15 new Fantasy and Science Fiction books to read in 2021

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan (July 20)

Set in an alternate reality China, She Who Became the Sun is being billed as a lyrically beautiful and powerful queer reimagining of the rise of the first Ming Emperor. The publisher describes it as Mulan meets Song of Achilles, which I have to admit sounds pretty awesome.

This is author Shelley Parker-Chan‘s debut book, but it’s already getting tons of great reviews and hype. Here’s the official description:

"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. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness… In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. 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. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected. When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother’s identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. 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. 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."

She Who Became the Sun is the first book in a trilogy. It’s slated for release on July 7 from Tor Books.