She Who Became the Sun

She'll change the world to survive her fate . . . In Mongol-occupied imperial China, a peasant girl refuses her fate of an early death. Stealing her dead brother's identity to survive, she rises from monk to soldier, then to rebel commander.

Zhu's pursuing the destiny her brother somehow failed to attain: greatness. But all the while, she feels Heaven is watching. Can anyone fool Heaven indefinitely, escaping what's written in the stars? Or can Zhu claim her own future, burn all the rules and rise as high as she can dream?

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan is a re-imagining of the rise to power of Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu was the peasant rebel who expelled the Mongols, unified China under native rule, and became the founding Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.