Drawing on the Chinese legend of Xishi, A Song to Drown Rivers is a gorgeously written historical fantasy. I enjoy reading fantasy that draws on non-European legends and folklore, so this one was a treat. Liang crafts a story with a compelling plot and a tear-jerker ending.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy.

“A Song to Drown Rivers” by Ann Liang is a clearly stunning book! The cover itself is a pure masterpiece. The insight into Chinese historical fiction was beautifully written, The fantasy elements were well integrated into the plot. The political tension was compelling and I would love to see this expanded on. Overall, the book offered a mix of history and fantasy, and I can see a lot of potential for the next book!

Of course the cover drew me in, but I could not put this book down. With every new twist and turn I HAD to find out what was going to happen. Though I went into this book thinking it was going to be fantasy, I'll be honest and I didn't really see the fantasy elements in it - if anything, if felt like a fantasy book setting but without the actual fantasy (no magic, no special creatures...). That didn't bother me though because it didn't need that to keep me hooked. Xishi's inner thoughts and motivations kept me going to find out what would happen next and if she could complete her mission successfully.

An excellent fantasy with engaging characters, intriguing plot, and complex political backdrop with a romance that brings you in. Liang's writing is beautiful and very emotional.

I had the same problems as other reviewers who rated this negatively. This is a story where a young woman is trained to become the enemy king's concubine so she can spy on him. We see barely any training and suddenly, in ten weeks!, she's ready to navigate the vicious palace politics and complicated court manners. She somehow manages to have some kind of chaste relationship with the enemy king where they sleep side-by-side but nothing happens. Meanwhile, the man she really loves has no problem sending her in to this pit of vipers to be a concubine.

When kings play games to win back power or land or to get revenge on those that hurt him, it is always others that seem to pay the price. This was a great story about Xishi that is heartrending and well written! She is a strong character, despite her great beauty and the sacrifices she makes to help the Yue kingdom defeat the Wu kingdom (partly because they killed her sister and partly because she is willing to stand up and fight to protect those in need, even if all she has is a rock) show her moral character. The way she turns sabotage into presents that make Fu Chai remember her and keeps on despite the tragedies kept me reading to see her wonders. I am glad that it did not dive into loads of bedroom scenes because to me it kept the relationship Xishi had with the king more innocent. Yes, I know that would definitely not be historically accurate, but I still liked it.

Now, that ending was the real heartrending bit, and I will admit it broke me, even with the sweet scene at the very end. Xishi is amazing and I hate kings! So, I will rate this a good read, not really a fantasy romance, but a good historical fiction.

What a beautifully written book! I will say that I did not have knowledge about the tale this is based on. Xishi lives in a wartime country where her sister was murdered by the ruling party and she belongs to the group overthrown. She is asked to take on a mission to infiltrate the capital as one of the kings concubines to spy and deceive. While training for her mission she falls in love.

I expected this one to be much more of a love story but as I read on I was impressed at how the writer handled the nuance and the “grey” areas. I also was not expecting the ending, although I probably should have. Again it was beautifully woven. It is not a feel good book but it is an epic tale of fantasy, history and romance. Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book!

DNF @ 15%

I tried but I couldn't get into this as I hoped :(

I do think it might just be my current mood and eventually I do hope to pick this back up again!! The premise sounded amazing and I love Ann Liang's contemporary romances, so I just know I will love this too as well--I just need to be in the right headspace. I just found myself bored and not too invested right now but I definitely will be picking this back up again in the future and will update my review as is when I do!

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

This was a bittersweet tale of love, longing, and revenge based on Chinese folklore. Xishi is beautiful, so she is recruited by the army of her territory to infiltrate the neighboring territory. Her mission: to get the king to fall in love with her so he will be preoccupied while the army occupies the state and takes him down. While I enjoyed Xishi's story, I was hoping for a little more at the end. All in all, this was an enjoyable read.

The story explores themes of love, loss, and the struggle for identity, all set against a backdrop of rich cultural imagery. Liang's lyrical prose pulled me in, and one line that resonated was, “Sometimes, the silence speaks louder than words.”

I loved how the characters were deeply fleshed out, with their struggles feeling genuine and relatable. Each character's journey added depth to the narrative, making me invested in their stories. However, there were moments where the pacing lagged a bit, especially in the beginning, which made it harder to stay engaged initially.

Overall, this is a poignant and evocative read that beautifully captures the complexities of belonging and self-discovery. It’s a heartfelt journey that stayed with me long after I turned the last page.

For a book marketed as romantasy, this book has neither romance nor fantasy. Of course it is also lacking in character development and suffers from various unplugged plot holes, so I am not sure including romance or fantasy aspects could have really saved it.

