Reviews with content warning for Violence - A Song to Drown Rivers

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang

51 reviews

fantasy_voyager98's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

This is my first read for 2025,and I absolutely loved this beautiful forbidden romance story.💙✨️
Mrs.Liang's writing style is poetically beautiful,and is truly memorable from start to finish.

The history throughout the story is very organized,and informative. Mrs.Liang's natural talent for storytelling truly shines in the best way,and I truly felt how much she loved writing this amazing retelling for one of the "Four Great Beauties" from Chinese history.

The forbidden romance throughout the story is beautiful,and bittersweet. The fmc,and the mmc are both strong because the love they have for one another never stopped it only grew as time went on.

The plot twist at the end of the story I definitely was not expecting,and I still remember that one moment that made me cry.😭

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang is perfect for reader's who love:

1.Forbidden romance
2.Fierce warrior Mulan vibes
3.Found family
4.Womanhood
5.Stunning world-building
6.Love against all odds
7.Strong,and clever fmc

This is my first book from Mrs.Liang,and i will definitely be reading more stories from her.✨️

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ryxuu's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I enjoyed the premise of the book as well as a lot of the syntax and imagery; the author paints many beautiful pictures with her words throughout. I read this pretty quickly, finding myself compelled to keep reading as the story unfolded, curious to know what would happen next. I read the last third of the book in a frenzy, genuinely shocked by moments as they unfolded. Ultimately, though, I think the book covers far too much time for it's own good, leaving the pacing to feel quite rushed and the relationships underdeveloped. I think this easily could've been a duology; the first covering xishi's training and developing her relationship with fanli, and the second covering her and zhengdan's time in the wu kingdom.

it's hard for me to be invested in xishi and fanli's relationship when they spend so little time together; it's one thing for her to have a crush on him and want to get back home so their relationship can grow, but she talks about him like they've been in love for decades and her desperation to get back to him feels incredibly undeserved. it doesn't help that in the time that they are together, he spends all of it being stubbornly stoic and unfeeling (i understand he's experiencing inner turmoil with this, but the point still stands).

i also don't think the book did a good enough job of making me feel conflicted about fuchai, because i was very endeared by him quite quickly when all he ever asked of xishi was her time and company. he's evil in some ways but it rarely feels like he relishes in that evil, moreso that he just does what has been asked of him by his birthright and father's looming shadow, and has simply grown indifferent to a violence he's known his entire life. he reads as a boy of circumstance rather than a genuinely tyrannical king, and so, I found myself hoping that xishi would soften towards him sooner, despite her understandable hatred for what she thinks he is/what he represents. it's also wild to me that she's able to kill him so easily and quickly? the most physically harm she'd ever personally caused another person was throwing that rock at the soldier in the beginning, so to think that she could simply stab this man who she'd grown to not completely hate through the heart within seconds of him handing her his sword felt very fast and very strange.

I really didn't like losing both zhengdan and xishi in the way that we did. it would've been so much more impactful had zhengdan killed general ma in that arena and been stricken down with her head held high as opposed to letting him frame her like that. and having xishi be literally tossed into into the river after all she'd achieved felt a bit like a slap in the face. i understand the historical context and truths that exist in their deaths but i'm very much of the mind that fictional stories need not be bound by the truths of our own realities. if these women must die, why not allow them a noble death, a death by their own hands, by their own choices? it's also interesting that fanli doesn't choose to meet xishi in the afterlife almost immediately, considering how deeply in love they both claimed to be. to think that she just sat in the underworld waiting for him when he could've been there instantly makes her death feel even more...sad? i'm not saying tragedy can't be just as good as a happy ending, i'm not even saying i wanted a happy ending, i just think the deaths of our two female leads could have been handled with far more agency than they were given.

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litagentsaritza's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

There are not enough words to express how beautiful this book is. If the gorgeous book design is any indicator, the devastatingly beautiful prose within is sure to take your breath away.

I’m not sure that I’ll ever fully recover from this book hangover but I’ll gladly remain drunk in this gorgeous tale.

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dearmalea's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Ach, du heilige Scheiße. Das Buch hat mich mit einem sehr poetischen Schreibstil empfangen. Erst war ich etwas skeptisch: Warum nur 10 Wochen? Warum? Warum? Warum... Nun, circa 1 Minute kann ich sagen. Alles. Ergibt. Sinn. Alles. Ergibt. Sinn. Auch wenn mir der Anfang der Liebesgeschichte zwischen Xishi und Fanli zu schnell ging, war es "in Ordnung", aber ICH WOLLTE NICHT, DASS ES SO ENDET und es hat mich zerstört. Am Ende haben sich alle Fragen für mich aufgeklärt und es war so schön und gleichzeitig so zerstörend (Ja, ich sitze hier heulend). Dieses Buch ist sooo besonders und definitiv ein Highlight.

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pinkrvngerreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

I picked up this book because it was on the same table as V. E. Schwab and Brandon Sanderson (high/ epic fantasy). Turns out this book is a historical fiction and tragedy, which I don't necessarily enjoy outside of television.

However, the book was well-written and compelling enough for the length. I wish it could have been longer because character transformation took about half the book and as a result, the remaining plot that contained the political intrigue and resolution felt comparatively shallow.

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