A Song to Drown Rivers: A GMA Book Club Pick

I think this book is a wonderful historical fantasy novel! It surprised me in many ways. I found it to be a little light on the fantasy and more of a historical fiction novel. That did really work for me though as that's one of my favorite genres. But I think it's important that people aren't expecting a more traditional fantasy style book. I definitely did enjoy this story and I think others will too. The prose is wonderful and the story is one you can easily read in a single sitting. I would say overall this is a 4.5 I would round up to a 5!Fair warning that A Song to Drown Rivers is not a romance. There is a love story, but this is not a romance. I don't think it's advertising itself as such at all and I never thought it was a romance. But in case someone is confused I just want to make sure that's clear. Now that we know that, I do want to compliment the love story. It was one that I was actually expecting not to like because it is a love triangle. I'm just never really a fan of those. That's why I was pleasantly surprised by how well this one worked in the story. It actually fit in the context of the story. Xishi is a beautiful woman working with and being trained by Fanli to turn her beauty into a weapon. They grow closer and have a connection. She wants revenge against the Wu Kingdom and is sent to seduce the king of the Wu Kingdom, King Fuchai in order to achieve that vengeance (among other reasons). This creates an interesting dynamic for the two of them, The story is woven with these complexities and is primed for betrayals that it makes the love triangle make sense while being so beautifully painful and tragic. Ann Liang has done a masterful job, especially with a trope I truly never seek out. A Song to Drown Rivers did a great job with the characters. Fuchai is my favorite, but everyone is so well-crafted and feels real. That makes the sacrifices and the losses so much more heart-rending. I also think this book does really well with the world-building. It gave me what I felt was necessary and I was never confused, even with the complexities of warring nations and political intrigue. I think the plot is engaging, though at times, especially earlier in the book, things work out a bit too conveniently for Xishi in my opinion. The twists at the end had me completely shocked. I would say that was well-done in how things were unexpected while still making sense for the story. But wow was I caught off guard!This book will break your heart in a way only a talented author can do to you, and if that's something you want then A Song to Drown Rivers is worth a read!

Beautiful, interesting, inspiring storyAnn Liang really made you feel apart of what was happeningI felt like I knew & card for the characters

What a beautiful beautiful book! So well done. Thank you Ann Laing for a beautiful look into the sacrifices and trials of both love, and war. Be ready to cry like a baby

Ann Liang truly outdid herself. From the historical romance, to the yearning and hope. Every single detail made me feel so much emotion. The ending-I cried my eyes out.

Written, engaging story with likable characters. It is also sad. Very sad. Men are always blundering along destroying things, especially beautiful things. They have to own it, or destroy it. They can’t let it be.

A lovely, if heartbreaking, tale of political espionage.Let’s start by acknowledging that this book is not, in fact, a romance. It is a tragedy, but I'm pragmatic in recognizing that it is much easier to get books sold when they are marketed to the romantasy genre (of which this assuredly is not).It’s a retelling of the story of Xishi, a common girl of uncommon beauty, trained to seduce a conquering king in order to cause political instability and an opportunity for her own nation to rise .... so you should expect political espionage, betrayal, and lots of unfulfilled longing.I went into this blindly, having never heard the myth of Xishi. So, to me, this was just an interesting story about a poor, but beautiful girl who is chosen to be trained as a tribute concubine in order to seduce a conquering king and cause political instability, thereby creating an opportunity for her own nation to rise again.The betrayals at the end, while tragic, seemed fitting in light of the betrayals Xishi herself has been enacting. This story was far less a romance than a tragedy. When considered in that light, I'm not unsatisfied, but I'd be lying if I said my romantic sensibilities didn't wish for a HEA for Xishi and Fanli.Taken as a tragic tale, it's achingly beautiful, but I also understand how someone who expected a romantasy book would be disappointed.

