Book Blog #382: The Poet Empress by Shen Tao

 

Title: The Poet Empress

Author: Shen Tao

# of Pages: 387 (ebook)

Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: In the waning years of the Azalea Dynasty, the emperor is dying, the land consumed by famine, and poetry magic lost to all except the powerful. Wei Yin is desperate. After the fifth death of a sibling, with her family and village on the brink of starvation, she will do anything to save those she loves. Even offer herself as concubine to the cruel heir of the beautiful and brutal Azalea House. But in a twist of fate, the palace stands on the knife-edge of civil war with Wei trapped in its center…at the side of a violent prince. To survive, Wei must harden her heart, rely on her wit, and become dangerous herself. Even if it means becoming a poet in a world where women are forbidden to read—and composing the most powerful spell of all. A ballad of death...and love.

Review: Reading The Poet Empress made me feel like I'd been punched in the gut.

As an enjoyer of imperial court dramas (shout out to K-dramas Empress Ki and Scarlet Heart: Ryeo, and even the video game Road to Empress), this seemed like something right up my alley. I love it all, particularly the court politics that is inevitably tied up with some romance plot with a prince or a king. 

If you didn't know anything about this book going in, it's easy to see how this book could be no different; some romance book mixed with crafty deceit. The author Tao actually does a great job in telling this story in a way that makes it incredibly obvious where she COULD have leaned into the romance aspect of the story (it was practically writing itself in my head). But while she toes this line with her writing, don't be fooled: this is NOT romance. 

This book is actually about power, family, and duty. There's the power struggle and the court politics that I love. While Frozen (yes the Disney movie) is a VERY different story, The Poet Empress is similar in that there's a significant focus on complex sibling relationships. They also both do a great job at demonstrating that stories about sibling love can be just as captivating as those about romantic love.

By at least 50% in, the story will have you hooked and racing to the end. The story is told non-linearly, so I initially was skeptical that I was going to like this book. I kept putting it down in the first 30%, but then suddenly I jumped to 60%, then the end! It felt like I was with this characters forever from what they went through, but it only took me ~2 days to get through this book (which is fast for a book this length).

Some of the story read like it was being told rather than shown to the reader, so I was bracing myself for the story to end predictably. However, I ended up being surprised in ways I never would have guessed, so the end solidified this as a solid 4 star read rather than the initial high 3, low 4 star rating I was initially considering. 

I would highly recommend this book.

Book Blog #381: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

 

Title: The Song of Achilles

Author: Madeline Miller

# of Pages: 369 (ebook)

Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: The legend begins... Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. “The best of all the Greeks”—strong, beautiful, and the child of a goddess—Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Yet despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions. Their bond deepens as they grow into young men and become skilled in the arts of war and medicine—much to the displeasure and the fury of Achilles’ mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals. When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece, bound by blood and oath, must lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.

Review: I finally understand the hype.

I was reluctant to read this book because I already read Miller's more recent book Circe (which was also hyped up) and thought it was...just okay. I wasn't a huge fan of how she balanced the original mythology and the fictional aspect (I actually wanted MORE of the fictionalized aspect), and Circe isn't a particularly likable nor interesting person.

ON THE OTHER HAND, The Song of Achilles has a VERY likable main character. Don't be fooled by the title, the narrator is Patroclus, Achilles's close companion (and likely lover according to the actual mythology). While Patroclus is relatively unknown (I didn't know who he was at all) and comes of as meek and uninteresting as Circe in the beginning, the reader will see that he's just a really well-intended, caring person, and faithful companion to Achilles. 

I didn't know how Achilles's nor Patroclus's stories ended, and even though the ending is intentionally predictable, I was flying through this book on the edge of my seat praying for a good ending for this duo. The start of the book is way more romance heavy than I expected from Miller's writing, but this was exactly what I was hoping for so it's was very pleasant read. 

The middle portion, or whenever Miller went into recounting war events/logistic/politics that are necessary for staying true to the mythology, went a bit slower for me. This is why this book is getting 4 stars instead of 5; for both Circe and The Song of Achilles, there's aspects of the myth's retelling the read more like a nonfiction recounting of events rather than something the reader can be immersed in (aka good fictional storytelling). 

However, this was less of a problem in The Song of Achilles since Miller included more fictional aspects in the book (or at least I presume) with many interactions between Achilles and Patroclus (which I doubt the original myths wasted their time with). I blazed through the last half, and it wasn't even as romance focused; it was just a really gripping, fast paced story.

Achilles and Patroclus's story reminds me of the second-to-last song from the musical Hadestown (retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice) where even though we know the ending of the Greek mythology stories, we want to tell them again and again because they are so hopeful, even if they may end in tragedy. The Song of Achilles is no exception to this; I feel like sad and hopeful at the same time after finishing this book but loved the journey it took me through. 

This is a solid if not high 4 star read; I would highly recommend!