To set expectations: A Song to Drown Rivers is historical fiction - it's neither fantasy nor romance, and definitely not romantasy. It starts off feeling rather YA, with a teenage FMC, Xishi, who somehow manages to both learn everything a court lady would know in 10 weeks, and also fall deeply in love with the male love interest during that time. SONG captured my attention once Xishi is set up as the king's concubine, and I thought the portrayal of the king as a nuanced, morally gray character was well done. I had a lot of fun reading about Xishi and her manipulation of the king, but I do wish the romance that was there was either removed completely or given more depth; as it was, it just felt like a shallow distraction.

My first Ann Liang read. It is giving YA Jade City vibes and I am here for it.

Xishi's beauty is seen as a blessing to the villagers of Yue. Not only does she captivate them, she also so easily captivates the reader. Initially, I was a little hesitant at where things were headed as Fanli recruits Xishi for a unique opportunity to weaken the enemy palace from within. Yet the slow tension building between Fanli and Xishi has you on the edge of your seat each time the two are in proximity with one another. And please don't talk to me about the ending because my heart cannot take it.

A great read and one I highly recommend.

One note, Goodreads has this book listed under Fantasy, Romance, and Historical Fiction. I would caution the reader from assuming they have seen the limits of these genres and applying that to this read. While it is beautifully romantic in it's own way, the romance is emotional with little emphasis on the physical. While there are Fantasy and Historical Fiction notes, it comes through in storytelling rather than tangible elements. This would not deter me from reading this book. In fact, I would want to read A Song to Drown Rivers more to experience new perspectives on these genres.

This was the most beautiful, historical, star-crossed lovers story that I think I've ever read. I have genuinely been looking for a book like this for years, and I've finally found it. I am heartbroken and sobbing and desperate for Ann Liang to write more books in this genre. I love how the nuances of war were portrayed in this book. It's not always so black and white like a lot of books that center war show it being. This book kept me hooked the whole time and the characters were so fleshed out it was hard to tell this was even fiction. This book is truly a masterpiece.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

It took me 9 months to read this book, and at this point, I feel that Ann Liang is not an author for me. I couldn’t fully connect with her stories, which every time it took me out of the immersive reading experience.

Here, the fantasy aspect was noticeably lacking, and the romance was minimal and short-lived. The characters seemed superficial, and their development left me dissatisfied. One of the only things I liked was the ending, I’m a sucker for tragic and emotional conclusions, and this one delivered. I would recommend the book, but it was not for me.

4.5 Stars

This book really surprised me. I went from rolling my eyes at the beginning to sobbing by the end. I didn’t think I would have enjoyed this book because the beginning like 35% was slow. I felt the romance was a bit too rushed but man did this book change my mind as the events unraveled.

First, the cover is gorgeous. Synopsis sounded great. I didn’t know about the legend of Xishi but the concept of having this woman infiltrate the enemy kingdom and take it down from the inside sounded great. I didn’t expect to be so affected but the events or care this much about the characters. Xishi uses her beauty to take down the enemy. She has limited help and I was impressed by her abilities and cleverness. She is a great heroine to lead the charge from within. Zhengdan is a queen. She stuck out to me early on and I bow down to her loyalty and spirit. Fanli is the stoic military advisor that puts kingdom above everything else. He is loyal and doesn’t show how much he truly cares besides those stolen moments between him and Xishi. I even felt bad for Fuchai in the end. He seems like a young man with great expectations and burdens of a kingdom he never really asked for.

The synopsis really sells this book as a romance and it does have romance, just not as much as I would have expected. Yet somehow the love between Xishi and Fanli is something of legend. They have so much at stake and so much to lose but are doing what needs to be done.

This book really also illustrates how war can be so devastating. The thing is that both sides think they are in the right but they don’t see how their people are really affected. Their narrow selfish view of winning hurts way too many people and devastates lives across both kingdoms.

I’m still seriously crying a bit as I’m writing this review but this book was heartbreaking, intriguing and totally worth the read.

*Received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Xishi is beautiful and from a small village. Her sister was ruthlessly murdered as a child, and she has mourned her every day since. When Fanli, a prestigious military advisor, gives her the opportunity to use her beauty to win over the king and avenge her sister’s murder, she agrees. Fanli trains Xishi in everything she needs to know to woo the king - all Xishi needs to do is hide her growing romantic feelings and true intentions.

This book was incredible. The writing is absolutely gorgeous and I was totally engrossed in the story. It’s beautiful, heartbreaking, and just overall amazing. The forbidden love was heart wrenching and I loved that the characters were realistically complex.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the advance copies.

Read this if you love:
💙 heart wrenching love stories
💙 Chinese mythology
💙 historical fantasy

The book ripped out my heart and stomped on it. I'd like ten more, please. I've heard nothing but good things about Ann Liang though I've never read her YA contemporaries myself. When the publisher emailed about her adult debut, I was intrigued enough by the summary to give it a go.