I did not have expectations when I picked this up... but I did not expect to feel so much emotion, resonate so strongly, or be drawn back repeatedly until I drained every available drop of words. This book is beautiful, as beautiful as the main character. With touches of bitter truth everywhere adding painful depth. This is a keeper for my shelf. I'll long to return to this world as I wrestle the truths in my own world. Thank you Ann Liang for writing this out... and thank you to the strong beautiful woman/women who inspired the writing.

I went back and forth about whether or not I liked this story, all the way to the end. I loved the ending.

Well written, truly pulls you in. I did not care for how it ended but I still would recommend this as a good, thrilling read.

A Song to Drown Rivers intrigued me with its premise and promise of a strong female main character who is asked to use her beauty to bring down a king, but what will really make me remember this story for a long time is the amount of emotions Ann Liang has evoked from me through her writing.The way Ann Liang writes character development is absolutely beautiful!!!The emotions Xishi goes through in accordance with the decisions she makes and the reactions to the actions of the other characters around her is so genuine and thoughtful!One thing I did not expect to do while reading this book was SOB. I think of this story and it makes me want to cry all over again just knowing the characters and their endings.The character development of Xishi's emotions toward Fuchai throughout the story was so believable to read! Having her spend so much time with the enemy then getting to know him and understand him and having that conflict with her original feelings towards him (while her still having love for Fanli) felt so real and right!Having Xishi cry over Fuchai's body after delivering the killing blow was so cruel but beautiful in her character development and I'm glad there was a scene like that to really solidify growth of Xishi's character.Liang really wounded my heart with the scene where Fanli was burying Xishi and he told the boy to spread the word that she was still alive and travelling the world because it was the ending she deserved for her hero's tale.And I absolutely understand why the king had Xishi killed in the end (war and kings and such mindset) and Fanli's response to it just devastated me! So cruel, tragic, and beautiful!I know there is happiness in the end of the story, but just the way Liang wrote the scenes where Fanli is in ruins just really evoked strong emotions from me.It was like I wanted a happy ending because it was such a tense situation that was successfully pulled off, but at the same time somewhere in the back of my mind I knew an immediate happy ending was too easy for an epic story like this.The story of Xishi is one of bravery, of selflessness, and a cruel but beautiful mix of evoked emotions!

Oh dear….Pass me another tissue please! I’m not sad really just haunted by this lovely story. No spoilers here so your safe but do be warned to have some tissues handy as you wouldn’t want to stop reading to go find one now I promise you! This is a pretty fast read and you won’t want to put it down so expect it to go by quickly. Enjoy!

Remember the book Shanna that everyone was reading back in the 70’s. This book is remarkably like that. Strong woman, noble good looking hero. The end.

Gosh it was amazing!!!!! I fell in love with her world, the characters, everything. It was like poetry. There was not a single page I didn’t look forward too. Author did an amazing job of conveying both sides of war. I really felt like she understood the humanity of both sides, which was beautifully done. I genuinely ache for all the people in that book.-Content rating -No swearingTotally cleanTragic/poetic endingDrinking 2/5Spoilers ——-I want to know if anyone else wanted her to end up with the wu king!!!!!!!! I cried and cried and cried. I’m so sad actually he didn’t deserve that. Especially in the light that the author created him. After reading the book, I had to go search up the legend on my own to understand some more context. the legend paints the wu king as purely evil negligent, and wastefulwhich makes sense but but knowing the king that we had, I can’t help but mourn for him. Given the chance and the proper knowledge, I really think the Wu king and our main character could have saved the people and stopped the war. The way the story developed it really sounds like somebody was planning the war between them, which I guess is true. I was really rooting for them to end the war and become friendly kingdoms. But the author did such a good job of conveying, the emotion of greed between men and power. I think the author did an amazing job and I wouldn’t change a single thing.

