A beautiful retelling of the legend of one of the four great beauties of China! I do hope Ann continues to write the stories of the other three women, because that would make an incredible collection!

Thank you to the author, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and shed many-a-tears.
This is a retelling of a Chinese folk-story - Xishi is one of the Four Great Beauties in Chinese legend. The story stays true to what is typically understood (minus some timelines), including the names of important people (Fuchai, Goujian, FanLi). Nobody really knows what happened to Xishi at the end, I admired how the author weaved those two endings into the story - and chose what I think was the most impactful and appropriate ending for her (much to my chagrin, but a necessary one).
As a Chinese immigrant, I really cherished this digestible, and authentic version of the story for my understanding - so I could gain a piece of my heritage.

The book wasn't perfect - I thought the writing was adolescent, and many plot items just wasn't there - happened off-page. For example, the development of the romance, although convincing enough I weeped (because I'm a sucker), was really fast and -just happened-. I think the author's writing can benefit from more 'showing' rather than 'telling'. This is more largely apparent when we get to the latter half - when she's enticing the enemy, being a feminist spy icon, and illustrating the book's overarching lesson (which I'm very glad there is one) - it was all very direct and unconvincing. I never learned who Xishi really was - how was she so charismatic, and smart, and brave to topple a kingdom?

I hope Ann Liang continues with the 3 other Great Beauties in a series, and continue to develop her writing.

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Ling is a beautifully written story about love and revenge. The words falling across the page like poetry, touching memories I had long forgotten and breaking my heart. Xishi and Fanli's story is a heart wrenching slow burn of forbidden romance. I read this book in one sitting, engrossed with the story and the characters, highlighting line after line of quotes. I have recommended it to everyone I know and plan to re-read it before it releases.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this copy of A Song to Drown Rivers in exchange for an honest review! I think this book is a wonderful historical fantasy novel! It surprised me in many ways. I found it to be a little light on the fantasy and more of a historical fiction novel. That did really work for me though as that's one of my favorite genres. But I think it's important that people aren't expecting a more traditional fantasy style book. I definitely did enjoy this story and I think others will too. The prose is wonderful and the story is one you can easily read in a single sitting. I would say overall this is a 4.5 I would round up to a 5!

Fair warning that A Song to Drown Rivers is not a romance. There is a love story, but this is not a romance. I don't think it's advertising itself as such at all and I never thought it was a romance. But in case someone is confused I just want to make sure that's clear. Now that we know that, I do want to compliment the love story. It was one that I was actually expecting not to like because it is a love triangle. I'm just never really a fan of those. That's why I was pleasantly surprised by how well this one worked in the story. It actually fit in the context of the story. Xishi is a beautiful woman working with and being trained by Fanli to turn her beauty into a weapon. They grow closer and have a connection. She wants revenge against the Wu Kingdom and is sent to seduce the king of the Wu Kingdom, King Fuchai in order to achieve that vengeance (among other reasons). This creates an interesting dynamic for the two of them, The story is woven with these complexities and is primed for betrayals that it makes the love triangle make sense while being so beautifully painful and tragic. Ann Liang has done a masterful job, especially with a trope I truly never seek out.

A Song to Drown Rivers did a great job with the characters. Fuchai is my favorite, but everyone is so well-crafted and feels real. That makes the sacrifices and the losses so much more heart-rending. I also think this book does really well with the world-building. It gave me what I felt was necessary and I was never confused, even with the complexities of warring nations and political intrigue. I think the plot is engaging, though at times, especially earlier in the book, things work out a bit too conveniently for Xishi in my opinion. The twists at the end had me completely shocked. I would say that was well-done in how things were unexpected while still making sense for the story. But wow was I caught off guard!

This book will break your heart in a way only a talented author can do to you, and if that's something you want then A Song to Drown Rivers is worth a read!

What a wonderful read! Heartbreaking and emotional, this story will take you on the most rewarding adventure.
Beautiful prose, the writing is top notch and while I won't give any spoilers, the last 1/4 of the book will have every bit of your attention! That's not to say that the rest isn't good...far from that...but i could NOT PUT THIS DOWN!!

Love, betrayal, war and the ultimate sacrifice. Stunning!!!!

"The mind destroys; the heart devours."

Xishi is such an amazing character - beautiful and strong and brave, but scared too. And the more she learns, the more dangerous she becomes.

"It is quite a different thing to help someone when it puts yourself at risk." But this is what I adore about Xishi. Though everything seems to change, her soul does not.

"She would have been trapped there forever, a bird caught in a cage. Everything within her would have wilted until only her beauty remained. But here, she was radiant."

The danger is quite real. This story moves at lightning speed. And the ending hurts like a knife.

Wow, this was excellent. It’s a retelling of the life of Xishi from Ancient China—I wasn’t familiar with the original story, but this book was compared to *She Who Became the Sun* (which I loved) so I picked it up right away. It definitely had similarities: the writing was top notch, we had an amazing female protagonist, and the characters were all complex and interesting.

I couldn’t put it down.

