A beautiful, heartbreaking, heroic story.

A Song to Drown Rivers is a sweeping historical fantasy that explores womanhood, duty, and sacrifice. It will immediately draw you in with vibrant characters and there isn't a moment I wasn't fully invested in the plot.

I would say that this leans much more into historical fiction, with the fantasy element leaning a bit more towards magical realism. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful story and I didn't find myself mad about it!

I love this, I love this, I love this

Nothing I say will be enough to show my love for this book, and I'm counting down the days until I can have a physical copy in my hands(with a bonus because they really pulled out the big guns for this book and gave it everything you could want for a special edition!!!!!)

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. Everything in this review is my own opinion and has in no way been influenced by the writer, publisher, or Netgalley.

Heartful book, wonderful story outline but the characters are slightly lacking. The dialogue is very rushed and to me they lack chemistry. The description and the inner monologue was very well written but interactions not so much. The development of the war and kingdoms are rather vague which makes it harder to really connect to the plot in the first place. We see a few scenes of the bad but it doesnt help with the overall vibe of the story. Overall I did enjoy this book but I wish it was more gripping for the other characters and not just for Xishi.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read this E-arc. This is my honest opinion of the story.

A Song to Drown Rivers is the first book I have read by Ann Liang. Based on an Ancient Chinese legend this was an interesting if unusual read. It doesn’t turn out exactly as I had thought or hoped that it would but then I am not familiar with this legend. A woman using her beauty to further a cause is not new but Xishi is able to perfect her as a weapon.

Most of the time this story reads as a YA book then it veers off some but gets back on track, I guess you would say. I think YA all the way through would have been the best choice for this storyline to stay smooth. As I said at the beginning, an interesting read overall.

If you love palace intrigue, normal people turned spies, and a little romance, A Song to Drown Rivers will captivate you. In this story, two young women from a tiny village are recruited to train as courtiers and spies. Their mission is to infiltrate the court of a rival kingdom and lay the groundwork for an invasion. Months of training with a seemingly stoic advisor has the main character, Xishi, falling in love, but her mission requires her to suppress her feelings and spend two years pretending to love the King of the enemy kingdom.

The writing in this book is beautiful and lulled me into thinking everything would work out for Xishi and her best friend, Zhengdan, and the advisor, Fanli. Even the king, Fuchai, is a sympathetic character whose negative qualities are a product of his upbringing. I wanted them all to have a happily ever after. I could even imagine ways for it to happen.

Unfortunately, this is a tragedy. Four of the five characters have terrible endings. The fifth's life isn't even summarized. Four stars for the beautiful writing and making me want good things for all of these characters. We need an alternate ending because all of these characters deserve a satisfying conclusion!

The writing for this was so beautiful, the story itself was captivating, and the tears shed were real & hard. I have so many quotes I could share from this book (trust me, I will get to them all eventually). But just know, I reread the last 3 pages on this book approximately 6 times after finishing it because I just.. couldn’t. I would’ve gladly taken 200+ more pages of this story. It was truly addicting.
Xishi has been the star of my google search since reading this past and I will do everything I can to read everything I can about her!!!

I would love to share my thoughts on this book as I enjoyed it very much but due to the St. Martin's Press boycott, I will hold off until that is lifted.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via Netgalley for review purposes; this in no way influences my review.

Before starting A Song to Drown Rivers, I wasn’t familiar with the Four Great Beauties of China beyond a vague recollection of the phrase. As I started, I did a quick google of Xishi and her story, which has two possible endings - one where the king she served has her assassinated for fear the skills she used to topple the Wu kingdom may be turned on him, and another where she and Fanli are able to live out in freedom and happiness. The execution of the ending of A Song to Drown Rivers gives me a lot of feelings, but overall I really like what Ann Liang did.

