A SONG TO DROWN RIVERS is a gorgeous piece of historical fiction befitting the beauty and elegance of its main character. Told in an almost poetic manner, it follows the story of Xishi, one of China's famed Four Beauties, as she moves from tiny village to imperial palace and from shy maiden to favorite concubine. It is a revenge story as much as a love, historical, or coming-of-age story, and its ending will haunt you long after you finish reading. 

While A SONG TO DROWN RIVERS does not contain much character development, any such growth in Fanli or Fuchai is unnecessary to the story because, simply put, it isn't their story. A SONG TO DROWN RIVERS is Xishi's story. In it, Ms. Liang focuses on how Xishi's actions impact her thoughts and feelings rather than what she does for her people.   

When we first meet Xishi, she is a simple girl from a poor family in a poor village still recovering from the previous war between the Kingdoms of Yue and Wu and grieving her little sister's death at the hands of Wu warriors. To her, her beauty is an imposition, a cruelty of fate that causes her more hardship than pleasure, forcing her to hide from the world to avoid extra unwanted attention. 

By the time the book closes, Xishi is more than that simple village girl. She has come to accept her beauty and wield it like a weapon Fanli wants her to be. More importantly, she understands and recognizes that the real ills of the world are not found in one person or kingdom. Moreover, she recognizes the mind-f*ckery that is her role in Fanli's plan, and, like everything in life, our impressions and beliefs about ourselves and others are a matter of perception of reality as we see it. 

Her character development is a subtle growth, as Xishi spends much of the novel alone with her thoughts and dreams. A SONG TO DROWN RIVERS is not an action novel. While there are some scenes during which fighting occurs, there are no epic battle sequences to entertain the reader. Instead, readers must sit with Xishi as she contemplates her fate and her growing awareness that monsters as humans rarely exist.

One of the adaptations Ms. Liang makes with A SONG TO DROWN RIVERS is her timeline compression of Xishi's story. While the Internet tells me that Xishi's training with Fanli took three years and her time with Fuchai in the Wu kingdom lasted twenty years, Ms. Liang's version sees Xishi's entire story cut down to no more than three years. This time compression does make a few things more difficult to accept, namely her love for Fanli, and her. accomplishments in the Wu kingdom. Her love for Fanli feels like insta-love, which is always difficult to stomach. Meanwhile, her time at Fuchai's side feels brief, which lessens her sacrifice. Given that we see almost none of her machinations and maneuverings within the imperial palace, it is easy for readers to scoff at her purpose and her achievements as part of the Yue revenge plot. 

Despite the odd flow of time, I finished A SONG TO DROWN RIVERS blown away by its beauty and tragic ending. I like that Fuchai is not a complex character, no matter how odd Xishi finds it. I love that Fanli hides his feelings away from himself and the world. It makes any emotional outburst of his much more powerful. I appreciate Xishi coming to realize that not only is revenge seldom the answer, but also that sometimes the monster isn't the enemy you think it is. The last scene with Fuchai is as poetic as it is bleak, and Xishi's fate left me unable to sleep as I contemplated its place within the story. A SONG TO DROWN RIVERS is not a complex story, and its simplicity is what makes it so powerful