I was promised fantasy, but it was 99% historical fiction and 1% fantasy. If this was labeled correctly, I could've at least set some reasonable expectations. (That is, not requesting the arc in the first place and reading the published version instead.) It is what it is.

The first paragraph where the FMC talks about her overwhelming beauty didn't draw me in at all. It pretty much did the exact opposite and set my mood for the rest of the novel.

I didn't find any of the characters compelling. I didn't care for the romance between Xishi and Fanli. I love femme fatale stories, but this was written in such a flat manner that I couldn't bring myself to care about Xishi's training, character development, relationship with the king, or any of the political ploys.

Two stars for the ending though. That little bit of fantasy was like an oasis after a long trek in the desert.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this arc.

A Song to Drown Rivers draws on the story of the Four Beauties from Ancient China, specifically the story of Xishi, a beautiful young woman from the Yue Kingdom who entered the court of the Wu Kingdom as a concubine in order to pull down the Wu from within. Thanks to my more American than Chinese upbringing, I was unfamiliar with this story, but was delighted my reading experience made me feel like I was watching an historical Chinese drama. Mostly. This was, unfortunately, not smooth sailing for me. It’s a more or less faithful retelling of the story, but I felt like threads were constantly dropped and lost, and time jumps felt awkward.

Xishi is probably the most beautiful girl in the Yue Kingdom, but lives modestly in a small village helping her mother wash silk. Her life is upended when Fanli, one of King Goujian’s ministers, comes looking for the most beautiful woman to send to the conquering Wu Kingdom as a tribute, but actually as a spy from within. Along with her friend Zhengdan, another beauty from the village who will serve as her palace lady, Xishi trains under Fanli to seduce Fuchai, the Wu Kingdom’s king. But the Wu Kingdom is distrustful, especially a minister who was faithful to Fuchai’s father, creating obstacles in Xishi’s path at every turn. In a court full of vipers, Xishi and Zhengdan must tread carefully in order to be successful in their mission in bringing down the Wu Kingdom, and stay alive while doing it.

A Song to Drown Rivers and I started off so well. I loved how it reminded me of the historical Chinese dramas I watched a couple of years ago, scratching an itch I didn’t know I had. Even though the descriptions generally proved to be sparser than I’m accustomed to in a fantasy novel, I felt the world came alive in my mind thanks to the knowledge I went into the novel with. It was so much fun getting to know the more reserved Xishi and her more outgoing friend Zhengdan and the extremely serious Fanli, but things started slowly going downhill once the girls reached the Wu Kingdom. After an extended training sequence under Fanli’s careful tutelage, the story then takes place over a two year span, and some of the story threads just felt a little off. The ending, too, was frustrating. The last chapter read more like an extended epilogue I didn’t need, and I felt like a second book could have been a good option to really close out the story of Xishi and Fanli, but, instead, it seemed like some really exciting things happened, but, due to circumstances, the reader doesn’t get to know any of it.

I did like Xishi, though, and I liked the subtle, soft romance between her and Fanli. Xishi may just be a village girl, but she was brought up well, even if her childhood came with the trauma of witnessing her younger sister’s death at the hands of a Wu soldier, and carried herself well throughout the novel. She’s smart and always does what her mission demands, even if a part of her fights it. I really liked her poise and determination, but I wish her personal stake in it, wanting to avenge her sister’s death, had played a bigger role. Her romance with Fanli was sweet and soft, though I was sometimes a little frustrated with how often Xishi longed for him those two years she spent in the Wu court. Their devotion to each other, though, was lovely, and a part of my heart ached for them, especially at the end.

As Xishi’s story, I felt like A Song to Drown Rivers cut out more story than I would have liked. There were so many interesting characters, and hints at court intrigue, and the reader just doesn’t really get to see any of it because only Xishi is telling the story. If Xishi doesn’t do or hear of anything, the reader doesn’t as well, and sometimes I was left frustrated because someone else was doing something more interesting than she was. It also made me feel like threads were picked up only to be dropped because the characters they dealt with had no place in much of Xishi’s story. That was a little disappointing because Xishi spent two years in the Wu Kingdom, but it’s really probably half of the book, if that, that covers her time there. Her training, which was just a matter of weeks, felt overly long, though I understand it was probably to develop that strong emotional bond with Fanli. I just would have loved to see more time poured into the time she spent in the Wu Kingdom.

I would have loved to get to know the minor characters a lot better. Fanli is coldly beautiful with a razor sharp mind. He never lets himself get above his mission, and I loved his devotion and dedication, as long as it didn’t imperil his values. I would have loved to see more of him, but of course he couldn’t be more involved in the story than he was, and, even then, it felt dangerous, which was actually kind of fun. I would have loved to get more of Zhengdan. She had such a fun personality. She isn’t quite as refined as Xishi, and definitely has her own vendetta. I would have loved to get more of her story because it felt like it ended kind of abruptly, and she was definitely one of my favorites. She was, unfortunately, given a bare bones characterization that could have gone somewhere and didn’t. Lady Yu, one of Fuchai’s concubines, could have had an amazing role in this story, but I felt like her thread was dropped just after being introduced and she didn’t get to reach her full potential. I wanted so much more, and especially would have liked to see her, Xishi, and Fuchai all together, but this was just a huge letdown. Fuchai himself was an interesting character. He came off more spoiled than evil, and I ended up feeling sorry for him because I didn’t feel like he really deserved everything that happened to him, just some of it.

The thing that bothered me the most, though, was how the prose and the dialogue felt like a mismatch to me. I know a part of me kept thinking the characters were going to open their mouths and start talking in Mandarin (which would be absolutely ridiculous in a novel), but there just wasn’t anything even remotely pretty about the way they spoke. While the descriptions and general storytelling felt beautiful, like a lovely Chinese painting, the speech made me flinch with how plain and more American it felt. Maybe this is just me, but it really bothered me throughout the novel. Xishi’s inner thoughts felt more eloquently expressed than her speech did.

But A Song to Drown Rivers did manage to entertain me. I enjoyed reading this novel, and was often surprised at how quickly I flew through it. The pacing felt a little off, and the time jump in the middle of Xishi’s time in the Wu Kingdom was a little awkward, but I enjoyed the story. It’s much more straightforward than the Chinese dramas I’m used to watching, which was a nice change of pace for me. Still, there were things that bothered me, and I really hated the ending. Overall, the story didn’t feel quite as smooth as I would have liked, but I enjoyed this Ancient Chinese-inspired novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thanks to St Martin’s Press for gifted access via NetGalley. All opinions below are my own.

A beautiful young girl is convinced to become the concubine of the enemy king with the goal of being a spy for the rebellion. She must transform herself into an enticing temptation even though she has lived a hard life torn by war. She falls for the man coaching her through the process but they must focus on the mission. She gets closer and closer to the king with a chance to take him down and lose it all in the process.

I loved the ending of this one. It was very unexpected. The rest was your standard fantasy love triangle with a strong base in history. The underlying theme of personal desires versus the need to sacrifice for your country, your beliefs and the hope of a better world was so on target.

Unfortunately this book was just not for me, it was way too instant lovey for me, it had so much potential tho

unfortunatly this was too ya for me to get into, but im above the ya age range so take this review with a grain of salt

Ann Liang’s A Song to Drown Rivers is a richly told story with the emotional depth I often find lacking these days. This Chinese fantasy inspired by the Legend of Xishi features all the themes to pull on your emotions: love, sacrifice, and resilience. The main characters, Xishi and Fanli, are well-crafted. Xishi’s struggles and aspirations amid a war-torn setting had all the makings of my favorite historical fantasy dramas I love to watch. Liang’s prose is beautiful and gut-wrenching. I was invested from start to finish.

I have many thoughts on this book..

The story follows Xishi, who is so beautiful that she gets recruited by the military to seduce the enemy king currently in power and then help overthrow him. She gets trained by the military prodigy Fanli, who she falls in love with, before going to the castle and carrying out the plan.

The good -
The writing could be eloquent and beautiful at times, and the story was entertaining and flowed easily.

The not-so-goods -
I never really connected to any of the characters. None of them seemed really developed, and I honestly didn’t care what happened to any of them. Also, the romance - It seemed like insta-love and I never really felt their connection. Again, just didn’t care about their relationship at all, and when I can’t emotionally connect to a book, I’m probably not going to like it that much.
I also thought the world was very vague and nothing was ever really explained - we know the central political conflict, but nothing else. Also, I thought this would be a fantasy but I guess not because there were no fantasy elements at all.

I was really excited for this, so I’m disappointed I didn’t like it that much. It was definitely not bad, just had a lot of parts that fell flat.

Thank you netgalley and St. Martins press for the arc! I have loved Ann’s other books and knew that when she went into fantasy I wanted to give it a try. And it didn’t disappoint. At the beginning though I didn’t totally understand what was going on because he names kept confusing me, but once I knew what was going on after the first 15, I flew through the rest of it. The creatures and other fantastical elements were crazy. Sushi is such a strong character and has to go through the unimaginable. She is sent off to marry the ruler of Wu and is trained by Fanli. The political intrigue was unexpected and had me guessing till the very last page. Even at the end I was stuck in shock because I have to assume that this can’t be the end because I still have questions. Definitely read this book if you want something crazy and unique.

4/5⭐️

Rating rounded from 3.5 stars.

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang is a beautifully written novel inspired by the legend of Xishi. It is about the cost of war, the dangers of beauty, and what it takes to bring a nation -- and a king -- to it's knees.

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about just how much I enjoyed the writing of this novel. Ann Liang has a beautiful style, and the prose had me captivated from the very start. As someone who was unfamiliar with the legend of Xishi, I also found the story's premise quite intriguing. That being said, there are three main things that I did not like: the romance, the pacing, and the marketing.

For the marketing: This book was not in the least what I expected, because it was sold to me as a fantasy romance... which I do not agree with. It is not romantasy. It is historical fiction. Marketing this book as romantasy in any capacity is setting it up for failure -- especially in an age now where romantasy has been so clearly (re?)defined by series like ACOTAR and Fourth Wing. Again, this is a beautiful book, but it is a beautiful historical fiction novel.

That being said, the romance was a miss for me. Don't get me wrong, the longing is written so phenomenally, but I just... didn't care. Fanli is the main love interest, but he appears in like... 15% of the book? I'm not sure how I am supposed to develop an attachment for the connection between Fanli and Xishi when we don't even see much interaction between them.

Finally, I just felt that the pacing was off. I don't usually say this, but this book could have benefited from being longer. It felt like the ending was rushed, with most of the climactic events happening within the last 50 pages. I was left wanting more!

Overall, I did really enjoy the book. Ann Liang won me over with her writing style, and I look forward to reading more of her novels in the future.

4.75 stars A story about one of the Four Great Beauties of China caught my attention. If one is a fan of C Dramas A Song to Drown Rivers is going to make you very happy. As a fan myself, this read like a movie playing in one's head. You could see what was happening and understood what was going on even off-stage. The ending was tragically beautiful and I would recommend this to anyone who wants a bit of history and fantasy.

love this author so much, it was interesting that she took a full dive into fantasy but i think i just enjoy her magical realism more

I was surprised by how much I loved A Song to Drown Rivers Quietly. It was beautiful, delicate and brutal. There are indications that it will be bleak, but it still hits pretty hard.

Xishi is so pick-me I could cry, if I gave more than -5 shits about this book. Her ill health is mentioned at the beginning of the book, Violet Sorrengail-style, and then not again until the very end.

Fanli is supposed to be an emotionally repressed, but beautiful sadboi you're supposed to fall for, and obviously Xishi does, but he was so boring I just didn't care.