In a lot of ways this feels like a slow, quiet story because it’s the quiet political intrigues of the women’s spaces, the power of concubines and beautiful women. I’m glad I read it via audio as it helped things progress for me, and by the end I really loved Xishi and her story. There’s also so many excellent lines throughout that just made my brain buzz in delight. One scene, Xishi is talking about how those in the palace think she’s a fox spirit or a witch, so she is going to use that perception to further her deceptions and goals. There’s also a realization about how everything she did was for the glory of kings, but where does that leave her and other regular folk in the tales? There were also several scenes that broke my heart, even some that I didn’t expect to hurt that way. It really delved in the complexity of people and how there is no one right and true understanding of someone.

This was a really fascinating book and beautifully told, and I loved the narration (Natalie Naudus also narrates Lin’s chapters in Andrea Stewart’s Drowning Empire trilogy, which I adore). This was such an emotional journey on multiple levels, and an absolutely epic love story alongside the struggles of war and political machinations. This did a lot of things I absolutely loved, and definitely recommend people give it a chance.

This was such a fun one. The adventure she takes infiltrating the Wu court, and the risk involved in her plan was intense. Watching her climb and form enemies and alliances alike was great entertainment.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance reader copy of A Song to Drown Rivers.

A famed beauty whose world is ravaged by war. The opportunity to seek revenge on the kingdom who killed her sister. An unexpected love and a love that goes against everything she had planned. And an ending that will break your heart.

I loved this story. It’s a standalone completed story. Do I feel that this story could have been a duology or even extended longer? You bet! The love story between Fanli while they were training could have been developed a little more. The relationship between Xishou with Funchai could have also been developed more over the span of the two years she was with him. It would have made a more heart breaking love triangle. But overall an enjoyable story with a bittersweet ending.

Fanli, a young military advisor, turns Xishi’s beauty into a weapon. Trained to infiltrate the enemy palace as a spy, Xishi has the power to topple the kingdom…

First of all, this cover is absolutely gorgeous.

The writing was atmospheric and emotional.

The affection and heat between Xishi and Fanli was well done. I felt their connection grow slowly and enjoyed how he saw beyond her physical beauty to her true self. As the stakes grew higher in the enemy palace, I was deeply invested in their future.

The political intrigue and power games were tense and kept me engaged. The horror of war was delicately handled.

I wished for more world-building early in the book, more history on why the two kingdoms were warring, to see what similarities and differences existed between them beyond the descriptions of the brutal Wu warriors. Despite this desire, I had enough information to fully engage in the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

This was so intriguing! I enjoyed it a lot, and there was quite a story to follow. I really enjoyed Xishi as a character, as well!

I’m a huge fan of Ann Liang, so I immediately requested “A Song to Drown Rivers” when I saw that it was available. Having no idea what it was about (and not reading the summary beforehand), I was in for a wild, amazing, and devastating ride! Liang’s signature prose shines through, as does her ability to weave a compelling tale. I finished the book in an afternoon, and when I tell you I now feel empty inside, I am not lying.

The story follows Xishi, a poor but extremely beautiful girl from a small village in the kingdom of Yue, and her journey from peasant to courtesan to the king of the rival kingdom, Wu. Xishi is cunning yet has a gentleness and care to her that develops throughout the book, and I enjoyed seeing how her interactions with the Wu people brought out her anger and her kindness at the same time. The other main characters, the advisor to the Yue king, Fanli, and the Wu king, Fuchai were good foils to each other, and motivators for Xishi. While the book had a significantly complex plot, it felt more like a character study on these three people, and their relationship with one another, and their kingdoms.

By the end of the book I was quietly devastated, but satisfied. I almost expected it to be a series when I was half-way through, but near the end I felt glad that it was a stand alone. At this point, I’ll read anything that Ann Liang writes and be happy about it, but I was so glad to read something a little bit different from her past novels.

"If the ministers called me a fox spirit, a witch - then a witch I would be."

Thank you to NetGalley, Ann Liang, and St. Martin's Press for the E-ARC!

Actual Rating: 4.5

This book kept popping up on my Goodreads and a retail sites, and after seeing the rave reviews, I knew I had to read it. Usually I'm quick to collect my thoughts and rate books, but somehow I'm having so much trouble with this one. This is not because it's bad either, but because of the opposite, Ann Liang's storytelling is amazing, and there was so much that I got from this book that I wasn't expecting.

