A Song to Drown Rivers

June 1, 2024

Xishi is beautiful, but beauty hasn't helped her as a common Yue girl growing up under the cruel control of the Wu. Then Fanli, the Yue king's brilliant advisor, selects Xishi to seduce the Wu king and save their people. Under Fanli's tutelage, Xishi learns to act like a proper concubine, but her dedication is tested by the growing attraction between them. Can she succeed in her mission to betray the Wu king, or will she betray her heart instead? This novel joins other women-centered retellings of myth and legend, focusing on one of the four beauties of ancient China. Xishi comes alive, and her conflicted feelings take center stage as she navigates the Wu court and learns how far she's willing to go for revenge. Her relationship with Fanli will appeal to fans of forbidden love, while the palace intrigue is reminiscent of Shelley Parker-Chan's He Who Drowned the World. Readers intrigued by the hints of romance, however, shouldn't expect a traditional happy ending. VERDICT YA author Liang's (I Hope This Doesn't Find You) adult debut will appeal to those who enjoy retellings blending history and myth.--Erin Niederberger

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August 5, 2024
Liang’s propulsive adult debut (after the YA novel I Hope This Doesn’t Find You) offers a straightforward retelling of the life of one of ancient China’s fabled Four Beauties. Xishi’s good looks are so arresting that, when she was born, “all the wild geese flew down from the sky, and the fish sank beneath the waves, having forgotten how to swim... beauty is not so different from destruction.” As she grows older, she wears a half veil in public to stop people from gawking. Word of her beauty spreads to Fanli, the Yue king’s top minister, who recruits her for a covert operation to bring down the enemy State of Wu by acting as a tribute concubine to the king. She’s reluctantly trained in court etiquette by Fanli—and both of them are surprised by a growing attraction. As the operation moves closer and closer to success, Xishi realizes the rumors about the evil king of Wu may not all be true and comes to question her role. The historical details occasionally feel fudged—including Xishi’s husband allowing her to remain a virgin—but Xishi’s narration brings personalized stakes to imperial court drama and shows the double-edged sword of beauty. Fans of plot-driven historical fantasy should take note. Agent: Kathleen Rushall, Andrea Brown Literary.

August 13, 2024
A Song to Drown Rivers is a bold departure from Ann Liang’s critically acclaimed YA rom-com novels (This Time It’s Real, I Hope This Doesn’t Find You, If You Could See the Sun). However, it is a departure that has proven well worth making. Liang’s first adult novel is a historical retelling of the apocryphal myth of Xishi, a beautiful woman from the Yue Kingdom. Using a Trojan horse strategy, she sets off to bring the oppressive King Fuchai of Wu to his knees. A Song to Drown Rivers has all the makings of a great fantasy novel: a nation on the precipice of war led by a dictatorial monarch, a strong female lead with a mission, and a chiseled and stoic male lead in the military advisor Fanli. Liang’s writing doesn’t dawdle on flowery depictions of characters or scenery; instead, it sets the novel against a backdrop that transcends time and place and embraces its fantasy genre sensibilities. The story builds slowly to a climax, with Liang’s writing reaching a brilliantly tense crescendo as a series of emotional events unfold. A Song to Drown Rivers is a timeless cautionary tale of tragic star-crossed lovers for readers who enjoyed Shelly Parker-Chan’s She Who Became the Sun. As a first-time reader of Liang’s work, I finished the novel an emotional wreck and hungry for more from this author.

September 1, 2024
Based on the legend of Xishi, one of Ancient China's Four Beauties, this first adult novel from YA author Liang (I Hope This Doesn't Find You, 2024) is a poignant reflection on war and power from the perspective of a young woman upon whom the fate of two kingdoms rests. When beautiful Xishi is plucked from her small village to become a tribute to the conquering Wu Kingdom, she is given a secret mission: to spy on behalf of her own Yue king and help weaken the Wu from within. She must become King Fuchai's most beloved concubine and combat the influence of his suspicious minister while passing information to the Yue. Her resolve is tested when she develops feelings for Yue minister Fanli, her instructor in the arts of court and espionage, and again as she grows closer to King Fuchai and finds him to be less heinous than she expected, especially in his soft-hearted treatment of Xishi. A tragic love story with epic stakes, this should be shared with readers of R. F. Kuang's The Poppy War (2018) and Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun (2021).

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October 1, 2024
A beautiful young peasant is selected to become a spy in an enemy king's court in Liang's take on an ancient Chinese legend. Xishi is extraordinarily beautiful. Even as a lowly peasant girl in Yue, she's been told all her life that her looks set her apart from others. But beauty doesn't matter much to Xishi. After all, it wasn't enough to save her beloved little sister, Susu, from being murdered by the invading Wu army. But one day, Fanli, a great military advisor to the king of Yue, comes to Xishi's rural village and tells her she has been chosen for a special mission. She must leave home, learn the ways of aristocratic life, and be sent as a concubine to the Wu King, Fuchai, and become a spy in his court. Xishi is so beautiful, she should be able to seduce Fuchai and manipulate him to endanger his own crown. Xishi is terrified to leave for the rival court, but she wants to avenge Susu's death more than anything. When she arrives in Fuchai's court, her legendary beauty and skill as a seductress win her the king's heart, and Fanli's plan looks like it will work. But despite her hatred for the nation that killed her sister, Xishi comes to understand that the citizens of Wu, and even Fuchai, are human beings just like her, and her mission of vengeance might not leave any room for her to live her own life. Liang's plot follows the large arcs of the legend, and she skillfully fills the pages between plot points with careful character work. What would it feel like to spend years lying to everyone around you? How do large-scale wars stop people from recognizing their common humanity? Do your ideals matter if they prevent you from forming real relationships? Lovely historical fantasy breathes new life into an old tale.

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