A Song To Drown Rivers by Ann Liang

TL;DR: A bit too short, with not a lot of sense.
Source: NetGalley, thank you to the publisher!

Plot: Xishi is recruited as a spy and spends 10 years smiling at folks.
Characters: Perhaps it was the length, or the writing? But I didn’t enjoy them.
Setting: A fairly standard feeling world for the story unfortunately. I was hoping for more.
Romance: I’m sorry, that was likely the worst part.

Summary:

Her beauty hides a deadly purpose.

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.

Thoughts:

I fear that people are so desperate for ‘yearning’ in books or shows that they often don’t think too deeply about how realistic this is. Xishi is saved by a handsome solider and is sent off to train as a spy. Of course she falls in love with her trainer who she spends a whooping 10ish weeks with, only to spend 10 YEARS with the king, being the best nearly instantly trained spy ever.

I unfortunately couldn’t get on board with this one. I didn’t buy the romance, we only see the MMC for a short time and we’re expected to buy their deep love, instant as it was. I also didn’t quite believe that Xishi is this master spy. She was a country girl who was trained in 10 weeks. I am no expert on court, culture, or anything like that, but I know enough about this time in history (approximately) and setting (again approximately) to know it’s complicated. So I didn’t buy this.

It felt… shallow sadly. I’ve loved this author’s work in the past but this felt very lackluster. If you want someone who is working from the top to undermine a cruel ruler, I would recommend something like the Poet Empress. I don’t like to make direct book comparisons in reviews, but it was genuinely all I could think about as I read this. I was hoping for something with that depth, that light. But this fell very flat for me.