This book does have the cool concept of being a retelling of the ancient Chinese legend of Xishi. It also has a lot of lovely prose. It is just the prose doesn't end up telling a compelling story. And the ending left me feeling like the book itself was a little bit pointless. I get the point - war is bad and also grey, the purported good guys are never fully good and vice versa, but I am not sure if this kind of pointlessness was what the ending was meant to convey. Some of it just felt like an attempt to elicit emotions.

Plot-wise, the book was a bit of a mess. Xishi is a spy whom we never really see spying. She is a favorite concubine whom the playboy king is content to have a basically chaste relationship over the course of years. Which is just so completely unbelievable. She has a heart thing that acts up around the purported MMC (purported because he is barely in most of the book), but is never really explored or explained. And don't get me started on the burial scene at the end, which I think was supposed to read as touching, but all I could think about was how ripe the body must have been given that at least 5 days had passed since the death. The ending overall also just felt way too long and dragged out.

2 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this book. These opinions are my own.

I honestly thought I was going to give this book 5 stars up until the end. A thrilling story of a woman who uses her beauty to get revenge for her family and kingdom, who have suffered greatly at the hands of their rival neighboring kingdom.

Xishi was a great character, and I really loved her story. She was very believable on her journey, as she shows rage towards those who caused her family/kingdom suffering, but also struggles to keep that same rage when it comes down to the more human elements of her rivals (namely, the neighboring king).

My only real grievances with the books are twofold: first, I wish we saw more of her time training, It felt as though it passed very VERY quickly, which was slightly unbelievable and took me out of it for a minute, My second complaint is my biggest, and what made me take off a full star, which is WHAT WAS THAT ENDING??? I was so mad. I won't spoil anything but I do think that some people will appreciate the ending, but just as many will hate it the way I did. TRULY SO DUMB!! Overall though, this was a really good book and I enjoyed it!

i really loved the writing and prose of the book but i couldn't get past the pacing. it felt like everything was either happening too fast or too slow. still an enjoyable read. i would read anything ann liang writes

3.5 stars

I didn't realize this while I was reading, but A Song to Drown Rivers is inspired by the story of Xishi, a well-known legend in China. I wonder if I would have read it differently if I was familiar with that story? This novel is about a girl named who is sent to the palace of an enemy king as a spy with the goal to seduce him with her beauty and help bring down his kingdom.

I wanted to like this one, and at times I did like this, but it did not completely work for me. I thought the pacing was an issue in this novel. A huge part of the book takes place while Xishi is at the palace, but nothing much really happens during that time. Then all of a sudden as the book draws to a close, a lot happens really quickly. It was all so fast and jarring, and I wanted more from the end of this book. I don't say this often, but I think this book could have and should have been longer. More time and more words were needed to build the word and create a satisfying climax and ending.

I really liked the writing and the light melancholic tone of the book. The emotions on page were really gripping, and I have a feeling I'm gonna be thinking about this book for a long time 🥲

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

4 Stars

This was such a beautifully written book. Xishi is one of the most beautiful girls in the land and is sent to seduce the rival King and act as an undercover spy to take down their court. I was shocked by the ending and was not ready to say goodby to the characters of the book. Well done and highly recommend.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I was super excited for the Asian fantasy from Ann Liang, especially going into the fall! Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting into this book when I picked it up, but hoping that I'll love it when I pick it up again in the winter months.

3/5

I read this book fairly quickly but ended up feeling rather disappointed. The premise is great but I felt that the connection between the love interests was quite sudden and the ending felt like it came out of nowhere and wasn't particularly well explained. I think this could have benefited from a bit more character development, possibly additional POV's to make more sense of things, and some more background on the relationship between the main love interests as well as more of a deep dive into the other king to understand why the ending occured.

As a whole I really enjoyed this book.
It was well written and the characters were likable.
At times it was hard to decide who to trust and who to root for.
I wasn’t much of a fan of the ending, the MC went through so much only to be drowned in the end?

Oh, this was such a lovely read! I've really enjoyed her YA book, and this one sounded really engaging, and it was such a captivating story, I was rooting for Xishi, using her beauty as a weapon, infiltrating this court, to try and take it down from the inside!

Characters really came to life in this book, Xishi and Fanli were such incredible leads. They both had their reasons for doing this, and caring about them made it harder when they were in such an impossible situation. I adored them, and their story, and I'm glad that they did find a bit of happiness in the midst of such turmoil.

The intricacies of the plot, both of the story itself, and what the characters were dealing with, was so thrilling to read! The tension of infiltrating this court, kept up along as her position kept rising. I was rooting for her to succeed, and I was on the edge of my seat, hoping that she wouldn't fail.

That ending though? That was more on the bitter side of bittersweet. Once past a certain point, it was inevitable, but that was still hard to read. Though there was that last little bit that added a bit of joy, but still, not quite enough after all that they went through.

This was a spectacular read, and I can't wait to read more by Ann Liang!