I do want to note: I’m seeing this shelved in lots of places as fantasy or romantasy, and while it is the retelling of a legend, there aren’t really any fantasy elements. Don’t let that stop you, though! It certainly *reads* like a fantasy book in terms of scope and pacing.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press!

Ann Liang's A Song to Drown Rivers is a heartbreakingly good read. She weaves a tale of star-crossed love, sacrifice, betrayal, and the blurred lines of war. Eastern mythology and her skillful world-building set the stage for a tear-jerking, heart-wrenching story.

The novel is a page-turner, filled with political intrigue, unexpected twists, and emotional depth. Liang's writing is lush and evocative, making the reader feel every moment of tension and heartache. The romance, while central, is perfectly balanced with the broader themes of loyalty, identity, and redemption.

Ann Liang's storytelling is nothing short of mesmerizing. Her ability to create unpredictable plot twists combined with deeply emotional character arcs sets this novel apart. Xishi's strength and vulnerability make her a heroine to root for, and her journey is both heartbreaking and inspiring. This book is an absolute must-read for romantasy lovers.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC of this book!

A Song to Drown Rivers isn't in the genre of books I normally pick up, but the description and the gorgeous cover art caught my attention and I decided to give it a shot. I was completely blown away by not just the beauty of the story of Xishi and Fanli, but by the absolute poetry of Ann Liang's storytelling.

The story begins with a chance encounter in Xishi's rural village on an ordinary day, and builds into an epic story of political intrigue, strategy, weaponized beauty, and one of the best forbidden love stories I've ever read. 5 stars, no notes, I love this book and can't wait to read more by this brilliant author. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reading copy.

⭐️ 3.5 stars-

As someone who considers Ann Liang to be one of my favorite authors, believe me when I say that no one is more disappointed by this book than me. But also believe me when I say how shocked I am by the fact that I seem to maybe be the only person who didn’t like this book very much? Let me explain.

I’ll start at the beginning. The first act of this book…a bit of a snooze fest. It felt like the romantic leads had no chemistry and also like the main character had no personality, which is so astronomically different from Liang’s other books that I found myself genuinely baffled while reading. Nothing was really going on, and anything that was going on was told mostly in summary. And for a historical romance (that’s apparently supposed to be a fantasy? Someone please tell me where the fantasy is…this was a historical novel 95% of the book tbh), Liang’s writing style still feels strangely modern on occasion (maybe I’m just too used to her usual writing style), and there’s a lack of historical detail that left me feeling disjointed from the setting and the characters’ personalities in their time period. It didn’t really feel like Liang was particularly familiar with historical genre conventions when she wrote this novel. I just don’t know if this genre meshes very well with her writing style.

A lot of disappointments in the beginning. So many, in fact, that I put this book aside for months. But then I picked it up again, mostly because I had the ARC and felt obligated to push through because of it. And although my former complaints about the modernity of the writing style still hold, the second act picked up significantly in terms of pacing. The second love interest was introduced (oh, yeah, this is a love triangle :/ I kind of hate love triangles because I get attached/feel bad for the secondary love interest and hate not knowing who to root for, so maybe that was also part of my problem with this novel) and I preferred him vastly to the first, even though it’s very obvious which love interest is endgame (not him 🥲). Fanli=no personality. Fuchai=so adorable! exceptionally Cardan Greenbriar coded! He should have been endgame and I don’t care about any and all reasons to the contrary (him being evil and also a murderer…I don’t care! He deserved better 😭). Anyway, I enjoyed the second act significantly more because occasionally I could convince myself that Fuchsia was endgame and not Fanli and I just ate up any scenes where he was present. He was one of the few characters with personality, along with her best friend. But the literal main character, Xishi, honestly had the least personality of them all in my opinion, and Fanli wasn’t much better. I was confused and am still confused as to why Xishi and Fanli were attracted to each other, as well as how/when they formed such an intense bond? I never saw any of their connection on page, so therefore all of Xishi’s motivations in respect to him just made no sense to me.

So, from the second act on, I got into this book, even if I still wasn’t particularly happy about where the plot and the romance were going. But the ending???? Well, there were a lot of twists. And I’m not going to spoil anything, but I will say that the first bit of twists did break my heart a lot, just like everyone said it would. For a book that I’d been fairly uninvested in, emotionally, it still made me shed a couple tears (likely out of pure shock…like WOW it was crazy), so I can’t imagine how heartbroken I would have been if I’d been more emotionally invested. But the second bit of twists...uhmm…huh?? It was all so bizarre and weird and sad and strange I was having a hard time buying any of it. There’s nothing wrong with a sad ending, but there was such a supreme lack of closure in terms of plot, even if you could argue that the romance had closure. What I mean by a lack of closure is that, throughout this book, the themes explore the futility of trying to choose a “right” side in a war and the pitfalls of black and white morality. I was really looking forward to seeing that discussion be developed fully and concluded on. In the height of the climax, it was getting somewhere, but by the end, I found myself a little lost in what was happening with the morality argument. It was left a little too open-ended for my tastes.

