

To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything Mulan meets The Song of Achilles in Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun, a bold, queer, and lyrical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty from an amazing new voice in literary fantasy. 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.Read by fan-favorite narrator Natalie Naudus 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. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. The fate of nothingness received by the family's clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected. 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. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories.

In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything "I refuse to be nothing." In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. Lambda Literary Award Finalist! Two-time Hugo Award Finalist! Locus Award Finalist! "Magnificent in every way."-Samantha Shannon, author of The Priory of the Orange Tree "A dazzling new world of fate, war, love and betrayal."-Zen Cho, author of Black Water Sister Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun reimagines the rise to power of the Ming Dynasty's founding emperor. Lambda Literary Award Finalist! Two-time Hugo Award Finalist! Locus Award Finalist! "Magnificent in every way."-Samantha Shannon, author of The Priory of the Orange Tree "A dazzling new world of fate, war, love and betrayal."-Zen Cho, author of Bla.
