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folkofthebook's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Grief, Violence, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: War
just_one_more_paige's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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? It's complicated
5.0
I was pretty excited to receive an ARC of this historical fantasy/folklore retelling from NetGalley (thanks to the publisher, St. Martin's Press). This particular genre mash-up is one of my favorites, in general, and especially, as in this case, when it introduces me to a mythology that I didn't previously know about. You know that as soon as I finished I went and looked up the variations of the "original" tale of Xishi, to see how this compared to the common telling(s). I love that for me. Anyhoo, my review follows.
Shoutout to Goodreads for saving me from writing all my own blurbs: "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."
Y'all, this was so good. It had all the vibes of epic historical fantasy: the world-building was fantastic (I mean, it's historical fiction as a base, so real life, but the setting/time period was brought to life spectacularly), the character development was fully dimensional and nuanced (for Xishi and Fanli, of course, but also for some of our accessory characters, like Xishi's friend/fellow agent Zhengdan and the king of Wu, Fuchai), and the storytelling flowed and was paced so smoothly. It's a slower development, but never drags. The focus on the interpersonal relationship developments, the small nuances of political machinations and playing the long game, but with all the just-under-the-surface simmering tensions that come with "spy" style infiltration stories, is done with precision and skill. And the descriptions and dialogue have a beauty and rhythm to them that is really artistic. Together, it made this a really compelling read, despite the more steady forward movement. And then, as the whole novel builds to the moment of betrayal, when it finally comes, it is - realistically - over in almost the blink of an eye. The mark of a well-planned plot (both literally and literar-ily). And those final lines though; I actually deep sighed at reading them. Just...overall, the writing and narrative are stunning.
Very importantly, the slowwwwww burn - like, the slowest of burns - between Xishi and Fanli was everything. And then their separation...excruciating! The just-barely-but-not-fully-possible of their feelings/love is written so well. Oh, my heart. And it had all the hallmarks of great historical romance (light touches, stolen glances, etc.) that are so hot, for the depth of connection/feeling they're communicating, for all that the interactions themselves are so slight. Phew. And then, this mythology did not get a "happier" ending in its retelling! I mean, let me just say, I totally respect the author for adhering to the harder version of the original, while also including an explanation for how an alternate version might also have spread (as I said, I researched while reading this and learned about the two primary ways people say this legend ended). But also, the tragedy. My heart broke to know that the foreshadowing of doom was not just a device. And after all that pining and waiting, too! I weep, I mourn the lost love. And a pox on the hardness of men with ambition they value over all else.
Thematically, Liang really dives into the cycle of war and revenge; how, at the end of the day, it's all about the honor/glory of a few men. And other than that, all the cycle does is wound and devastate on both sides, with the “regular” people paying the price(s). As Xishi spends more time in the Wu kingdom, she really starts to see how the people themselves have more in common with each other than with the leaders who use them to carry out battles and plots for their own gain. These everyday people on both sides who are just trying to live their lives, but are blinded by the propaganda of blame that then fabricates further tragedy. And yet, they cannot see that forest through the trees until, as we see with Xishi, they are given a chance to spend time with each other. Oooof what a demonstration of a universally horrific concept. Liang even does a fantastic job humanizing the leaders themselves, showing how even within the ranks of power, there are a few calling the shots and the rest holding on for dear life/reputation. The way Xishi's relationship with Fuchai develops is gorgeous with that insight and complexity. His own search for connection and meaning doesn't excuse his actions/choices, but it does add layers to his humanity that creates some really fantastic depth and nuance around a character that could easily have been one-dimensional. And it culminates impressively, at the end, with Fuchai's final request of Xishi. The conflict of her lifelong hate/grudge and the reality of his person (as opposed to the specter of him) is too good. It's heart wrenching. It’s quite literally all the feels.
I was blown away by this novel. I haven't read anything by Liang before, but knowing this is her first adult novel, and first historical novel, I am just...wow. I loved it. I hope we get more (fingers crossed: I mean, there are Four Beauties of Ancient China, after all) because it was that good.
“…my beauty was something unnatural, transcending nature itself. And that beauty is not so different from destruction.”
“Then again, perhaps there could be no normal children raised in an age of war.”