First, the book is physically beautiful. Gold spotted dust jacket, beautiful gilded pages and embossing on the front and back covers. I’ve never seen so much invested into the production of a book.Being unfamiliar with the culture, I had no basis to compare this book with the fable.This entire book was subterfuge and espionage and the only character that I would up caring about at the end was Fuchai. He was the only genuine character in the entire book. He was truly in love, ready to give up his kingdom for it. His betrayal, though expected, was unwelcomed because of his honest sincerity.The book moved slowly with much discussion between characters and little action.The final 20 pages was seeped in fable and a belief that I’m simply unfamiliar with, which in the end, took me completely out of the story and gave it, to me, an unsatisfactory finish. It should have ended with her final thoughts in the river and let the reader fill in their own ending.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the ARC!A SONG TO DROWN RIVERS is inspired by the legend of Xishi, one of the famous Four Beauties of Ancient China. She draws the attention of a military advisor named Fanli and is presented with an opportunity to use her beauty as a weapon to topple the rival neighboring kingdom of Wu, improve the lives of her people, and avenge her sister's murder.Boy do I love a story with some good strong heroines, female rage, and revenge. Xishi's character is phenomenal and while her outside beauty is unmatched, it's her inward strength and determination that really shine through in this story. I loved the romance, betrayal, sacrifice, blurred lines, and politics. The ending really drove the whole story home to make this an incredibly powerful story.

Well, I finished this book yesterday, and I am still at a loss for words.I was so impressed by the storytelling that I couldn't put the book down, but at the same time, I was so riddled with nerves from reading this book that I had to pause a few times to let my brain catch up with what was happening.I loved Xishi, and I never grew tired of listening to her speak. She didnt exhaust her trauma, or whine about her life. She was chosen to accomplish a task, and she used what she was born with to do just that. Her ability to be clever, to manipulate, to play people against others. I had to respect that she wasn't some sleeper cell raised in a remote village trained from birth to be a spy. She was just a beautiful woman, and she let men underestimate her while she played them like puppets.Fanli for me was a great addition to this book, and I appreciated that he wasn't in a major part of it. He was something to be thought of in a moment, but suppressed and forgotten to keep the mask on. Something to look forward to when things seem dire.Two things in the book that looked like it had foreshadowing but never panned out, where her heart condition, and the sword. I thought they would work into the story some how but they never really did.The ending was one of the best and most surprisings ones I've read in awhile, and honestly the last part where they reunite I don't think it needed to be in there. Not every story needs the HEA, and it's refreshing when sometimes you can't be saved.I really loved this book. I am very glad I got to read it. I will definitely buy the physical copy for my shelf and reread it in the future.

4.5 StarsThis book really surprised me. I went from rolling my eyes at the beginning to sobbing by the end. I didn’t think I would have enjoyed this book because the beginning 35% was slow. I felt the romance was a bit too rushed but man did this book change my mind as the events unraveled.First, the cover is gorgeous. Synopsis sounded great. I didn’t know about the legend of Xishi but the concept of having this woman infiltrate the enemy kingdom and take it down from the inside sounded great. I didn’t expect to be so affected but the events or care this much about the characters. Xishi uses her beauty to take down the enemy. She has limited help and I was impressed by her abilities and cleverness. She is a great heroine to lead the charge from within. Zhengdan is a queen. She stuck out to me early on and I bow down to her loyalty and spirit. Fanli is the stoic military advisor that puts kingdom above everything else. He is loyal and doesn’t show how much he truly cares besides those stolen moments between him and Xishi. I even felt bad for Fuchai in the end. He seems like a young man with great expectations and burdens of a kingdom he never really asked for.The synopsis really sells this book as a romance and it does have romance, just not as much as I would have expected. Yet somehow the love between Xishi and Fanli is something of legend. They have so much at stake and so much to lose but are doing what needs to be done.This book really also illustrates how war can be so devastating. The thing is that both sides think they are in the right but they don’t see how their people are really affected. Their narrow selfish view of winning hurts way too many people and devastates lives across both kingdoms.I’m still seriously crying a bit as I’m writing this review but this book was heartbreaking, intriguing and totally worth the read.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, for this book. I am so grateful to have had the chance to read this book.Oh my goodness, this quickly became one of my top reads of the year. The only reason I gave it 4 stars inches of 5 is because I wish the ending had been somewhat happier, and I felt like it was a little bit fast-paced and wish we had more of the actual training and time together before she went to the King.This book was so beautifully written, I couldn’t find a single fault with it. Usually I find something little that bugs me about the writing - choppy sentences, weird descriptions, using certain words to describe things - but this book was absolute perfection.I quickly became hooked on the story and found that I couldn’t put it down. I typically fall asleep before 10 pm because I’m up very early in the morning, but this book kept me reading until almost midnight every night. I quite literally fell asleep with the book in my hands because I couldn’t put it down.The story was so wonderful, and I loved the characters. I wish we had gotten more of the training, and more time with certain characters. I do feel like it was a little bit fast paced because there were some time jumps. But I truly loved every bit of this book, and ended up buying a physical copy so I can read it over and over, and make my sisters read it too,I definitely want to read more by this author. Her writing and storytelling captured me so completely, it brought me out of a weeks-long book slump.

This book absolutely wrecked me; enough said. I'm writing this almost exactly four months after I finished it, and I still remember that day vividly. It's really once in a lifetime that you're in the office on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, reading a book, all of a sudden you reach the end and you're bawling your eyes out uncontrollably. That all happened, folks, and A Song to Drown Rivers is the book that did that to me.Have you ever wished you could read a C-drama? Well, you're in luck, because this is probably as close as you'll ever get to that experience. The imagery is so beautiful it made me want to gasp. The best books are the ones that transport you to the place and time they're set in, making you feel like you're right there with the characters, and ASTDR did exactly that. Even without music, I might add!It's not just the setting that's astounding, the tropes and storyline had me hooked from start to end. The angst, the longing, the forbidden romance... Yes, this is a retelling, but it's so much more than that. Whether you're familiar with the legend of Xishi or not, prepare to be devastated. Another aspect of the book that drew me in was the exploration of grey. So much of the story considers the morally grey, and, when you stop to think about it the line between good and bad is extremely blurred. Who is the real villain of the story?ASTDR is one of those books that's best experienced firsthand, rather than described, so let me conclude by saying that this a book you will end up thinking about for a long time. All it took was one sentence, and I couldn't stop reading.

Ann Liang's A Song to Drown Rivers is an enthralling tale of longing, sacrifice, and a beautiful woman's quest for vengeance against the nation that murdered her sister. I read it in one sitting, but this story will haunt me for days.Xishi is well acquainted with loss and sacrifice. Her sister has been dead for several years when she crosses paths with Fanli, military advisor to the defeated Yue king Goujian. Fanli is known for his brilliance in strategy and in battle, and he presents her with a unique opportunity to enact revenge against the kingdom whose soldiers killed her sister.Despite the danger that she knows will await her, she agrees to be trained in the ways of the court so that the Yue king can present her as a bride to their conquerer, King Fuchai. She will make him love her while she works to destabilize his kingdom from within the palace.I cannot say enough good things about this book. The pacing was perfect for me as an ADHD reader. Ann balanced moments of urgency with moments of quiet reflection in a way that kept me engaged from start to finish. She managed to weave an unreal amount of longing and romantic tension between Fanli and Xishi without a single touch between them.She handled each character's journey and development with care, ensuring that the villains have gentle, loveable qualities and the heroes have frustrating faults. I especially loved the way she characterized the Wu king Fuchai. I could feel Xishi's growing conflict as she spent more time with the Wu king and his people and realized that they do not have to be monsters in order to do monstrous things.I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy historical fiction, legend re-tellings, slow-burn romance, and heart-aching conclusions. This is the kind of book that will absolutely wreck you, but in a good way.