Thank you to NetGalley the publisher and author for an Arc of this book for my honest review.

I didn’t know what to expect from A Song to drown Rivers except that it was labeled a romantasy or in some places an epic fantasy. I think due to the labeling I really expected to see some fantasy which besides a minor ghost feature for basically 0.05% of the book there was no fantasy. There were a couple of mentions of a disease in the book which I thought was going to lead to the fantasy but didn’t and honesty I couldn’t tell what the tie in was.

While I read this very very quickly I think for true romantasy and fantasy readers this will not appeal to them but for fans of the author may lead to some like. I haven’t ever read her before so was in it for the fantasy.

This book was really sad so took me a bit to write my review because I needed to process if my dislike was due to the sadness or what exactly kept me from loving it.

The author did a great job of holding my attention and I think developing a passion for some of the characters.

Overall the book fell a little short for me but could see how others would love it.

This book was a gorgeous expression of longing, This was an epic historical fantasy with really great character development. There were political machinations, "spy-craft", and slow-burn romance, all with great storytelling and pace. The ending was devastating yet beautiful and hopeful,

Xishi is a small town girl. She known for her incredible beauty. Fanli is a renowned warrior who works directly for the king. He must find a way to stop their enemies. Fanli finds Xishi and trains her to be the ultimate weapon. Will their plan succeed? What will the cost be?

This is a tough story to review because I don’t want to give away any critical details and I have mixed feelings about the events in the story. So first my issues, using a young, innocent woman as a weapon. I have seen it done in a way that I enjoyed the story and in a way that I hated it. In this book I was torn in my reaction. In some ways she is the best weapon ever created but the cost of her being chosen are too much. I understand the author is giving a clear message about war and it’s costs but this book left me without a hero or clear bad guy. It’s all just grey. That being said, I think that is exactly what the author was trying to do. This is a book set in the past in a cultural setting that I don’t fully understand so it’s very possible that my reaction stems from that.

Now to the details. Fanli trains Xishi to be a concubine. She turns out to be not only very beautiful but also incredibly intelligent. What she isn’t is conniving. She feels every lie she must tell to complete her assignment. Because of her experiences, she changes a lot as a character. I don’t know what type of person she was at the end but she was no longer the small town girl at the beginning. Fanli is depicted as cold and methodical at the beginning and that is true throughout. The author shows his humanity in small ways throughout the story. He made me feel very sad at the end. It felt like he had finally learned what was really important but it was too late. There are lots of other characters. Fuchai is a man not yet ready to be king and he knows it but he is king anyway. Of all the characters, I felt most bad for him. He is used and abused by everyone so all he knows if how to treat people that way. By the end, I didn’t even care that he was the enemy because absolutely no one wins in this story because it’s all about war and it’s consequences.

I am going to rate this book based not on whether I liked the story or not but on the quality of the writing. I think the author accomplished creating a world and characters that created emotions in the reader. Will I read more from this author in the future? I’m not sure at this point. It will depend on the book description.

This is a captivating historical fantasy inspired by the legend of Xishi. The story follows Xishi, whose beauty becomes a weapon to infiltrate the enemy court and avenge her sister’s death. Trained by the brilliant strategist Fanli, Xishi faces the dangerous task of seducing the King of Wu while grappling with her growing feelings for Fanli. Liang’s writing is beautifully evocative, weaving together love, sacrifice, and loyalty themes. The characters are complex, and the twists keep you on edge, especially as Xishi’s mission becomes increasingly dangerous. This book is a powerful, emotional journey, blending political intrigue and heartbreak, perfect for those who love myth-inspired historical fiction.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, for this ARC copy. I am so grateful to have had the chance to read this book.

Oh my goodness, this quickly became one of my top reads of the year. The only reason I gave it 4 stars inches of 5 is because I wish the ending had been somewhat happier, and I felt like it was a little bit fast-paced and wish we had more of the actual training and time together before she went to the King.

This book was so beautifully written, I couldn’t find a single fault with it. Usually I find something little that bugs me about the writing - choppy sentences, weird descriptions, using certain words to describe things - but this book was absolute perfection.