“When it came down to it, the choice was this: a kingdom, or my happiness. And how many people under Heaven were really fortunate enough to know happiness?”
“In a world where everyone will demand something from you, it requires a certain degree of selfishness to be happy, you know.”
“A feeling expanded in my chest then, like an eagle spreading its wings for the first time. Power.”
“They assumed their money protected them from everything. The ultimate injustice was that sometimes it did.”
“What better way to show that you took another person’s power seriously than to suffer for their sake?”
“In reality we were just two mortals, bound by our respective roles in history, and whatever flickered between us felt so terribly fragile compared to the immovable weight of mountains, of kingdoms, of war.”
“One cannot save the world and live in peace. That’s not how these things work.”
“How many women throughout history were blamed for the weaknesses of men? We made such convenient scapegoats. We were raised to be small, to be silent, to take whatever we were given and no more.”
“Love is a knife; it cuts both ways.”
“It was a reversal of the popular stories passed among the villagers. The beautiful girl with blood under her nails, who did not need saving from danger but was instead the danger itself.”
“Time to speak, to drop our pretenses, to ask how he was. I would not have been so happy even if he’d single-handedly plucked the moon out of the sky for me, if he’d woven me a necklace made of all the stars in the heavens.”
“…I might have called it beautiful. Beautiful not in the way of a painting or poetry, but a natural disaster: a storm, or a falling comet.”
“What is home, if not you?”
“Just as the ocean tides ebb and flow beneath the moon, empires will rise and collapse, wars will start and cease, and the rest of us will be left to struggle against the currents.”
“He smiles, and the fog lifts.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death, Torture, Violence, Murder, Xenophobia, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content and Sexual violence
ash06's review
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Wow. I am left speechless and sobbing.
I could not book this book down, instantly I was drawn in and did not want to stop reading. When I did have to put it down, it was all I could think about. The world, the writing, the storytelling…it was all amazing.
This is such an incredible and well written book. I never expected the ending, and I was left sobbing. I am going to be up all night thinking of this book and the characters. I was lucky enough to read an ARC of this book but will be pre-ordering so I can have one of the beautiful limited edition copies for my collection.
This is the first book in a long time that has brought me to tears and left me shocked. This is one of those books that I wish I could re-read for the first time. Once the shock wears off I think I will reread this one soon.
St. Martin's Press provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions in this review are my own. Publication date is set for October 1, 2024.
I could not book this book down, instantly I was drawn in and did not want to stop reading. When I did have to put it down, it was all I could think about. The world, the writing, the storytelling…it was all amazing.
This is such an incredible and well written book. I never expected the ending, and I was left sobbing. I am going to be up all night thinking of this book and the characters. I was lucky enough to read an ARC of this book but will be pre-ordering so I can have one of the beautiful limited edition copies for my collection.
This is the first book in a long time that has brought me to tears and left me shocked. This is one of those books that I wish I could re-read for the first time. Once the shock wears off I think I will reread this one soon.
St. Martin's Press provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions in this review are my own. Publication date is set for October 1, 2024.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, War, and Blood
Minor: Murder and Suicide
dymonlikestoread's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
ARC Review
A Song To Drown Rivers
Author: Ann Liang
Rating: 4.5/5 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
Spice: 0/5
Release Date: October 1st 2024
I HAVE NEVER LOVED AND HATED A BOOK SO MUCH IN MY LIFE.
There's so much to unpack in this book I don't know where to start. I will give a full review closer to the release date.
The book follows Xishi from the Yu kingdom whose curse is her undeniable beauty. Because of her beauty, she's recruited by King Gouijan's handsome military advisor Fanli. Xishi is offered the opportunity to use her beauty as a weapon to bring the neighboring Wu kingdom down and get personal revenge on her own by seducing their tyrant King Fuchai. Personally trained by Fanli, Xishi quickly discovers her desire for him, will she be able to seduce Fanchi in order to bring down the Wu kingdom and be with the man she truly desires?
I was gasping for air I couldn’t believe the amount of twists I could not predict the ending if I tried. I am screaming this is the biggest WTF ending. I am not okay. But if you’re looking for a book that entices you from the beginning and breaks you at the end read this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Blood, Child death, Alcohol, War, and Murder
opalmars's review
medium-paced
2.0
A whole romance book where the romance isn’t even developed… that was definitely a choice. 🫤
This review is VERY LONG, so the summary is:
➤ The romance wasn’t developed at all (they fell in love in the first 25% of the book, off-page).