Xishi, uneducated country girl that washes raw silk for a living, can now describe poetry. Can we collectively vomit?

"Wisps of clouds moving over a full moon. The silence of solitude. An empty room, dust motes floating in a slant of pale sunlight. Regret for something you cannot take back. Happiness for somebody you cannot have."


Even more unbelievable than all that, we're supposed to believe that in ten weeks, Xishi, yes, that same uneducated country girl, can be trained enough to become a rival king's prized concubine, and use her wiles to seduce him and dismantle his country from the inside out.

The evil king everyone keeps complaining about seems less evil and just sad. Fuchai amuses in a way that Fanli never could. I'm not one for love triangles, but this could've made things interesting. Things remain uninteresting.

Then there's a time skip. Those always go well. We're supposed to believe that in all this time, Fuchai's obsession with Xishi grows, even as she never sleeps with him. Truly, have you met a man? How long do you think he could possibly last?

I'm diverging, as I nearly always do. I'm not a doctor, and my soy allergy may make me biased, but please explain this? It doesn't seem sanitary?

I tipped a few drops of soy sauce onto his wound and rubbed it in, then bandaged it up carefully.


Well, since we're diverging. This made me laugh. Most Americans will keep this dog and ruin entire relationships over it. r/TalesFromTheDogHouse

"And no owner will keep a dog that tries to bite them, time and time again."


+1 for Fuchai, the only interesting character in this book
+1 for nobody having jade green eyes

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press

First off, I was sent this book from NetGalley and publishers.

I normally get sent romance fantasy, and while I read the synopsis I was not prepared wholly for what I got into when reading this. I have been utterly heartbroken.

I have not had a book wrench my stomach like this.. in a long time.

This is a romantic tragedy to the fullest extent, NOT a romantasy. It had me questioning who was right? Who was wrong? Is all of this necessary? Is this truly for the greater cause?

I was a jumble of emotions, and cried on three separate occasions, from MY BELLY. SOBBING.

There’s intense pining/longing, vivid imagery, and poetic prose.

It reads on the slower side, so I can see some people getting bored if they’re not into the slower poetic prose.

As the reader, I could have never guessed the ending.

My review will not do this book justice, it was truly beautiful and heart wrenching.

Thank you, NetGalley and publisher for sending me this e-arc. As always, all opinions are my own.

"A Song to Drown Rivers" was an interesting and enjoyable story. Xishi makes a great protagonist. She is a woman of uncommon beauty, but she is also humble about her beauty. She does not take advantage of her beauty to make her life easier or to avoid unpleasant tasks. When presented with the opportunity to use her beauty as a weapon to help the Yue Kingdom take revenge on the Wu Kingdom, whose recent invasion had brought devastation on the Yue Kingdom, with the deaths of many innocents, including Xishi's young sister, Xishi is reluctant, not believing herself up to the task -- which involves becomes the concubine and possibly bride of King Fuchai of the Wu Kingdom. However, she also feels an obligation to take on this role. Xishi will undergo extensive training for the role. When she finally takes her place in King Fuchai's palace, she finds her mission both easier and harder than expected. The king's top advisers are wary of her, and it takes a while for Xishi to gain King Fuchai's attention and trust; she cannot seem too eager or succumb to his advances too easily or he will grow bored of her, but she cannot delay so long that she loses his interest that way either. In many ways, King Fuchai is the tyrant that Xishi expected. But Xishi is able to connect with him in a way that shows a hidden gentleness and almost child-like innocence to him. This will complicate the task of betraying him. In the end, Xishi's beauty will prove to be both a great asset and a great curse.

