Blurb:

Inspired by the legend of Xishi, one of the famous Four Beauties of Ancient China, A Song to Drown Rivers is an epic novel steeped in myth about womanhood, war, sacrifice, and love against all odds as the fate of two kingdoms hangs in a delicate balance.

Her beauty hides a deadly purpose.

Xishi’s beauty is seen as a blessing to the villagers of Yue—convinced that the best fate for a girl is to marry well and support her family. When Xishi draws the attention of the famous young military advisor, Fanli, he presents her with a rare opportunity: to use her beauty as a weapon. One that could topple the rival neighboring kingdom of Wu, improve the lives of her people, and avenge her sister’s murder. All she has to do is infiltrate the enemy palace as a spy, seduce their immoral king, and weaken them from within.

Trained by Fanli in everything from classical instruments to concealing emotion, Xishi hones her beauty into the perfect blade. But she knows Fanli can see through every deception she masters, the attraction between them burning away any falsehoods.

Once inside the enemy palace, Xishi finds herself under the hungry gaze of the king’s advisors while the king himself shows her great affection. Despite his gentleness, a brutality lurks and Xishi knows she can never let her guard down. But the higher Xishi climbs in the Wu court, the farther she and Fanli have to fall—and if she is unmasked as a traitor, she will bring both kingdoms down.

Review:

There was so much I loved in this book I genuinely have no idea where to start. I could probably start with the mistake I made by finishing this during my lunch hour and then just having to navigate the rest of the day like I wasn’t entirely preoccupied. (I have no idea what happened in the meeting I was in, I hope it wasn’t important because I was basically the Pablo Escobar meme, just staring at everything passively.)

The writing was poetic. The Chinese culture, language nods (turtle egg is always a solid choice) and legends were wonderfully interlaced to the story — which you’d hope for in a telling of one of China’s four ancient beauties. The focal characters were vivid and fit together perfectly with so much depth. I genuinely hope we have the other beauties and their stories to come one day because I have no doubt they will be stunning books.

Initially, I was convinced Xi Shi was going to be just a beauty. Like that is where her personality started and ended. But she is clever and she is crafty. She does her mission...well, I can't quite say 'flawlessly', but almost! Now if you’re familiar with Xi Shi’s story, this doesn’t surprise you. And again, if you’re familiar with the story you know there is only one of two ways the book can end. (Not that it matters since Xi Shi’s story is like 2000+ years old so even in the best case scenario she’s still very not alive anymore.) As I am utterly destroyed by this book to the extent I dropped the ball on my job, you might be able to guess what route Ann Liang chose to take us down. 

“Isn’t that a bit of a spoiler?” The story is 2000+ years old! Are you also not aware The Titanic sank?! Did you need the end of the film to confirm that?! 

I loved Zhengdan and Fanli. With Zhengdan, I was worried she was going to be surface level and 2-dimensional but her story and skill with the sword had me absolutely cheering for her. More importantly, I loved that she and Xishi knew she was the best and knew she could defeat any opponent and they were unapologetic about it. I would even say I was growing a soft spot for Fuchai. I felt like I knew what I was in for with all of them and where a few scenes were going to go but that didn’t dampen them in the least. It didn’t protect my emotional existence either. As I said, I am utterly destroyed. 

If you’re a fan of C-dramas, especially Empress in the Palace (great show, go watch it if you haven’t), this will undoubtedly be right up your street to the point it’s building a home there. And even if you think you know Xi Shi's story already, you can't possibly be prepared for Ann Liang's writing as she carries you through this new retelling. There aren’t enough stars in the sky to capture my rating.