➤ The MC is a terrible spy and only survived because of plot armor.
➤ The story was full of nonsense (there’s only so much disbelief I have to suspend).
➤ The SCs were irrelevant.
➤ Most of the possibly-interesting action happened off-page.
The in-depth review:
The book starts with the MC Xishi (who is very VERY hot) being saved by a man (who is also very VERY hot). You instantly know than man is going to be the LI simply based on the fact that he’s the only person who got a really long and poetic physical description (he has beautiful clear skin, shiny hair and eyes, sharp angles in his face, his features are “beautifully refined”, he’s so tall her head only reaches his shoulders uwuuuuu, he’s literally described as “ethereal” at some point, he’s so strong he can lift her as if she “weighed no more than a feather”, etc.). I have 3 things to say about this:
1) I need authors to STOP making it so obvious from page 1 who the LI is simply based on how long his physical description is. It’s tacky and annoying.
2) Xishi and Fanli (the LI) were described as hot coooooonstantly throughout the book. I understand that HER beauty was central to the plot, so I kinda get that, but HIS??? I get it!!! His features are sharp!!! He is sexy and hot and you’re very very into him!! ENOUGH!!! 🤚🏻🤚🏻🤚🏻
3) Basically every Ann Liang LI looks the same: smooth skin, beautiful nose and lips, shiny dark hair and eyes, sharp jaw, very tall and skinny but still kinda strong… you literally can’t tell them apart. The only thing that made Fanli physically different was the fact that he had long hair. I’m begging Ann Liang to learn how to describe men differently, because this is getting absurd. Write a short king next, girl! A dude with tanner skin! Somebody with curlier hair! A wide nose! Some acne, for fuck’s sake! I believe in you! you don’t need to copy-paste these men!
Fanli then reaches out to Xishi and tells her: “Yeah so basically we want you to pretend to be a concubine for the enemy king while in actuality you’ll be spying on him and distracting him from his work bc we want to conquer his kingdom”. It was very dumb that Fanli (who’s supposed to be SUPER intelligent) was just telling this whole plan to a stranger (like, you’re compromising your mission. What if she tells that plan to other people?), but okay. She immediately accepts that mission and is whisked away to a remote place to train as a spy for 10 weeks, alongside Zhengdan, a friend of hers from her village who will pretend to be her maid. I wish her reasons for accepting putting herself at risk were better explained. The author should’ve emphasized her poverty and her desire for revenge for her sister’s murder.
In the first 1/3 of the book Xishi is training to become a spy, while simultaneously getting closer to Fanli. Almost all of this happens off-page. We did get a couple of moments that showed her training and her talking to Fanli, but they were mostly inconsequential. The dumbest scene for me was the one where Fanli does that thing men do in romcoms where he stands behind the woman with his arms around her to teach her something (in this case, how to play an instrument)…… I just had to check that this is in fact a historical book released in 2024, and not a silly modern romcom from 2005. 🤐 Xishi then insisted on playing that instrument until her hands were “slick with [her] own blood” for literally NO reason other than the fact that she wanted to learn to play in a day instead of leaving it for tomorrow, and she wanted to prove she could play better than girls who’d been learning from childhood… This is just one of the MULTIPLE times where it becomes evident that this bitch is STUPID 🤨
This whole section of the book had a lot of *telling instead of showing*, which is disappointing, firstly, because I’d really like to see a commoner being trained as a spy. That sounds SO COOL!!! Why not show it? It was such a missed opportunity! ☹️ But, most importantly, the decision to barely show anything that happened in those 10 weeks made the romance extremely poor.
