Had a mixed experience with this one. I just found myself very irritated with the main characters choices. And there were just a few circumstances AND characters i didnt really see the point of. I did make this my book of the month choice when it was an option and liked it enough to be happy about having a physical copy. 3.5

I loved the entire setup of the story and how hard the main character fought for her right, but the end brought everything crashing down for me. I understand the book is based on an ancient legend, but after everything Xishi does to get justice for the Yue people I really -- really -- wish the author had chosen to change the ending and get justice for Xishi too. She absolutely deserved it.

The romance was light and interesting, and I appreciated Xishi's ferocity. The ending, though, left a lot to be desired.

This is my first book by the author and I was blown away with her writing cadence and how she wove the story together. Having said that, however, I did not like the pacing of the story. The author could have very easily elaborated more on the backstory and the characters. I love a strong female character in the books I read and Xishi was that. And she wasn't. The plot was a little lost on the romance aspect in this book in my opinion. This could have easily been a five star reach for me and it just wasn't, I just needed it to have a little bit *more* of something and it didn't.

If you read books for on page happy endings, this might not be for you.

A Song to Drown Rivers is the tale of Xishi, one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. She is seen as the most beautiful girl, with her wearing a veil to prevent others in her village from becoming too enamored with her. When discovered by Fanli, a trusted minister of the Yue king, she is trained to become a concubine/spy/saboteur of the Wu king, Fuchai.

This story is breathtaking and atmospheric, a world filled with pain and longing. I loved the heartbreaking display of what kings and wars do: use normal people as collateral. Both the Yue and Wu people see the others as monsters because they know only of their friends, families, and loved ones that died due to the war. The real monsters are the ones starting these wars for petty feuds, land that isn't theirs, or personal gain.

This is a great choice for fans of historical fiction / historical fantasy!

I tried to read this book but I couldn't get into it. It was atmospheric but the language also felt very cliche and dramatic for the sake of being dramatic instead of making me feel invested.

4/5 Stars

I enjoyed this book, but found myself wanting more. I know that this was supposed to be a retelling of the legend of Xishi, but it's also supposed to be a "epic historical fantasy" about love. For a story meant to be about romantic love, there isn't a lot of romance shown, and I think the book would've been a 5/5 for me if there was a bit more foundation to Xishi and Fanli's feelings for one another.

Regardless, it was still a very enjoyable read and one I'm happy to have on my bookshelf.

This book completely caught me off guard and left my jaw on the floor more than once. While it has romantic elements, it’s not a traditional romance by any means. I was surprised to learn it’s classified as adult fiction because the tone and style reminded me so much of a YA novel. That said, it strikes a unique balance—it’s easy to read, with accessible language and pacing, but also richly layered with depth and meaning. And be prepared—it’s not afraid to tug at your heartstrings and leave you feeling a little shattered by the end.

Magical historical fiction. Magnificently well written. Captured my interest early on and kept me reading.

DNF at 30-40%

Readers meet Xishi as she is thrust into a world of political intrigue. We learn alongside her methods to use her beauty and mind for espionage in order to save her kingdom from the neighboring king's evils. In the process, she struggles with secret love and her mission.

The pacing was too slow for me to get hooked on Xishi's story. Xishi herself felt too much like a blank slate for me at the time and hard to root for personally. But I think readers who are looking for a Chinese historical drama (long ones that are over 30+ episodes) will devour this book.

This book was so compelling and surprisingly thought provoking. The narrative about war and men in power was something I did not expect out of this book. I absolutely loved Xishi’s character and her strength! I appreciated how the author wrote her character in such a way that it causes the reader to feel conflicted right along side her. For a book with such a tragic ending I enjoyed it quite a lot, I don’t typically choose to read stories without happy endings however this author had done it extremely well.

Thank you netgalley for the arc of how to drown rivers in exchange for my honest review. Unfortunately this got buried in my book list and I did not get to read and review it prior to its release but wow was it a well written story. I would give this book 4.5 stars which is not an option here. I finished this story in two days which is very quick for my regular reading. The writing style was captivating and very easy to follow and i could not wait to find out if our narrator was going to be the heroine she was trying to be. She was sent as a concubine to trick a king into falling in love with her and building a canal to allow her people to get control over his empire. Will she succeed and get the revenge she is looking for.

One of my favorite reads of 2024. I appreciated the way that Liang charted Xishi's emotions and struggles, as she works to hold true to her purpose to take vengeance against the king of the occupying forces whom she holds responsible for her younger sister's killing, even as he becomes more and more of a person to her during their time together. All the while, she must suppress her illicit mutual passion for the spy who helped her infiltrate the court. All! The! Suppressed! Emotions! And! Tragedy!

3⭐⭐⭐

This started off really well and I was quite invested in the beginning, but once she got to the palace, my interest waned. This wasn't anything I haven't already read before, and maybe my expectations were off, but I was hoping for a lot more fantasy elements and to be more interested in the romance and the characters, but it all kinda fell flat to me.

Just didn’t Hit for me and ended up a DNF… ((My apologies for the late review. (I am now cleaning them up for the new year)) overall this felt wordy and difficult for me to follow. due to it being a DNF I will NOT be posting

This book surprised me. While I have my complaints about it, I honestly enjoyed it and finished it in less than 2 days. I thought this was a Romantasy going in so I was kind of let down by the lack of magic, so to clarify this is an Asian inspired Fiction/Romance. It focuses on Xishi who uses her beauty to become a concubine for the enemy king as a means to spy on him and help overthrow him. However the extremely attractive minister of war may put a wrench in everything... At times this book was cheesy, predictable, unbelievable, and the writing was sometimes clunky. I'm sorry I fail to believe that a man would keep a concubine for 2 years and do everything he did for her and NOT sleep with her, though thank you for not putting any spice or r@pe in this book! The book takes place over an extended period of time and so there are frequent time jumps that are kind of abrupt. However I did enjoy this book! It was entertaining and there is something engaging about the idea of a woman conquering empires without ever having to lift a sword... The ending was unexpected and tragically beautiful. I don't normally like tragic endings but this one worked really well. It felt realistic and fit perfectly. I also felt like it was an accurate commentary on how a change in power or monarch doesn't change things for the people and that power can corrupt any many. Overall this was a solid book and I would recommend it to others.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC! All feedback is my own.

This was really enjoyable. I believed in the motivations of each character, though I do wish some side characters were more fleshed out.

It took me a while to get to read this due to the loss of my sister's dog. Why is that semi-important in this review? well I lost the drive to read so it is highly possible that that has clouded my view on this book.

My main issue is the romance in this - I LOATH instalove, I love the slow burn build up and this just didn't give that to me.
My next issue is that I want to be dazzled with world building, character building, and just plain detail. I want to be able to "see" firsthand what characters are doing, not a turnaround tale of what happened.

It just lacked everything I was hoping for and needed for this to be higher than 3 stars.

I'm going to maintain a 3 star rating for this book primarily because I like the author's writing style and description style. I didn't feel connected to the characters that much. I would have liked to read a bit more characterization and understand their motives. I understand that Xishi and Fanli are in love but I wanted to be able to feel why they loved each other a bit more. The book felt like we were just going through the motions.

This was a really enjoyable book! I liked the twist on the legend of Xishi, which I did not know about until after I read this book. Xishi was a strong character, and I enjoyed watching her grow into herself. I will definitely read more from this author in the future.

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang is a magical fantasy standalone novel. I was enchanted by Xishi. I cannot wait to read a finished copy.