Xishi is considered the most beautiful woman in her village and perhaps in all of Yue. A royal advisor, Fanli, offers her a dangerous proposal: he'll use her beauty as a weapon to topple the rival Wu kingdom, allowing Xishi to avenge her sister's death. Xishi agrees and travels to the enemy palace after weeks of training as a spy and temptress. She'll steal the king's heart and destroy Wu from the inside out. Xishi walks a sharp line as she charms the king while battling a dangerous attraction to Fanli.

I'll think about A Song to Drown Rivers for awhile. It started slowly, but once I got 20% in I could not put it down. Xishi's arc from a naïve girl to a master of court intrigue and manipulation compelled me to keep reading. Liang tackles themes of womanhood, war, and sacrifice with elegant prose that reels you in and will not let you go. I held my breath for the last quarter of the novel, daring myself to turn the metaphorical page in fear of what lay ahead. Like war, the ending isn't neat and tidy; there's areas of grey and it painfully explores the cost of war and revenge.

Regarding the romance, Ann Liang does yearning so well. A Song to Drown Rivers is a masterclass in tense, passionate romance without a single open door scene. If I see people calling this a romantasy, I think I'll scream. Diluting this story down to a tired marketing label will only leave folks disappointed. While it is both a romance and a fantasy novel, I'd argue that it's so much more than that. I hope this is the first of MANY Ann Liang fantasy novels; I'll be first in line to read the next one.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

My mind is still reeling from this book, a day after finishing it.

Based on the premise of A Song to Drown Rivers, the book was exactly what I was hoping it would be. When I think of the story I want where the woman uses her beauty as a weapon, this is that book.

Xishi’s journey from backwater village girl to concubine to an enemy king was excellently written, and I loved that she never let her reasons for taking on her role never wavered. I spent the entire last chapter (as well as a number of minutes after finishing the book) in tears.

I absolutely devoured this book, the storytelling kept me engrossed in the lives of Xishi, Fenli, Zhengdan, Fuchai, and others.

What really stands out is Liang’s ability to weave a seamlessly effortless tale that had my attention beginning to end. I made a comparison to the TV adaptation of Shogun, because it evoked similar emotions, and if I read this book before watching that show, I might have had a different experience. But this book was truly an experience. It’s not often a tragic or sad book makes me so happy, but here we are!

The characters were the heart of this story. Starting with Xishi as a young woman, then being trained as a concubine spy, the slow build of her connection with Fenli was the type of romance I look for the most (that ending!!!!!!!)

Zhengdan!!!!! My girl!!! Her shining moment gave me chills. Themes of sisterhood between the characters were everything. The dark history of war and death for both young women was gut wrenching. Much of the palace intrigue had me at the edge of my seat. It’s that understated drama that sneaks up on you, everyone is plotting something. It was amazing.

I will be thinking about this book for a long time and I had a wonderful time crying in the finale. Highly recommend!

I enjoyed the overall story and loved how we jumped straight into the plot. However, I felt the world building was a bit underdeveloped and would have loved more details about the world, politics, and characters. There were parts where we saw glimpses of more detail, but I would have loved to see more throughout, as I think this would have helped me to connect a bit more to the characters and storyline. Overall, I really enjoyed and would recommend to my friends and followers! Specifically to readers of The Poppy War and From Blood and Ash, as this book had similar aspects and I think fans of those series’ will love this one!

I received a copy through NetGalley for review.

Let me first say, this one doesn't have a happy ending. It's a beautifully sad tale about two people who sacrificed for their people and king, their country at the expense of themselves, their own lives and happiness, for someone who didn't value them, despite them doing everything asked of them.

Xishi was always beautiful, the kind of beauty that hurts to look at, that could topple kingdoms, alter lives, that legends are built on. She knows she must marry well, but is roughly plucked from obscurity in her small village to be trained as a spy and presented to their enemy kingdom as a bride, a royal concubine. To seduce the king, and bring the country down from within.

Chosen by Fanli, brutal warrior and minister to the king of Yue. Trained for just 10 weeks before she is sent away- they fall for each other, slowly and don't realize it until they're due to part. Each has a role to play to take down the king and country of Wu. On opposite side of the board. Fanli has to watch as she goes off to marry his biggest enemy. Knowing if they meet again, and their connection realized they may be used against one another.

Two women, both born in the same village, both beautiful are sent to Wu, one as a bride, the other as her Lady. Xishi and Zhengdan go into the tigers den together, determined to take both king and general down. Each has lost someone to the Wu, and will fight from within to undermine the kingdom.
One whose fame will undoubtedly grow larger than the King's she elevated and took down.
And as you know, a powerful woman is always a threat to men.

Xishi and Fanli do meet again, but not in this world.

Where to start... Miss Ann Liang has done it again. This was such a beautiful retelling of the original classic that comes with a twist. According to ancient Chinese mythology, there were the four great beauties of China, and our heroine in the book, Xishi, is one of them.
A Song to Drown Rivers follows Xishi has she gets plucked from her ordinary life into this elaborate political operation to take down the enemy kingdom. Her mission? To seduce the neighboring king and bring down the kingdom from within.
I really enjoyed reading the book. Ann's writing style was just so addicting to read and I got swept into the world really quickly. As you get to know Xishi's backstory better, you also better understand her motives for revenge and her emotional turmoil as she gets to know the enemy better. I thought that Xishi's character was well flushed out, but I did hope that we got more of the male leads in the book. We aren't offered much of the two male leads and their perspectives as we only see them through Xishi's eyes but it would help to have both male characters be more flushed out.
Overall, really enjoyable and such a beautiful retelling. 4.75/5 stars for me!