I’m truly shocked that Ann Liang (an author who’s written 3 pretty well-developed romances) decided to NOT develop the romance in her 4th romance book…???????????? Literally WHY??? Why didn’t she show ANY of it???!! I’m not joking when I say I cannot list A SINGLE REASON for Fanli and Xishi to like each other, other than the fact that they’re hot. That’s it. There was no development, no bonding, nothing. They talk to each other sometimes, but they’re instantly feeling an immense attraction, and by the 30% mark they’re already in love, when, to me, they were barely even ACQUAINTANCES. I was seriously going insane. Like, what do you MEANNNN you’re feeling all of this for a man you BARELY EVEN KNOW?????? 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨
The poorly developed romance is extremely egregious because she then spends the last 70% of the book barely even interacting with Fanli, because she’s working as a spy-concubine in the enemy’s castle (this period spans for over a year, btw!). And SOMEHOW, even after all that time, Xishi is STILL pining over that cardboard cutout of a man. 😭🤚🏻 It would already be hard to believe she fell soooo deeply in love in only 10 weeks and that love didn’t falter at all after over a YEAR. It’s IMPOSSIBLE to believe it when you didn’t even bother showing them ACTUALLY getting close and falling for each other. Absurd. The “romance” in this book was absolute shit.
There were A LOT of dumb things in this first section of the book (like the fact that Xishi’s final test was simply to seduce 1 random man at a tea-shop, and boom, she was officially a spy. 🙄 Or the time she got shot in the shoulder with an arrow and ended up in a coma for A WEEK??? Bffr… 🥴. Or the fact that despite having trained for 10 weeks to seduce the enemy king, Xishi never even bothered to ask his age… no braincells found in that pretty head of hers lol 💀).
But then Xishi FINALLY gets to the enemy kingdom and into the palace, and I was actually excited! I thought we’d get scenes of her lurking around, spying on people, going through rooms, climbing walls to get to important, locked rooms through windows……. But we barely got anything. 🤡🤡🤡
Most of her “spying” is done off-page (just like her training), and is told instead of shown. All we ever see Xishi do is manipulate the king by making little requests here and there, and, because Ann Liang refuses to let Xishi struggle for anything, the king is never suspicious of her, and immediately does everything she asks of him. This man (who is also very VERY hot, obviously) literally “fell in love” with Xishi the moment he saw her, and like… I get that he’s frivolous and she’s oh-so-hot, but still – you CANNOT convince me that a king wouldn’t be suspicious of her. The only reason Xishi wasn’t questioned whenever she denied the king’s demands or requested things of him was because of some very strong plot-armor. You reeeeally need to suspend your disbelief with this book, because nothing in that palace made any sense. 😵💫
Her time at the palace was also riddled with extremely dumb things (other than the fact that the king somehow didn’t find her suspicious), like:
➤ how Xishi managed to bring a whole ass sword into the palace (did they not check her belongings before letting her go CLOSE TO THE KING, especially knowing damn well she’s from the enemy kingdom?? 😑).
➤ how she was ignored for days after arriving and yet when she yelled for a doctor THE KING HIMSELF immediately showed up? And then started applying medicine on her bloody wound (mind you, this is a person he spoke to ONCE). So unserious… 🥴
➤ how she literally just asked a guard to let her leave the palace and he immediately did?? And then she met up with a messenger from her kingdom so she could trade information she got by spying. Lollll okay it’s THAT EASY 😐.
➤ the fact that the KING let one of his concubines convince him to get drunk before an important meeting, and then let her join the meeting, where important information was being divulged…. Once again, in WHAT WORLD? + everything is SO EASY for her. 🙄
➤ the amount of times Xishi mentioned seeing someone’s BLACK EYES darken, or their colour deepening, was also quite mind numbing. That’s not something you can see, especially not that often. Ann Liang PLEASE try to find a different way to convey emotions. Please and thank you. 🥱
Everything was handed to Xishi. She never had to struggle for anything in this book, which made this story have no stakes. That, in addition to the fact that we rarely ever *see* her do anything, made this book extremely dull.
