Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang

2 reviews

historicalqueer's review against another edition

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

5.0

This book brought me to genuine tears. It’s a beautifully written telling of the historical event, with so much complex emotion and desire. I am now going to go recommend this book to everyone I know. 
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baileybeloved's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Loved the world building, the characters, & the ending.

As with a lot of historical fiction/retellings, you could see where the story was going the entire time & I knew, basically beat for beat, what was coming next, but it didn’t take away from the emotions of it.

Everyone got the ending they were always going to have & I respect that. I think Liang has excellent characterization skills, which really aids in making the plot both believable and predictable - not that that is a bad thing. Knowing the characters so well that I can predict their thoughts/motivations just means (to me) that you’ve created some very well fleshed out characters.

A small thing I really liked - up until the end - is that we see a lot of moments where Xishi is forced to face that people, regardless of kingdom, are just people. Everyone loses family in wars regardless of side, every kingdom has a king who is selfish, every court is made up of individuals with their own tragedies & losses, & every mountain can be stunning, regardless of the earth it resides on. Though Xishi sort of  acknowledges this through noting her surprise (thinking specifically of the line
”you call the Yue monsters?”
), it is kept in the background. It does not change Xishi’s mind or her mission, which I liked for her character. Then at the end, you have another character kind of bring that point home for her, which I thought was kind of unnecessary for the story. Like it is understandable that that is that character’s belief, but I just felt like that being the catalyst for Xishi’s next actions, & the ultimate climax of the book, was a little bit unnecessary.

Overall, I liked this story a lot. The book itself is also stunning (I have the hardcover with the art on the front (sword) & back (hairpin) beneath what is already a beautiful cover). 
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