achilles, in which a young girl with no future claims one that doesn’t belong to her and goes on to rewrite history along the way.
The story follows two children in a famine-stricken Chinese village. One – the son, of course – is promised greatness by a seer. The daughter – so inconsequential she doesn’t have a name of her own – is given nothing. But when son Zhu Chongba dies unexpectedly, his sister will claim his fate and identity – remaking the future for herself and her country at the same time.
The official synopsis offers more details about the story.
"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 altogether: her brother’s abandoned greatness."
She Who Became the Sun is available on July 20.