4 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It felt like a secret, a quiet rebellion. A stealing from fate, or perhaps a reclamation of what had been taken from us.

A Song to Drown Rivers is a captivating reimagining of the legend of Xishi, a simple village girl honed to become a weapon and bring about the downfall of the Wu King.

Xishi enters the Wu palace as King Fuchai's prized concubine, will she leave as a savior of Yue or will she be revealed as the traitor who wielded her beauty to seduce the King and must face deadly consequences?

I was quite hooked even if the plot was a tad predictable, but I enjoyed witnessing the internal turmoil Xishi had to grapple with between her mission and desire for vengeance versus the bond that is growing between her and the enemy King.

There is a hint of a forbidden romance, but I would say the romance is not the driving plot it's actually the sub-plot. The mission and vengeance plot is the backbone of the book.

I enjoyed the court politics and the character growth the most, even if I thought it was predictable I still enjoyed it.

This might be a minor spoiler but it makes a difference for some readers.

Warning: it does not have a traditional HEA, I wouldn't say it has a HEA actually so keep that in mind.

Content warning: multiple deaths, violence, attempted and actual murder, trauma, poisoning, mutilation (no descriptive), bloodshed, grief.