Overall, this book was a mixed bag. There were aspects I really enjoyed, others I was confused by, and others I was disappointed by. A lot of things about this book felt disjointed/poorly executed to me, and for that I do not particularly recommend it, but also, I do not think it was a *bad* or terrible book in any way, and I can definitely see why a lot of people would enjoy it, especially as the last third was quite thrilling and full of variously enjoyable twists and turns. 🎑🌜⚔️

thanks to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

2.5 Stars—

I hope this book finds its audience, that audience is not me.

First for the positives, I did enjoy the writing style and the idea of the story had merit. The characters were likeable and the romance had potential!

HOWEVER
It’s like when we got past start, it all fell apart. The plot was nonexistent, the romance was not there and then BAM we were expected to believe it was fully formed. Everything happened at the last 5% and even that wasn’t satisfactory


SPOILER



And the ending!? Absolutely not. I felt like all the trudging I did to get through the book wasn’t worth it by then. Why? It made absolutely no sense and served no purpose other than shock value.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for this ARC of A Song to Drown Rivers in exchange for an honest review. I really love a good “female rage” or rather, a “female tragedy” story, but I kept on waiting for this story to get better and it would incrementally but then dip down. The writing was a bit inconsistent and the imagery just felt like it was there to be there. It just kind of faded as the story went on. Beautiful but lackluster overall.

Definitely a beautiful read. Loved the imagery and the time this took to unfold.
Definitely takes you into a different world …………
3.5 stars

4.5 stars. Who knew a fantasy could be tightly plotted and under 400 pages?!

It’s important for romance readers to know — this is a love story, not a romance. That being said, it was a really great fantasy love story. The story was fast-paced and never dawdled. There is a sort-of love triangle, which I’m sure some people will be mad about how it ends, but I personally thought it was a fantastic resolution to that plot point.

A Song to Drown Rivers offers a compelling star-crossed romance without succumbing to clichés. However, if you seek a traditional fantasy narrative, be mindful that such elements are secondary here. Instead, the novel reads more like a historical reimagining of the Xishi legend than a typical fantasy tale.

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang 5/5 ⭐️
Releases October 1, 2024

This may be one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read, the cover is also stunning. I did not know what to expect from this book, but all of my expectations were surpassed greatly. I felt probably every emotion- I was happy and smiling at some parts while crying at others (I’m not kidding, I actually cried).

All of the characters were so well written. Ann Liang did such a great job making me hate certain characters and love others, and then making me question if I actually hated/loved them. By the end I actually found myself being fond of Fuchai ❤️‍🩹 On that note, I love love love Fanli.

The politics in this book were so fascinating- I will say a lot of this book is political. The worldbuilding was easy to understand and the plot kept me interested the entire time.

I already preordered a physical copy of this book, it was that good. I need Ann Liang to write more Asian inspired historical fantasy!

*I received this book as an ARC but the opinions are my own

Beautiful cover and a beautiful book. I will be posting more of my thoughts closer to the publication date. But I truly enjoyed this one and I’m looking forward to picking a copy of the book up for myself.

*Full review to be posted closer to publication*

What a gorgeous story! A Song to Drown Rivers had an extremely strong start that seemed to lack consistent momentum throughout the entire book, but overall provided a really entertaining and beautifully written story. This story is inspired by Xishi, one of the Four Beauties of Ancient China, and I thought Ann Liang did a wonderful job incorporating this culture into the story. Although this book does lean into some tropes, I think it did a good job of preventing getting too cliche or overly stereotypical. Overall, a really beautiful story that I had a great time with!

Do not read this if you don't want your heart shattered. A Song to Drown Rivers is a great star-crossed romance that never falls into trope-y traps. But if you're looking for a true fantasy novel, be warned that those elements play a very minor part in the story. It reads much more like a historical retelling of the legend of Xishi than a fantasy retelling.

🌕 𝔸 𝕊𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕠 𝔻𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕟 ℝ𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕤 🌕

Inspired by Xishi, one of the Four Beauties
In Ancient China, this story brings to life the legend of how her beauty was used as weapon against the enemy kingdom that had terrorized her country.

I enjoy a good femme fatale story, as well as retellings, and I really wanted to love this book. It had so much potential. However, It was literary equivalent of going on a beach vacation, just for it to be overcast the entire time. You’re glad it’s not raining, and there’s still some local activities you can enjoy, but it’s just not the getaway you had planned.

The story starts out really strong and the descriptions create wonderful imagery as you’re reading. Xishi is an incredibly humble and sweet girl, who only wants to do the right thing for her people. I couldn’t help but get attached to her, and as she’s going through her training I found myself cheering her on the entire time. However, she was the only character that is well developed. All the rest felt fairly one dimensional.

The second half is where things began to really fall flat. There are places where the timeline becomes really confusing, and I struggled with putting the narrative together. Another issue I had is that the author sets the story up to make quite a few impactful messages about war and its effects on humanity, but none of them land as well as they could. You definitely get a sense of what she’s trying to say, but it’s like trying to hear with ear plugs in. Why? I’m not entirely sure, I only know that it was lacking the necessary ingredient to really leave an impression.

For what it’s worth, like an overcast vacation, it was alright. Not great, but not the epic retelling I was hoping for. Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pub Date: September 30, 2024