I quickly became hooked on the story and found that I couldn’t put it down. I typically fall asleep before 10 pm because I’m up very early in the morning, but this book kept me reading until almost midnight every night. I quite literally fell asleep with the book in my hands because I couldn’t put it down.

The story was so wonderful, and I loved the characters. I wish we had gotten more of the training, and more time with certain characters. I do feel like it was a little bit fast paced because there were some time jumps. But I truly loved every bit of this book, and ended up buying a physical copy so I can read it over and over, and make my sisters read it too,

I definitely want to read more by this author. Her writing and storytelling captured me so completely, it brought me out of a weeks-long book slump.

I have a love/hate relationship with this book. The writing was beautiful. But the characters, the supporting characters the romance everything fell flat for me. Idk maybe this just wasn't for me. But I'll still recommend this book because I know a lot of people will enjoy.

“I promise… As soon as this ends, I’ll come find you, and we’ll sail the world together and live somewhere far from here, someplace we can be truly alone. And if my promise breaks…. Then let me suffer for as long as I live.”

Thank you @macmillan.audio for the gifted ALC!

Meet one of my favorite books of the year. This one blew me away.

Ann Liang’s writing is gorgeous and lush. The tension and longing she writes into Xishi’s story made my heart ache. And while I wasn’t familiar with the legend of Xishi, I just had a feeling that this one was going to wreck me…. And it did. I’m still not emotionally recovered.

A SONG TO DROWN RIVERS is set in ancient China with two warring kingdoms. Xishi is recruited to become a concubine for the enemy’s king and also the spy who will hopefully lead to his ruination. While Xishi and Fanli have major forbidden love vibes, Xishi and Fuchi have “I’m going to destroy you” and “I’ll let you” vibes.

While this one is being marketed as a fantasy, there aren’t really any magical elements to it but there is the tiniest bit of the paranormal (kind of). That’s all I’ll say without giving anything away.
If you love tragic love stories, spy stories and books with beautiful writing, pick this one up!

A SONG TO DROWN RIVERS is out now!

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6210005339
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DAqs2FnPGvt/?img_index=1

4.5 stars
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.
It's not usually my type of book but I absolutely devoured it. The vibe was really enjoyable and the imaginery was gorgeous. Some of the scenes were so easy to see in my head and they were beautiful.
The writing style of the author was also amazing.

I loved the characters, even the background ones that we didn't see at lot. Xishi is absolutely my favorite. She was using what she had for what she needed to do very well. I wish we could have seen Fanli more. He was great but I just wished we had 10 to 15 pages additional to understand their relationship and feel as deeply as the characters but fortunately, their little moments were very adorable and made me swoon.
I felt very bad for the other main character. I wish that we could have seen more of his supposed cruelty because it didn't really feel this way. I only felt his loneliness which was a bit heartbreaking with what happen at the end.

Thank you again for the ARC. I can't wait to buy the book to read it again !

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang

“Before the journey down the rivers, before the king’s blood stained my hands, before the kingdom fell. When everything still felt like a story, a romantic myth. When we were together and the air was warm and nothing hurt.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First off, thank you @stmartinspress for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Song to Drown Rivers is a stand alone epic fantasy, inspired by the legend of Xishi, one of the famous Four Beauties of Ancient China.

I thoroughly enjoyed the aspects of this legend that were woven into the story and thought that Liang did a fantastic job. If you have been here a while you know that I love folk story retellings. While this is just inspired by the legend, and not a full retelling, I do think Liang did a great job of paying homage to Xishi while also making the story her own.

One of my favourite parts of the novel was experiencing the character development of Xishi while she navigated a difficult situation that creates a battle between complex emotions and morals. And the concept of pure “good” vs “evil” that arises from that exploration.

I would have liked a little bit more in regard to world and political building but I do think a lot of people would enjoy the balance that is portrayed in the book.

Now for my feelings on the ending. They are…complicated. I actually really loved how the book ended but felt it dragged on way too long. Without giving too much away, I think it should have been cut at a certain point with a one page epilogue outlining the very last scenario we were given. This would have made the ending more impactful, instead of dragging. But that’s just my opinion.

