Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang

60 reviews

nana05's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and War

duiel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I approached this book as someone who had no familiarity with the story of Xishi, and had never read any of Liang’s books, and in general I enjoyed it. 

Starting with the good, Liang made an easy-to-read page turner out of something that could have easily been a slog. Balancing on the inner emotions of the FMC, it did not bog itself down with details. It felt intimate and approachable, and Liang’s writing was pleasant, sensual and lyrical. I gobbled this up in a couple days and couldn’t put it down. 

As the book was told in first person and focused mainly on Xishi’s internal struggles, I think that part was quite well done. Her simultaneous

affection and hatred towards the king

felt believable, and the king himself was painted as a complex, interesting character. Simultaneously her

pining  for Fanli, her torn loyalty and internal realization st the end of the book made a poignant, moving read. And gosh, that ending.

Where the book faltered was the plot. Sometimes it felt like Liang had to get from point A to point B, but didn’t have any clever ideas, so that plot points often felt forced, handwaved, or sometimes downright unconvincing. There were weird romantic cliches and deus ex machina. Liang’s strengths are obviously with the internal rather than the external workings of the narrative. 

I will also note that this book was marketed as both a romance and a fantasy. I can see why fans of either, and especially fans of both, may be disappointed. While this book does have a romantic focus, it’s both shockingly tame (especially considering the subject matter) and

heart-wrenchingly sad.

There is also very little in the way of fantasy, with no supernatural elements at all until about 95% of the way through the book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Child death and Toxic relationship

emherrick's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The main plot is overall a little cliche, with a love plot that you can see from the very beginning but you are rooting for them. However, there is an interesting twist at the end, making you rethink who the real enemy is.

During the main character's mission, you get a sense that she is able to use not only her beauty but also her cleverness to her advantage. However, in my opinion, she does everything almost too easily. Besides a couple moments that I don't want to spoil, she does not really struggle with any of the challenges presented to her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Murder, and War

Moderate: Alcohol and Classism

kbrinkman25's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I was frustrated by this book because the sense of timing and investment in characters just seemed off. Maybe the timing was deliberate, as in Xishi is a legend because she was able to entirely retrain her mind, manners, and facial expressions in a little more than two months. But the writing seems to invite you to see Xishi as a whole, flawed, relatable person in spite of her beauty. So is she a superhuman legend, or a regular person in extraordinary circumstances? I'm not sure.

All of Xishi's relationships were also hard to believe because we didn't spend enough time with them. (Spoilers ahead) 

• Zhengdan seemed set up to be her best friend within the Wu palace,
  but she did not do much and then she died in an incredibly anticlimactic way.
• Every ally she made in the Wu palace seemed very ill thought out. Counting on the loyalty of people you hardly know,
  let alone who tried to poison you,
  seems like the naive thinking of someone who only received ten weeks of training.
  Then again, they all did exactly as she wanted them to with an astonishing lack or suspicion.
• Fanli is tricky because he did seem like a somewhat fleshed out character, just one we spent no time with. 

There were a lot of elements to explore in this story about loyalty, war, suffering, and love. For me it boiled down to a lack of space to give all of those elements the nuance they deserved. But I was genuinely surprised by the ending and thought it was done well, so I'm willing to see where this author goes in the future! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Death, Torture, War, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism

agent_bex's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This author has a way with storytelling - I was drawn in from the first page, which to me is always a sign of a wonderful story. While I didn't love the end, it wasn't because it was poorly written - it was because I wished for a happily ever after and knew I wasn't going to get it lol. In fact it was very well written. And maybe a controversial take, but Luyi was my favorite character 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Xenophobia, and War

Liang did well what I think the Song of Achilles did poorly - told the end of a tale from a ghosts perspective. I was expecting to grow sick of it, the same way I did with the SoA, but she was fast to tell the rest of the story in a way that felt more concrete and emotional

kelseymck's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I had to take a long pause when it ended to appreciate the beauty of this book. Without ever saying it outright, the author made such a poignant statement about the nature of war and how humanity is far too complex to ever be reduced to such a black and white us-versus-them mentality. It was masterfully done. 
Also the tragedy of the love story was a deep ache I felt down to my marrow. A book that can elicit that response - chef’s kiss. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

mamaninja06's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Grief, and War

Minor: Death

booksandbujos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I enjoyed this book, especially the ending and the message about who is good versus who is evil and how the side you are on can play a big part in that and not who the person is themselves. We start by not liking the Wu Emperor because of the war against Xishi’s people. But as Xishi spends more time with the Emperor, she learns her first impression may have been wrong and she experiences some really complicated feelings as a result. It was a really interesting discussion and I think it was done really well. 

 

My one issue was that I felt this book had some pacing issues. The beginning, where Xishi is training to be a proper lady, seems very rushed. And then the middle, where Xishi is in the Wu kingdom, seems to drag a little but also rush at times. I honestly could have done with a few more pages to flesh out some of the parts that I wanted to learn more about. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War

kapahl's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and War

Moderate: Alcohol

robin_reads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail