“A Song to Drown Rivers” by Ann Liang The Xavierite
Please note that this review may contain mild spoilers.
I recently got my hands on Ann Liang’s adult debut, “A Song to Drown Rivers.” It is as beautiful as the cover suggests, but there are a few things that missed the mark for me with this book.
“A Song to Drown Rivers” is a story inspired by the legend of “Xishi,” one of the four beauties in ancient Chinese literature. In Liang’s interpretation of the ancient legend, we follow Xishi on her mission to weaken the rival kingdom of Wu by seducing their king—Fuchai.
The main parts of the story remains close to the original literature, only it reads more closely to a Chinese historical drama, which Liang often states has an influence on her writing. This is not an issue for me, in fact it made the novel fun to read, but it needed to be longer.
I felt some parts of this book went by too quickly or required further explanation. Despite its thick appearance, “A Song to Drown Rivers” is only 321 pages, excluding the acknowledgements.
Don’t get me wrong, I love reading shorter novels. Most of Liang’s other novels share a similar word count, but I do not think it works for this story. To me, something like the legend of Xishi, a story of a long and arduous mission, needs a slower pacing to be told effectively.
The story suffers a bit as a result, such as the character arc of Fuchai and the relationship between Xishi and Fanli
Generally, Liang does a great job of writing an entertaining story and decent commentary on war, but this book is not a convincing adult novel. She makes it clear it is more of a crossover novel, which is fine, but I wish it leaned more adult.
I wanted to see Liang get dark and heavy, but this story felt like it was being cautious. Fuchai, for one, was a boring character to me. I could sense Liang wrote him in a way to add tragedy and show the nuances of war and power, but I couldn’t help but feel that he was too unrealistic.
In reality, someone like Fuchai would be ruthless and cruel. “A Song to Drown Rivers” depicts him as a misunderstood brooding child with a soft spot for only Xishi. I find it very hard to believe he would only be content “sleeping by her side” as depicted in the novel.
It is supposed to be a forbidden love, yet we hardly see Xishi battle any feelings for him. On her part, the feelings are quite vague. From how the story was described on Liang’s social media, I nearly thought Fuchai was the main love interest.
In the novel, it seems Xishi mainly holds pity for him whilst holding the most love for Fanli—the actual love interest.
I was the most disappointed in the romance of this story, which remains as more of a backburner topic throughout this book. As mentioned, this was one of the things that could have been resolved with a greater word count.
The romance between our romantic leads could have been built up further during Xishi’s training period, in which the two spend the most time together. That section of the novel was entirely too short; it was such an interesting part that could have been developed further.
Liang describes this novel as having tension, rather than spice, which I believe is why the romance isn’t as prevalent in this story. There was tension in the novel, and as enjoyable as it was to read, I think it could have easily been there alongside a stronger romance.
A smaller issue I have is that this book is marketed as “fantasy,” yet fails to build up any sense of it. I forgot it was intended to be a fantasy novel until googling it again after reading. I don’t think this story requires a lot of fantasy anyway, so marketing it as such seems unnecessary.
On the technical side of things, “A Song to Drown Rivers” is a great read by all means. One thing that keeps me coming back to Liang’s books is the way she can capture your attention to the very end.
I read this novel rather quickly and did enjoy reading it, especially with the vivid imagery and many beautiful scenes between its characters. The friendship between Xishi and her confidant, Zhengdan, was the one of the best parts of this story. Liang’s writing truly shines when these two characters come together.
Another area where Liang’s writing excels is her depictions of her main character’s inner thoughts. My personal favorite part of this book was seeing how Xishi navigated situations, how she interpreted things. She is a fun character to follow along.
My biggest praise for this book, though, is the commentary Liang makes on war. Her commentary is not anything new, but it’s something that I think is important to emphasize when writing a story like this.
Liang strongly emphasizes that neither king was truly good, but rather people who would do anything who would preserve their power at the cost of their civilians. She takes time to portray how the people are affected by the ongoing conflict, ranging from lacking food to being senselessly killed.
This story could have easily gone the route of making Xishi the “good” heroine and think she was on the “right” side of history. Instead, she questions her actions and morality in aiding this war. Her ending is a strong reminder of what war truly is in its pure essence—useless devastation and a fight for power.
“A Song to Drown Rivers” is not perfect by any means, but it is still a story I think could resonate with many. I would rate it higher if it were a YA novel, but since it is meant to be an adult story, I would rate this book a 6/10.
You can find “A Song to Drown Rivers” at most book retailers.
About Post Author
