“The characters are bold and complex in this story of fealty, family, and self. She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor Duology #1)

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.Īfter 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. 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.

In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything She Who Became the Sun reimagines the rise to power of the Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor. 'A dazzling new world of fate, war, love and betrayal.'-Zen Cho, author of Black Water Sister

'Magnificent in every way.'-Samantha Shannon, author of The Priory of the Orange Tree

She who became the sun duology