He Who Drowned the World

• Author: Shelley Parker-Chan
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: August 22, 2023
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Series: The Radiant Emperor #2

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The sequel and series conclusion to She Who Became the Sun, the accomplished, poetic debut of war and destiny, sweeping across an epic alternate China. Mulan meets The Song of Achilles.

How much would you give to win the world?

Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King, is riding high after her victory that tore southern China from its Mongol masters. Now she burns with a new desire: to seize the throne and crown herself emperor.

But Zhu isn’t the only one with imperial ambitions. Her neighbor in the south, the courtesan Madam Zhang, wants the throne for her husband—and she’s strong enough to wipe Zhu off the map. To stay in the game, Zhu will have to gamble everything on a risky alliance with an old enemy: the talented but unstable eunuch general Ouyang, who has already sacrificed everything for a chance at revenge on his father’s killer, the Great Khan.

Unbeknownst to the southerners, a new contender is even closer to the throne. The scorned scholar Wang Baoxiang has maneuvered his way into the capital, and his lethal court games threaten to bring the empire to its knees. For Baoxiang also desires revenge: to become the most degenerate Great Khan in history—and in so doing, make a mockery of every value his Mongol warrior family loved more than him.

All the contenders are determined to do whatever it takes to win. But when desire is the size of the world, the price could be too much for even the most ruthless heart to bear…

I was absolutely thrilled to get approved for the audiobook, especially after realizing that Natalie Naudus is the narrator for it. She was the perfect choice for this, voicing a range of characters and navigating the Chinese terms wonderfully.

Before jumping into this, I had to quickly reread the audio version of the last book so that I could refresh myself on what was going on, since this is a fairly complex story. The plot only got more complex in this book, between the battles, the shifting alliances, and the different factions vying for power. I will say that I struggled to fully follow this as an audiobook, and realized pretty quickly that this would have worked better as a physical or ebook read for me. However, I just listened to certain segments twice if I got lost, and was able to follow along well enough.

There was so much growth that happened for Zhu over the course of this book. While she struggled with setbacks, she also continued to bring her creative and out-of-the-box solutions to any issues that came up. I loved watching her come to terms with what her own gender identity is, and how it defines her, considering that she lives her life outwardly as a man with very few knowing her secret. She’s forced to live her life as a man so that she can achieve what she views as her destiny.

Perspectives shift between Zhu, Madam Zhang, and Wang Baoxiang, and while their goal is the same, their motivations are shockingly different. Madam Zhang is working to consolidate power on behalf of her husband, while Wang Baoxiang is working to take his revenge on his Mongol family.

The story was fast-paced and kept my interest engaged from start to finish. There were battles and emotional moments, intrigue and romance, revenge and family dysfunction throughout the story, and it was absolutely thrilling. I couldn’t drag my attention away from this book, and it was addictive. While I’m sad that this duology is over, I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next from the brilliant mind of Parker-Chan.