Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang. All opinions are my own. 

In this historical retelling, Xishi finds herself as a spy undercover in the king’s palace to use her beauty to gain the affection of the king. This is a story of sacrifice, betrayal, and loyalty. Xishi learns that her situation isn’t as black or white as she expected and must make difficult choices that could hurt the people she’s come to care for. 

This was the first book I’ve read by this author, so I didn’t know what to expect. Before going into this story, know that this is not a book that’s supposed to make you happy. It’s heartbreaking and honestly hard to read at times because of how tragic the story is. 

The story was interesting, and I really grew to love the characters. I liked that many of the characters were morally gray in the types of decisions they had to make. I also liked how I didn’t know what would happen next. 

Without spoiling what happens in this story, I really enjoyed the first 90% of the book and had no issues with it. It’s the last 10% of the book that made me only rate this four stars instead of five. 

I listened to the audiobook, and I really liked Natalie Naudus as a narrator. Her voice fit Xishi, and she was able to differentiate the characters well. I would recommend this format. This format is especially great if you don’t know how to pronounce the names in this story. 

I would recommend this book for some people, but it’s definitely not a book for everyone because of some of the content and the futures of some of the characters.