The moment she gets found out (kinda) is when she’s kissing the king and she says Fanli’s name (that’s the cardboard cutout of a man that she was barely acquainted with, yet was supposedly deeply in love with even though she’d known him for 10 weeks, and hadn’t seen him in like a year, btw!). I giggled because like…. Bitch?? I knew you were dumb, but SERIOUSLY?? 🤣🤣🤣 The king then brings Fanli over to his palace to torture him in front of Xishi to see her reaction. Somebody straight up just pierces Fanli’s chest with a sword, twisting it around and everything. Fanli, who’s apparently invincible, barely even flinches. Afterwards Xishi and Fanli meet up, because of cooooourse the king just let them go instead of… idk… keeping guards around them??? 🙄 One of them if your enemy, the other is the woman you’re suspicious of… But okay. Ann Liang can’t let these characters struggle + she needed an excuse to get these 2 *acquaintances* together again, to show their “romance” or whatever. Yawnnnn. 🥱
And guess what?! THE KING IMMEDIATELY TRUSTS HER AGAIN AFTER THIS! 🤡🤡🤡 Some months later the king invites Fanli for a banquet and then tells Xishi to show Fanli around the palace (once again, with no guards…. 😑). This was just another forced way for Ann Liang to put those 2 in a room together. It makes NO sense that they wouldn’t be followed, or that they would even RISK showing their emotions for each other in a palace full of servants, guards, maids, etc. Ridiculous. In this scene Fanli does that horrible crusty men do in romances where he grabs her wrist and pins her to the wall, trapping her 🤢🤢🤢. It’s supposed to be hot, but to me it’s gross 🤮. Ann Liang also did this in her book that just came out last month, in case you needed more evidence that her LIs are starting to be noticeably copy-pasted.
At this point you might’ve noticed that I haven’t mentioned anyone other than the MC, the LI and the king she spends most of the book with, and that is for a very simple reason: the SCs are completely irrelevant to this story. Remember Zhengdan (Xishi’s bff and maid I mentioned at the start)? Yeah, neither did the author, because she’s barely in the story. She could’ve been a cool character, but since we rarely saw her and her friendship with Xishi was told instead of shown, it is impossible to care about her. I didn’t feel a thing in Zhengdan’s last scene in the book lol. 🫤 Fanli’s friend (whose name I don’t even remember) was literally only there to praise Fanli. Xishi’s family was mentioned a handful of times, but they didn’t matter at all. Every SC in this book was underdeveloped, irrelevant and completely forgettable.
I also need to say that THIS IS NOT A FANTASY BOOK!!! I genuinely don’t know why it’s being marketed as such. The only fantasy elements are some vague mentions of ghosts/afterlife in the last 10 pages of the book. This isn’t fantasy *at all*; it’s just a (very underwhelming) historical romance.
Overall, while this wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, it is definitely a huge disappointment, given that I like Ann Liang’s other books. This is also definitely a REEEEALLY dumb book. 🥴 If you can turn off your brain perhaps you’ll be able to look past all the dumb/nonsensical plot points, but the romance isn’t even good enough to indulge in, so I personally wouldn’t recommend. 🤷🏻 Given the fact that I literally couldn’t go more than 3 pages without finding something really stupid that I NEEDED to complain about (just go through my reading updates lol), I cannot give this more than 2 stars.
ARCs available for everyone to download on Netgalley.
This review is VERY LONG, so the summary is:
➤ The romance wasn’t developed at all (they fell in love in the first 25% of the book, off-page).
➤ The MC is a terrible spy and only survived because of plot armor.
➤ The story was full of nonsense (there’s only so much disbelief I have to suspend).
➤ The SCs were irrelevant.
➤ Most of the possibly-interesting action happened off-page.
The in-depth review:
The book starts with the MC Xishi (who is very VERY hot) being saved by a man (who is also very VERY hot). You instantly know than man is going to be the LI simply based on the fact that he’s the only person who got a really long and poetic physical description (he has beautiful clear skin, shiny hair and eyes, sharp angles in his face, his features are “beautifully refined”, he’s so tall her head only reaches his shoulders uwuuuuu, he’s literally described as “ethereal” at some point, he’s so strong he can lift her as if she “weighed no more than a feather”, etc.). I have 3 things to say about this:
1) I need authors to STOP making it so obvious from page 1 who the LI is simply based on how long his physical description is. It’s tacky and annoying.
2) Xishi and Fanli (the LI) were described as hot coooooonstantly throughout the book. I understand that HER beauty was central to the plot, so I kinda get that, but HIS??? I get it!!! His features are sharp!!! He is sexy and hot and you’re very very into him!! ENOUGH!!! 🤚🏻🤚🏻🤚🏻
3) Basically every Ann Liang LI looks the same: smooth skin, beautiful nose and lips, shiny dark hair and eyes, sharp jaw, very tall and skinny but still kinda strong… you literally can’t tell them apart. The only thing that made Fanli physically different was the fact that he had long hair. I’m begging Ann Liang to learn how to describe men differently, because this is getting absurd. Write a short king next, girl! A dude with tanner skin! Somebody with curlier hair! A wide nose! Some acne, for fuck’s sake! I believe in you! you don’t need to copy-paste these men!