I thought this story was beautifully told, but I can't lie; the ending ruined it for me. I won't spoil anything, but after everything *someone* went through, why did that have to happen? Devastating. I had to deduct a star for that alone. I read too many happy ever afters to endure that. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC. I was drawn to the description of this book and wanted very much to love it. The story had so much potential but I don’t feel it fully delivered. I wanted more of Xishi and Fanli - I could appreciate the longing and pining but felt like they didn’t get enough page time together. Many things were easily skipped over - Xishi’s initial training, year long timeline jumps later on in the story, what exactly was she doing while waiting for a palace to be built? I am also still confused about the extent of Xishi and Fuchai’s relationship despite finishing the story. While I appreciate that the author was trying to portray a softer side to Fuchai, we are left with a limited picture of his brutality and why exactly he should be hated. Overall, I would rate it 3/5 stars.

Thank you Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review. This book had a lot of potential! I loved the writing and the characters. The intrigue of the story was so good and I loved it. Xishi is a great main character and she grows a lot throughout the story. Unfortunately the romance in the end fell very flat for me. I didn’t really feel chemistry? Like there was more chemistry between her and the king than her and the main love interest which I was confused by. The pacing was a bit off and everything at the end happened very fast. The ending was….. well read it for yourself to find out. I always try and keep spoiler free reviews. I’m just sad this didn’t live up to my expectations ☹️ Now I will continue to read all of Ann Liang’s books because I love her and this time it’s real is adorable.

A Song to Drown Rivers was a tragic tale inspired by the Chinese legend of Xishi which had me somber, yet satisfied by the end of the story.

Xishi (pronounced closer to “shisur”) is known for her striking beauty, but doesn’t feel adequate for much besides making silk or being married to a man she doesn’t like, neither she wishes to do. She also carries pain from her illness and losing her younger sister years earlier. When she crosses paths with a military advisor, everything changes as she’s pulled into a dangerous mission to change the tide of the war. I did appreciate that Xishi used her smarts in order to get things done, as she was not the most physically fit. It was a breath of fresh air in a sense. People do underestimate her, but she gets it done, though she doesn’t have her doubts, so she’s not invincible, no, far from it. Yet in the midst of all of this, she dwells on the consequences of her acts. A well developed character in my eyes.

I also loved our secondary characters. Zhengdan, Xishi’s childhood friend and companion, was probably my favorite for her fierce attitude toward everything and not liking society’s restrictions. Nearly all of our characters, even the antagonists, are compelling, fleshed out with their own motivations. While there was a love triangle, it was done in a way that didn’t bother me, and loved how it was resolved.

The description of the lands was amazing and immersive, and I felt like I was right in the middle of each location. Also, while this is a fantasy, there’s not too much magical aspects until much later. This prose was lyrical, emotional, and breath taking throughout, and not overdone, as it transported me to this war-torn land inspired by ancient China.

The themes are probably what makes this the most tragic. it deconstructs war into it’s more horrible consequences, examines world leaders’ nobility, and womanhood as well as gender roles are explored. Sacrifice is also common throughout. Each are elaborated with care as the story continues. I have to say, the final chapters were emotionally gutting to me.

Check this one out if you don’t mind a beautiful tragedy to your Chinese-inspired fantasy tales.

Thank you to @netgalley and @Stmartinspress for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to @macmillian.audio for a free download of the audiobook.

Book Review:
I recently finished “A Song to Drown Rivers” by Ann Liang, and it was a delightful read! The plot is intriguing and kept me engaged throughout. The characters are well-crafted and relatable, making it easy to get invested in their stories. Ann Liang’s writing style is smooth and captivating, which made the book hard to put down. There were a few slow moments, but overall, it was a very enjoyable experience. If you’re looking for a fresh and unique story, this book is definitely worth picking up!

Audiobook Review:
I listened to the audiobook version in tandem, and it was a great experience! The narrator did an excellent job bringing the characters to life with distinct voices and emotions. It added an extra layer of immersion to the story. The pacing was just right, making it easy to follow along. There were a couple of instances where the narration felt a bit rushed, but it didn’t detract from the overall enjoyment. If you enjoy audiobooks, this one is definitely worth a listen!

4 stars

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