Review by Booklist Review
Wei Yin is the daughter of a rice farmer in a country where famine and death are commonplace. The magical rulers of the Azalea Dynasty are at a point of transition as the current emperor is dying, and his second-born son will soon become emperor in his place. When word spreads that the heir is looking for concubines, Wei Yin volunteers in the hopes that doing so will help her family. However, her tender heart and kindness are not a good fit for the politics and brutality of the court. No one is crueler to Wei Yin than the prince, who tortures her in various ways, and she quickly comes up with a plan to get out. But what happens when Beauty is forced to understand the Beast in order to remove him? This dark fantasy (with some romance) stands out among the plethora of romantasy books with its strong characters and unique setting. Fans of Molly X. Chang's Gods Beyond the Skies series and Jennifer L. Armentrout's Blood and Ash books will feel right at home in this world.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: This dark fantasy debut will scratch romantasy readers' itch while exploring heavier themes; expect lots of curiosity and demand as it hits shelves.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Tao's haunting debut immerses readers in a famine-stricken empire where poetry is power. In the final years of the Azalea Dynasty, Yin Wei, a peasant girl desperate to save her starving family, volunteers as concubine to the notoriously cruel Prince Guan Terren. This act of survival pulls her into a labyrinth of palace intrigue and rebellion, where each written word contains magic that can shape a person's destiny, but where female literacy is illegal. Against the lush backdrop of Tao's lyrical worldbuilding, which draws from Chinese history and myth to craft a court defined by both beauty and brutality, Wei's transformation from naive villager to calculating courtesan is expertly rendered. Meanwhile, Terren emerges as a monstrous yet profoundly human prince. Their uneasy bond anchors a story less about romance than the corruptive and redemptive powers of language and ambition. The many political threads become fascinatingly tangled, Tao's prose gleams with poetic precision, and climactic revelations strike with devastating inevitability. Fans of R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War and Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun will be enthralled by this fierce meditation on love, power, and survival through art. Agent: Jennifer Azantian, Azantian Literary. (Jan.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
DEBUT Famine spreads across the land of Tensha, and young Yin Wei does the only thing she can think of to save her family--become a concubine to Prince Guan Terren. Heir to the Azalea Throne, Terren is a cold man, with poetry magic that he uses for cruelty and death. As Wei navigates the inner machinations of the court, she realizes that she may have to become just as self-serving as Terren to survive. Not only do the other concubines battle each other to secure the spot as future Empress, but Terren deals with attacks on his succession from his honorable older brother, and both Wei and Terren face treachery from other court members. To achieve her goals, Wei must kill Terren--and with one forbidden poem, she can accomplish it. However, the only way to write this poem of death is with love, and she hates everything Terren is. The novel's unique magic system and character-driven plot create an immersive tale. VERDICT Tao's debut is an intricate study of court politics and what a young woman will do to survive. Hand to fans of The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang or She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan.--Kristi Chadwick
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The daughter of a rice farmer prevails at the treacherous imperial court of the Azalea Dynasty, where princes and their wives, concubines, and courtiers scheme for power. When the ailing emperor of Tensha names Terren, his second son, as his heir, a search begins for young women to serve as concubines. Despite reports of Terren's sadism, Yin Wei, the 16-year-old daughter of a rice farmer, presents herself as a candidate, hoping to secure gifts for her famine-ravaged village and a chance for her younger brother to go to school. When the court's representative dismisses her as a joke, she responds, "Then let the prince laugh." Her plea works--and reveals the quick wit and strength of character that ensures her survival in a court where no one can be trusted. After Terren selects Wei to be his Empress-in-Waiting, he regularly subjects her to violence, including that of his magic blades. Fearing for the future of Tensha under his erratic tyranny, Wei determines to compose a heart-spirit poem, which, if used at the right moment, could kill him. Doing so requires Wei not only to learn literomancy--writing poems with the power of spells--in a world where literacy for women is criminal, but also to become deeply familiar with Terren, and thus able to find the words to strike directly at his heart. The story of his past is grotesque, and reveals the way that wrangling for dynastic power destroys families and brings ruin upon a nation; but Terren's dark history is less compelling than Wei's steadfast pursuit of it. Resilient and clever, Wei is the heart of the novel, striving to navigate a world of lies and cruelty without becoming cruel herself. She learns to wield power with fidelity to her purpose, and though the novel's title alludes to her triumph, the story is full of page-turning suspense. A dark fantasy debut featuring a strong and compelling heroine. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