Fanli then reaches out to Xishi and tells her: “Yeah so basically we want you to pretend to be a concubine for the enemy king while in actuality you’ll be spying on him and distracting him from his work bc we want to conquer his kingdom”. It was very dumb that Fanli (who’s supposed to be SUPER intelligent) was just telling this whole plan to a stranger (like, you’re compromising your mission. What if she tells that plan to other people?), but okay. She immediately accepts that mission and is whisked away to a remote place to train as a spy for 10 weeks, alongside Zhengdan, a friend of hers from her village who will pretend to be her maid. I wish her reasons for accepting putting herself at risk were better explained. The author should’ve emphasized her poverty and her desire for revenge for her sister’s murder.
In the first 1/3 of the book Xishi is training to become a spy, while simultaneously getting closer to Fanli. Almost all of this happens off-page. We did get a couple of moments that showed her training and her talking to Fanli, but they were mostly inconsequential. The dumbest scene for me was the one where Fanli does that thing men do in romcoms where he stands behind the woman with his arms around her to teach her something (in this case, how to play an instrument)…… I just had to check that this is in fact a historical book released in 2024, and not a silly modern romcom from 2005. 🤐 Xishi then insisted on playing that instrument until her hands were “slick with [her] own blood” for literally NO reason other than the fact that she wanted to learn to play in a day instead of leaving it for tomorrow, and she wanted to prove she could play better than girls who’d been learning from childhood… This is just one of the MULTIPLE times where it becomes evident that this bitch is STUPID 🤨
This whole section of the book had a lot of *telling instead of showing*, which is disappointing, firstly, because I’d really like to see a commoner being trained as a spy. That sounds SO COOL!!! Why not show it? It was such a missed opportunity! ☹️ But, most importantly, the decision to barely show anything that happened in those 10 weeks made the romance extremely poor.
I’m truly shocked that Ann Liang (an author who’s written 3 pretty well-developed romances) decided to NOT develop the romance in her 4th romance book…???????????? Literally WHY??? Why didn’t she show ANY of it???!! I’m not joking when I say I cannot list A SINGLE REASON for Fanli and Xishi to like each other, other than the fact that they’re hot. That’s it. There was no development, no bonding, nothing. They talk to each other sometimes, but they’re instantly feeling an immense attraction, and by the 30% mark they’re already in love, when, to me, they were barely even ACQUAINTANCES. I was seriously going insane. Like, what do you MEANNNN you’re feeling all of this for a man you BARELY EVEN KNOW?????? 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨
The poorly developed romance is extremely egregious because she then spends the last 70% of the book barely even interacting with Fanli, because she’s working as a spy-concubine in the enemy’s castle (this period spans for over a year, btw!). And SOMEHOW, even after all that time, Xishi is STILL pining over that cardboard cutout of a man. 😭🤚🏻 It would already be hard to believe she fell soooo deeply in love in only 10 weeks and that love didn’t falter at all after over a YEAR. It’s IMPOSSIBLE to believe it when you didn’t even bother showing them ACTUALLY getting close and falling for each other. Absurd. The “romance” in this book was absolute shit.
There were A LOT of dumb things in this first section of the book (like the fact that Xishi’s final test was simply to seduce 1 random man at a tea-shop, and boom, she was officially a spy. 🙄 Or the time she got shot in the shoulder with an arrow and ended up in a coma for A WEEK??? Bffr… 🥴. Or the fact that despite having trained for 10 weeks to seduce the enemy king, Xishi never even bothered to ask his age… no braincells found in that pretty head of hers lol 💀).
