The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: A Song to Drown Rivers

Series: Standalone

Author: Ann Liang

Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fantasy, Retelling, Romance

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

Xishi’s beauty is viewed as a blessing to the people of Yue. When she draws the attention of the young military advisor, Fanli, her life changes forever. Fanli presents the opportunity for Xishi to use her beauty as a weapon; to become a concubine to the king of Wu and bring the kingdom down. Trained by Fanli from everything to concealing her emotions to classical instruments, Xishi hones her beauty to take the kingdom of Wu down. Once in the palace, the king’s affections focus on her, but threats lurk around every corner. The higher Xishi and Fanli climb the further they’ll fall- can they complete their mission?

Characters

Xishi: What a wonderful narrator! I really enjoyed reading her and following her story. She was descriptive, without being overly so (a pet peeve of mine) and was just a wonderful protagonist. It was nice to see how her perspectives changed throughout the book, though I wish it was a little more obvious and shown.

Fanli: I love the stoic, brooding main characters. Fanli didn’t disappoint in that regard. However, I wanted a little more backstory on him. How did he become the military advisor? What happened to him when Xishi was gone? He was an intriguing character that I wanted to know more about.

Fuchai: Oh, I have conflicted feelings about this character. The way his story ended was heartbreaking, but he wasn’t necessarily a good person. His last part of the book had me getting teary-eyed – which is uncommon for me. He was a complex character whose biggest flaw was probably circumstances and the way he was raised.

Zhengdan: This was a character that could have been in the story way more than she was. Another book could be written from her perspective of the events that happened. She was a fiery, fierce character from what I saw.

Luyi: He wasn’t seen too much, but from what I saw of him, I really liked him. I think there should be a book about Fanli and Luyi’s friendship.

Story

This book was heartbreaking. The scene that broke my heart was a shock though. I need to know what happens at the end of books, so I rather enjoy spoilers, but I wasn’t expecting for what happened to Fuchai to happen. It was still heartbreaking what happened to Xishi and Fanli, as well.

This book gave me minor Song of Achilles vibes, especially that last chapter.

The story was really good. I would have loved it even more if it was longer. Even just one hundred pages longer to develop some aspects of the story more, would have been nice. The writing was good as well, but maybe a little simple.

I really did like this book. It is a retelling of Chinese mythology, which I really enjoyed. The characters were well done, and the setting was atmospheric. I wish some more time was dedicated to certain aspects of the book, but overall, I really loved this book.

If you’re looking for a mythology retelling, with intriguing characters, and an interesting plot, then A Song to Drown Rivers is the perfect book.

Quotes

“The mind destroys. The heart devours.”

“One could live with almost anything, so long as they had something to live for.”

“One cannot save the world and live in peace. That’s not how these things work.”