Over all, I think this is a great read for those who enjoy epic fantasy “light”. Where there is a dash of world building and political intrigue, but it is simple and easy to grasp.

📘: A Song to Drown Rivers- a standalone

✍️ By: Ann Liang-new to me author

eBook 327 pages

🗓️ Publication Date: 10-1-24 | Read: 10-9-24

Genre: Historical Fantasy/Fic, Romance, Mythology

Tropes: slow burn, Chinese lore, military/political intrigue

🙏🏾 Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Ann Liang for this ARC💛! I voluntarily give my honest review, and all opinions expressed are my own.

🌏Setting: Kingdoms of Yue and Wu

⚠️ TW: misogyny, death of sibling-h, grief, beating-H

POV: 1st person, single

💭 Summary 💭: Xishi is a renowned beauty in her village found by military advisor Fanli to save their Yue kingdom. He offers to train her to betray and avenge the enemy Wu kingdom by becoming King Fuchai's concubine. Along with Xishi another village girl, Zhengdan, will become a palace lady and protect Xishi in her duty.

🚺Heroine: Xishi- 20, a beautiful Yue village girl tasked w/ infiltrating the Wu kingdom as a spy posing as the King's new concubine.

🚺 Hero-Fanli-22, a military advisor to King Goujian of Yue who enlists Xishi to save their kingdom. He offers to train her to conceal her emotions, fight with swords, and seduce the Wu King.

🎭Side Characters

-Zhengdan- beautiful village girl from Yue who agrees to become a palace lady rather than marry an old man her mother arranged for her. She protects Xishi when they arrive at Wu. Self-taught in sword play. Her father was killed by Wu General Ma.

-King Fuchai- ruler of Wu

-King Goujian-ruler of Yue

-Wu Zixu-minister to King Fuchai

-General Ma-killed Zhengdan's father, cruel

-Susu-Xishi's little sister killed by a Wu soldier.

-Luyi-a guard Fanli met when he was 15 and trained in combat.


🤔 My Thoughts: Xishi was a strong heroine I rooted for. Her and Fanli pined for each other but chose duty over their love. I enjoyed the morally grey "bad guy" who didn't behavior as harsh as Xishi thought. He treated Xishi with respect even allowed her to listen in on military strategy meetings. Fanli suffered at King Fuchai's hands by being beaten, stabbed, and tortured emotionally.


😭: Emotion 4/5
❤️: Couple 4/5
⭐️: Rating 4/5

A Song to Drown Rivers is a standalone story inspired by the legend of Xishi, one of the famous Four Beauties of Ancient China. Xishi is an exceptional beauty who is plucked from her village and trained by the advisor to the king. She is then sent into a neighboring kingdom with the mission to bring them down from the inside.

I feel as though this is a book that was mismarketed. That is part of the reason for why I didn't like this one as much as I hoped, but this is also an example of a book I should have DNFd. I was probably sitting at a 3 or 3.5 until the end. I was hopeful that it would get better, but overall, it just really killed this one for me.

So to start with the mismarketing. This one is marketed as a romantasy, and it has very little romance and even less fantastical elements. It really read like historical fiction with the names of the kingdoms changed. The writing was very flowery and pretty. There were moments that I think I would have really reveled in the descriptions, but I feel like the audiobook did not do those moments justice. And I love the idea of this story. It's a fascinating premise, but I just didn't love the execution.

I was intrigued to see where it was going to go, and I continued to turn the pages. For the majority of the book, I was thinking that it wasn't bad, but that I also wasn't loving it. The characters all read very flat and two dimensional. And the biggest issue for me was that we were told things and then shown something very different. There were so many moments when I was smacking my forehead and yelling at the audiobook because Xishi was doing something so painfully stupid. And we are told that she was turned into this fantastic tactician who is so cunning and wily and smart. And then all I saw over and over again after the 20-30% mark was that she was making really dumb decisions and mistakes. I am not going to go into them all for the sake of spoilers, but I was super irritated by some of them. There were moments when she would think to herself "oh, I'll have to be careful because this could be bad in the future" and then completely forget about it and be shocked when it came back around.