But then Xishi FINALLY gets to the enemy kingdom and into the palace, and I was actually excited! I thought we’d get scenes of her lurking around, spying on people, going through rooms, climbing walls to get to important, locked rooms through windows……. But we barely got anything. 🤡🤡🤡
Most of her “spying” is done off-page (just like her training), and is told instead of shown. All we ever see Xishi do is manipulate the king by making little requests here and there, and, because Ann Liang refuses to let Xishi struggle for anything, the king is never suspicious of her, and immediately does everything she asks of him. This man (who is also very VERY hot, obviously) literally “fell in love” with Xishi the moment he saw her, and like… I get that he’s frivolous and she’s oh-so-hot, but still – you CANNOT convince me that a king wouldn’t be suspicious of her. The only reason Xishi wasn’t questioned whenever she denied the king’s demands or requested things of him was because of some very strong plot-armor. You reeeeally need to suspend your disbelief with this book, because nothing in that palace made any sense. 😵💫
Her time at the palace was also riddled with extremely dumb things (other than the fact that the king somehow didn’t find her suspicious), like:
➤ how Xishi managed to bring a whole ass sword into the palace (did they not check her belongings before letting her go CLOSE TO THE KING, especially knowing damn well she’s from the enemy kingdom?? 😑).
➤ how she was ignored for days after arriving and yet when she yelled for a doctor THE KING HIMSELF immediately showed up? And then started applying medicine on her bloody wound (mind you, this is a person he spoke to ONCE). So unserious… 🥴
➤ how she literally just asked a guard to let her leave the palace and he immediately did?? And then she met up with a messenger from her kingdom so she could trade information she got by spying. Lollll okay it’s THAT EASY 😐.
➤ the fact that the KING let one of his concubines convince him to get drunk before an important meeting, and then let her join the meeting, where important information was being divulged…. Once again, in WHAT WORLD? + everything is SO EASY for her. 🙄
➤ the amount of times Xishi mentioned seeing someone’s BLACK EYES darken, or their colour deepening, was also quite mind numbing. That’s not something you can see, especially not that often. Ann Liang PLEASE try to find a different way to convey emotions. Please and thank you. 🥱
Everything was handed to Xishi. She never had to struggle for anything in this book, which made this story have no stakes. That, in addition to the fact that we rarely ever *see* her do anything, made this book extremely dull.
The moment she gets found out (kinda) is when she’s kissing the king and she says Fanli’s name (that’s the cardboard cutout of a man that she was barely acquainted with, yet was supposedly deeply in love with even though she’d known him for 10 weeks, and hadn’t seen him in like a year, btw!). I giggled because like…. Bitch?? I knew you were dumb, but SERIOUSLY?? 🤣🤣🤣 The king then brings Fanli over to his palace to torture him in front of Xishi to see her reaction. Somebody straight up just pierces Fanli’s chest with a sword, twisting it around and everything. Fanli, who’s apparently invincible, barely even flinches. Afterwards Xishi and Fanli meet up, because of cooooourse the king just let them go instead of… idk… keeping guards around them??? 🙄 One of them if your enemy, the other is the woman you’re suspicious of… But okay. Ann Liang can’t let these characters struggle + she needed an excuse to get these 2 *acquaintances* together again, to show their “romance” or whatever. Yawnnnn. 🥱
And guess what?! THE KING IMMEDIATELY TRUSTS HER AGAIN AFTER THIS! 🤡🤡🤡 Some months later the king invites Fanli for a banquet and then tells Xishi to show Fanli around the palace (once again, with no guards…. 😑). This was just another forced way for Ann Liang to put those 2 in a room together. It makes NO sense that they wouldn’t be followed, or that they would even RISK showing their emotions for each other in a palace full of servants, guards, maids, etc. Ridiculous. In this scene Fanli does that horrible crusty men do in romances where he grabs her wrist and pins her to the wall, trapping her 🤢🤢🤢. It’s supposed to be hot, but to me it’s gross 🤮. Ann Liang also did this in her book that just came out last month, in case you needed more evidence that her LIs are starting to be noticeably copy-pasted.
At this point you might’ve noticed that I haven’t mentioned anyone other than the MC, the LI and the king she spends most of the book with, and that is for a very simple reason: the SCs are completely irrelevant to this story. Remember Zhengdan (Xishi’s bff and maid I mentioned at the start)? Yeah, neither did the author, because she’s barely in the story. She could’ve been a cool character, but since we rarely saw her and her friendship with Xishi was told instead of shown, it is impossible to care about her. I didn’t feel a thing in Zhengdan’s last scene in the book lol. 🫤 Fanli’s friend (whose name I don’t even remember) was literally only there to praise Fanli. Xishi’s family was mentioned a handful of times, but they didn’t matter at all. Every SC in this book was underdeveloped, irrelevant and completely forgettable.
