"She Who Became the Sun" by Shelley Parker-Chan

"When all we have are these brief spans between our nonexistences, why not make the most of the life you're living now? The price is worth it."

Themes: Gender; Sexuality; Romance; Performance (gender; war); Desire; Fate; Power

Discussion Questions:

1. How do the questions of gender performance and expression, particularly deviations from or capitulations to masculinity, inform the motivations and inner thoughts of the characters? (Particularly Zhu, Ouyang, and Wang, who all approach traditional masculinity differently?)

2. How is Zhu's mutilation by Ouyang a sort of rebirth? How does that compare to Ouyang's perception of his mutilation?

3. Is shame the most dangerous emotion to provoke in a man?

4. Did you expect Ouyang to actually kill Esen? Were the ghosts hanging onto him, or was he hanging onto the ghosts?

5. How do you feel about the way the story was told from multiple perspectives? Was there a perspective you wanted and didn't get?

6. What do you think about Zhu changing her name?

7. Zhu and Ouyang could be considered character foils for one another, ate same time that they are alike. In what ways do they differ or converge, especially in regards to their conceptions of their own masculinity?

8. Will you read the sequel in this duology? Why or why not?