I think that part of the reason the characters felt so thin though was the way that the plot moved along. I think we covered probably 5ish years in the span of the book. However, there are big time jumps that aren't really called out. So it's hard to say. But basically we are just sort of told a lot of things that have happened and get to see very little, considering how much time passes.

The other big issue for me is the "romance." She spends 10 weeks with this super handsome advisor and falls completely and madly in love with him, and then proceeds to mourn him for the next 5 years. There was never anything between them but attraction - nothing happened, and no words were exchanged on the subject. It was super unbelievable to me. Especially considering her relationship with the Wu king. Supposedly there also was nothing physical really that ever happened there, but she manipulated him into falling in love with her, all while remaining completely aloof. I felt like it was always going to take a turn into enemies to lovers territory or that there would be some sort of a love triangle, but no. It felt icky to me because I feel like his personality and past and motivations were the most well-developed (even though they were still pretty flat), and I didn't like that he was being manipulated into ruin the whole time.

And then the ending happened, and I just could not deal with it. All the pieces that irked me in the first 80% were really amplified in the last 20%. All the characters were making terribly stupid decisions, Xishi and Fanli making some of the worst ones. And the end was supposed to be tragic and beautiful, but I was just so frustrated with how all these people I was told were the most intelligent ever were handling things that I couldn't bring myself to care. I also kept waiting for some of the themes to be explored further. It felt like we were picking up the idea of good and evil in war, the experience of the kingdom versus that of the kings, womanhood and how that was viewed, and some others, but we never really did more than scratch the surface. And the fantastical element only showed up at the very end.

I ranted about this one to my husband for a while, and I could go on, but I don't want to go into spoilers. And overall, this just confirmed for me that I should have trusted my gut and DNFd it. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an early copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.75 stars

Based on the legend of Xishi, A Song to Drown Rivers explores war, romance, and womanhood. I am not familiar with Xishi's legend, so this was all new for me! Initially I was unsure if this book was for me, but I'm glad I stuck with it. I think Liang's writing is beautiful - she has incredible prose and really can describe emotions and feelings in such unique ways, and was definitely what I enjoyed the most about this book. I wish we could have spent more time on the page exploring Fanli and Xishi's relationship, it would have made a lot of the tension throughout the rest of the book hit a LOT harder and would have propelled this into a fantastic book for me!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I could not put this down. I was engrossed throughout the whole book and then THAT ENDING happened!!! I was not expecting that and not prepared for it. You can call this beautifully tragic!

*thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an eARC of this book in exchange for my review*

This heartbreaking tale of beauty and devastation enchanted me from page one and had me hanging onto every detail all the way through. Ann Liang has woven a historical fantasy so morally grey and tragic that you might never recover from its terror and wonder.

She claimed it was like a c-drama, and she delivered. This book reads like a tv series with all the intrigue and twists to keep you going from chapter to chapter. And now that it’s over, my heart is broken. What a triumph. This book will wreck you in the best way. All good war stories always do.

Reading this book, I felt so torn, and I can’t imagine how Xishi felt as she had to face her task. In a war like this one, it really is hard to say who is right and who is wrong when both sides have hurt so many and been so brutal. She had to make her choice, and I experienced SO many feelings about it.

This is not my first Asian historical war fantasy of the year, but it is most certainly the best.

A Song to Drown Rivers tells the story of Xishi, one of the Four Great Beauties of China. Xishi lives in a Yue village with her parents where she is discovered by Fanli, a great military advisor to the Yue King Goujian. Known for her beauty, Xishi is recruited along with her friend to train to behave as noblewomen and infiltrate the enemy Wu Kingdom. Xishi's job is to distract the Wu King Fuchai from his duties and help Fanli and King Goujian invade the Wu Kingdom to take it back for their people. Xishi will have to contend with members of the court being distrustful of her, making it difficult for her to get close to the king, hiding her true purposes in the Wu Kingdom, and dealing with her growing feelings for Fanli.