DNF @ 15%
Those first few pages had me so hopeful. The writing was so lovely that I found myself highlighting excerpts. Unfortunately, I was barely halfway through chapter one when I realized this was not going to work for me. I loved the idea of this story, but the further I got, the more nothingness it felt. And I think it stemmed from chapter one. While the opening is eventful, I did not care for our main character. In theory, I should’ve, but I didn’t. Poor pretty girl in a misogynistic world, great, but nothing special. I was told her sister died and her village was recently ruined by war, yet I couldn’t care less because she felt hollow. Like I could walk through her and never notice. It then wasn’t helped that the setting up the plot felt half baked. It felt more like the brain dump stage of a first draft where you put general feelings and ideas down. The stage where you’re mostly telling yourself the story before fixing it be more subtle and nuanced and engaging for readers. It didn’t feel like we reached the latter stage.
I’m very sad I couldn’t get into it because I think this author does have some very lovely prose. And the idea was cool. But I have too many other books to read that something where my eyes were already glazing over and felt like there was nothing to absorb is not worth it.
Thank you to the NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

Wow. Just wow. There’s not much else to say without spoiling the book but this was an incredible journey to read about, beautifully written. I felt deeply for all the characters and very much enjoyed reading this.

Thoughts

I am not okay. This book had to staying up two nights to read it. It had me crying several times.

It had me smiling, crying, angry, reflecting, and completely enamored. When I say this book hooked me from the very beginning I mean it. It was brilliant throughout. There were no slow parts.

The author used simple words but was able to create sentences with them that were so poetic.

I am not okay. I will never be okay again. The only thing this book hasn't killed is my dramatics. Now excuse me while I go cry in a corner for the next 6 months.

That can't be the end. I cannot be done with it...

Thank you to Netgalley for destorying me.

This was highly anticipated for me but sadly it ended up falling a little flat.

I am at a loss as to why this is marketed as a fantasy book, where were the fantasy elements? There is one small part at the end where it comes into play, I'd generously call it magical realism. This reads as a historical fiction, retelling, romance to me.

The characters were the biggest thing that were flat to me, which was the catalyst to the entire book falling flat. The love interest is barely in the book. I would have been more interested to read an ARC of Xishi falling for the king instead, with Fanli it kind of felt like istalove. Much of the book felt too surface level and telling vs showing.

I liked the writing, the prose was beautiful. The end actually took an unexpected turn and was quite sad but I'm not mad about it, I liked it!

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book.
If I was rating based solely on the second half, it would easily be a 4 stars. It was beautiful and tragic, and I cried while finishing it. But the whole first half fell a little flat for me, I was trudging through the slow start and build up.
The love interest is also absent for a big portion of the book, so all relationship building was reliant on telling and not showing. There was a lot of inner monologues thinking about the love interest, but not much actual development of it.
I also thought that the timeline was quite confusing at times, and again goes into the telling not showing aspect. I would think that maybe a couple weeks passed but then there would be a one-liner saying "it's been 2 years" and I was just thinking ok but how? where did that time go? What happened in those 2 years? The relationship was dealt with in the same way, with them meeting and then suddenly having so much tension seemingly out of nowhere because it has apparently been "10 weeks".
I think that the second half is so well done and tragic, but it could have been even more emotional and beautiful if we could have seen all of the development of the characters.
I did really enjoy Xishi's internal debates and struggles however, and felt that it was very realistic. Not knowing what side to stand on, what the right thing to do is, who to trust.

Beautiful and powerful, yet somehow even more—Ann Liang has crafted something truly extraordinary. An unforgettable read that will stay with you long after the final page. WOW, WOW, WOW!

I was unfamiliar with the Chinese legend of Xishi prior to reading this book, so I was mostly blind going into this one. I didn't love this, but it could be an issue of me, not the book. I have a hard time reading fantasy, I typically enjoy the genre more on audio, but this also wasn't super fantasy. More of a retelling, I did find myself getting bored at times and skimming to the end. This was well written though, and the legend it is based on is interesting, so I'm giving it 3 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of A Song To Drown Rivers in exchange for my honest review.

The ending of this book is pure bonkers! And I loved it.

A SONG TO DROWN RIVERS is based on the legend of Xishi, one of the four beauties of ancient China.

Xishi is trained to go to the enemy king to woo and seduce him and work as a spy for the Yue king to get revenge on her kingdom. But before that she must be trained by Fanli and a forbidden romance occurs.

Xishi and Fanli!! I loved them both. And the agonizing forbidden love affair hurt my heart.

I listened to the book on audio and the narrator was the perfect cast to play Xishi.

And the ending is one I’ll think about for a long time.

What You’ll Find:
❤️‍🔥A villain obsessed
🔥Slow burn
🖤Forbidden romance
❤️‍🩹Hurt x comfort
🗡️Some stabbing