This book is about Xishi, a girl renowned in her village for her beauty. One day Fanli, a minister to the King, arrives and he brings an unexpected proposal to her. She can either stay where she is, surrounded by her family, in a place she's lived her whole life, or leave and help him on his quest to stop their opposing kingdom. With thoughts of her past trauma, Xishi makes the hard decision, and departs for her new life.

I really enjoyed Xishi as a character. Her whole life, people have constantly told her she's beautiful, and instead of being humble about it, she leans into it, knowing it to be true. She's selfless and brave, constantly sticking her neck out for those in need, even when they may put her in danger. Throughout the book, as she gains new experiences, she also grows as a person, seeing things in ways she wouldn't have ever before.

I don't want to say much else about this book, because I do feel like it's good to go into it pretty blind. Tentatively I'm rating this as a 4.5 stars, but it's definitely leaning towards a 5 (the only thing keeping me from that right now is the want for the first "part" of the book to be longer and more developed). I can't wait for this to come out and for others to be able to experience Xishi's journey.

I did not finish this ... stopping around 45%. I guess I was thinking this was going to be much more than a costume romance. The historical setting is awfully vague.

I am rather unwilling to buy that Xishi can sneak up on Fanli when he is putting salve on his scars, nor that he will allow her to do that for him when he insists on keeping a clear separation between them.

It was a deal breaker when Wu's king, presented with this stunningly beautiful concubine, simply forgets about her. Completely. No matter how big his palace, I cannot imagine that he just kind of forgot about her. We have been told that she is this unmatched beauty, yet ... dang ... he cannot recall that she must be in the palace somewhere.

This book destroyed me.

YA authors tend to have a shaky start when debuting an Adult book, but this was not a problem for Ann Liang's Adult debut.

Gorgeous writing, complex characters you love and hate at the same time, political intrigue that will keep you at the edge of your seat - what more can you ask for? The tension between the two romantic leads was so sexy I couldn't put the book down. I need Liang to write more Adult books please and thank you.

I am not familiar with the myth this story is based on, but God, I was not expecting it to devastate me as much as it did. I cannot wait for this book to be released so everyone can suffer the way I did.

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang tells the story of Xishi ( one of the 4 beauties of ancient China) and Fanli. I did not now of the story of Xishi and Fanli and I am glad since man this story was so beautiful and heartbreaking and glad to experience in this way.

My emotions were on a roller coaster. The first 60% were good but slower with the whole build up and the last 40% I read non stop. Man that was a journey and excited for others to experience that.

Thank you so much to Net Galley, Ann Liang and St.Martins Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you Saint Martin Press and Macmillan for my EARC💙

4.5 ✨

This Retelling of The Legend of XhiShi, this was beautifully written I went between my EARC and my Macmillan Audio. Both did not disappoint at all.

My attention never really faltered I enjoyed how we watched her take down a kingdom in years we would skip ahead a few months every few chapters. I really enjoy a fast paced fantasy so this can definitely be a book for you!

Fanli finds the most beautiful girl Xhishi and she must bring down the Wu kingdom by infiltrating its king and making him fall fully in love with her!

From start to finish I was so connected to Xhishi. She had such a welcoming presence of trying to find her self but also growing to take down a kingdom that killed her sister and took everything from her people.

The story had a very bitter sweet ending I was definitely stunned but overall this was beautiful and i think a lot of people will absolutely love this retelling fantasy💙

This book was perfect! I loved the complex relationships between everyone. You both love and hate the emperor, and the final scene with him made me sob. The outcome of Xishi's actions are so beautifully described, and I love the relationship between her and Faglin. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time worried that they would be discovered. The ending though, I am still angry about that.

If you like Daughter of the Moon Goddess, A Crane Among Wolves, or Woven Song I believe that you will like this book. But grab tissues.

Due to the St Martins Press Boycott, I will not be leaving a review for this book. I hope that the boycott is lifted soon because I would love to talk about this novel.