The writing style of this book was really beautiful and lyrical, which made it a quick read. However, it felt like the writing also kept the characters at a distance a bit. This might be in part due to the fact that Xishi and Fanli are away from each other for much of the book, so it is a bit difficult to understand their connection to each other. I was also a bit confused by the way that this book is being marketed as a fantasy book when there really isn't any fantasy elements to it, unless they were so subtle that I missed them. As a historical fiction book, I found the story and the conflict interesting, I'm just not certain that it is a fantasy novel. I would recommend this to people who enjoy beautifully written historical fiction.

A Song to Drown Rivers takes a story you might think you know - a beautiful woman sent in as a spy - and portrays a story of love, sacrifice, and war. It's a story that touches upon, and begins conversations, about the 'casualties' of war. The innocent lives, civilians, that hang in the balance that rulers and kings never think about. The dehumanization, and perceived monstrosity, of our enemies which, as shadows, all look the same. A Song to Drown Rivers is also a story about love struggling to remain beating despite all the odds against them.

I have mixed feelings about this one. There were some aspects I liked a lot and some aspects that I didn’t care for at all. Also, in case nobody warns you, this book is a tragedy. I would place this novel as a historical fiction novel than a fantasy as there’s no magic or anything fantastical about it at all. And I’m mad about the ending. Big mad. Anyway thanks to NetGalley for early ARC access.

Unfortunately, I did not finish this book. I do plan to try again in the future, but it may not have been the right book for me, and that’s okay! I thought Ann Liang’s writing was very descriptive, allowing me to see each scene, it felt like there was almost too much description for me. I felt like I was getting bogged down in the details instead of enjoying the flow of the story. I can see where others would absolutely love this story and from the portion I did read, it would probably make a great tv show because of the added details. Unfortunately for me, it was just too many details and a bit slow.

With beautiful and evocative prose, A Song To Drown Rivers is an enthralling and tragic novel that teems with intrigue, yearning and the heartbreaking consequences of ambition and war. Peasants, women and those who simply lose favor with a king are depicted as potentially disposable and the the precarious nature of Xishi’s position as a concubine within a court that mistrusts her adds to the tension of the story. For even as she seems to win King Fuchai’s affections, there is always potential for a deadly misstep.

Present throughout most of the novel, Xishi and King Fuchai’s relationship receives much of the attention, though there are still brief moments where her longing for Fanli and his own restrained desires serve as a source of pining and even danger for the characters. As I am not very fond of love triangles, I appreciated that A Song To Drown Rivers depicts the complicated aspects of these relationships without becoming tedious.

I did find myself wishing that there were more scenes with minor characters, especially since one was given such an abrupt departure and that Xishi was able to exercise her training beyond acting elusive at times and merely requesting that Fuchai did what she wanted. I also felt that the story leaned more towards historical fiction than fantasy, but that may simply be my own impression.

But, oh, the ending! What is the reward for those who sacrifice everything? While I harbored some suspicions regarding how things might unfold, I was slightly disbelieving of what I was reading nonetheless. Days have passed and I am still contemplating it, which is a credit to its effectiveness.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for access to this ebook. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

This book absolutely wrecked me; enough said. I'm writing this almost exactly four months after I finished it, and I still remember that day vividly. It's really once in a lifetime that you're in the office on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, reading a book, all of a sudden you reach the end and you're bawling your eyes out uncontrollably. That all happened, folks, and A Song to Drown Rivers is the book that did that to me.

Have you ever wished you could read a C-drama? Well, you're in luck, because this is probably as close as you'll ever get to that experience. The imagery is so beautiful it made me want to gasp. The best books are the ones that transport you to the place and time they're set in, making you feel like you're right there with the characters, and ASTDR did exactly that. Even without music, I might add!

It's not just the setting that's astounding, the tropes and storyline had me hooked from start to end. The angst, the longing, the forbidden romance... Yes, this is a retelling, but it's so much more than that. Whether you're familiar with the legend of Xishi or not, prepare to be devastated. Another aspect of the book that drew me in was the exploration of grey. So much of the story considers the morally grey, and, when you stop to think about it the line between good and bad is extremely blurred. Who is the real villain of the story?

ASTDR is one of those books that's best experienced firsthand, rather than described, so let me conclude by saying that this a book you will end up thinking about for a long time. All it took was one sentence, and I couldn't stop reading.