I also need to say that THIS IS NOT A FANTASY BOOK!!! I genuinely don’t know why it’s being marketed as such. The only fantasy elements are some vague mentions of ghosts/afterlife in the last 10 pages of the book. This isn’t fantasy *at all*; it’s just a (very underwhelming) historical romance.
Overall, while this wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, it is definitely a huge disappointment, given that I like Ann Liang’s other books. This is also definitely a REEEEALLY dumb book. 🥴 If you can turn off your brain perhaps you’ll be able to look past all the dumb/nonsensical plot points, but the romance isn’t even good enough to indulge in, so I personally wouldn’t recommend. 🤷🏻 Given the fact that I literally couldn’t go more than 3 pages without finding something really stupid that I NEEDED to complain about (just go through my reading updates lol), I cannot give this more than 2 stars.
ARCs available for everyone to download on Netgalley.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Murder
Minor: Violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, and War
lastblossom's review
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
tl;dr
An emotional ride featuring a clever protagonist that absolutely sticks the landing.
Thoughts
I finished this book a while ago, but I had to sit with my thoughts for a while because they are many. Like the lead character, this book is beautiful and clever and ambitious and tragic, and I found myself caught up in it the whole way through. Espionage tales are tricky, but this one really fulfills is promise, with a lead character who is absolutely cunning, and I love every move she makes. Pacing can be a bit hard to follow in some places, with large portions of time passing quickly in a way that makes me feel a TV show would convert it into a quick musical montage. The parts where it slows down to really detail the character interactions are by far the best parts, and I was surprised at how delicate and tender some of the emotions are. If the description of the book seems even the least bit interesting to you, give it a read. Strong recommend on this end.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for an advance copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.
An emotional ride featuring a clever protagonist that absolutely sticks the landing.
Thoughts
I finished this book a while ago, but I had to sit with my thoughts for a while because they are many. Like the lead character, this book is beautiful and clever and ambitious and tragic, and I found myself caught up in it the whole way through. Espionage tales are tricky, but this one really fulfills is promise, with a lead character who is absolutely cunning, and I love every move she makes. Pacing can be a bit hard to follow in some places, with large portions of time passing quickly in a way that makes me feel a TV show would convert it into a quick musical montage. The parts where it slows down to really detail the character interactions are by far the best parts, and I was surprised at how delicate and tender some of the emotions are. If the description of the book seems even the least bit interesting to you, give it a read. Strong recommend on this end.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for an advance copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Murder, War, Xenophobia, Grief, Death, and Suicide
Minor: Alcohol, Trafficking, and Child death
love_and_lilacs's review
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
4.25
I loved this book. Being completely unfamiliar with both the author and the subject matter, I wasn't really sure what I was getting into, but by the end I was compelled to begin researching the myths and stories that formed the foundation of this novel.
There were certainly a few points that I felt the pacing could have been improved but it wasn't enough to stop me from enjoying the story. And there were a few minor points where I wasn't entirely clear on how much time was passing, particularly once Xishi arrives at the Wu castle.
The ending was also entirely unexpected, and then unexpected one more time before it all wrapped up. Maybe if you're familiar with Xishi's story and the variations of her myth, you won't be surprised at all, but I certainly was.
I hesitate to make this comparison, because I feel like it puts too much pressure on this book, but I would say that people who enjoy Madeline Miller's works will also enjoy this one. Miller's prose is likely the stronger, but I was hardly disappointed by Liang's writing style either.
The romance was also constructed in a way that felt compelling and satisfying to read, and I found myself anxious to learn the ultimate fate of Xishi and Fanli.
I devoured this in almost a single sitting and only stopped reading because it was 3 am. I can imagine myself returning to this book to read it again, perhaps at a slower pace that allows me to savor what I might have missed the first time around.
Perhaps the highest praise I can give this book is that it moved me to tears, and any book that can move me to feel real emotion is worth my time.
ARC provided by NetGalley
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Gore, Physical abuse, War, Blood, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol
Minor: Animal cruelty
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