A review by kbrinkman25
A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang

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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