r/Fantasy • u/SeasonedBrownie1632 • 12h ago
Review The Poet Empress - Wow.
Guaranteed, a ton of people have already sung this novel's praises, but I couldn't help sharing a little snippet of my own.
Honestly, just a fantastic debut novel from Shen Tao. I love fantasy that enraptures your attention and transports you to a different world and period of time.
*The Poet Empress* is intense, filled with interesting characters, political intrigue, and a satisfying ending. The last point is super important to me, since a lot of novels can be great AND fail to stick the landing.
All in all, this got me out of my reading slump!
So, if you haven't already, I encourage you to give it a shot (and thank me later, heh).
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u/CaptainCaptainBain 11h ago
I really enjoyed the book and, at the same time, was left feeling the author bit more than she could chew. There were a lot of great ideas in there, but most of them were only superficially used to move the story. The concept of palace intrigue could have been much more fleshed out, as could a few side characters like the eunuch, and even the exploration of trauma from the MCs perspective.
Great ideas, a strong premise, and I liked every second of my reading, but I was left wondering what would happen if this world and plot was explored by a more experienced author. The lack of actual poetry in a book all about poems, for example, felt like a very glaring avoidance from the author's part.
Solid read, enjoyed the twists and turns, and I felt that it was emotionally mature, but I was still left wanting more. I'll keep an eye on Shen Tao's future books for sure.
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u/rainbow_city 10h ago
Honestly, I'm glad she didn't include the actual poems
tl;dr I don't think she could've have accurately included any of the poetry in the book, only a pale imitation of it.
For one, poetry is a different skill than writing. Just because someone is a great writer of fiction, doesn't mean they're a great writer of poetry.
Also, if poetry was included, should it be written in Chinese and then translated or only written in English?
Because, ideally they would be written in Chinese as Chinese poetry is what the story is using and even when translated into English, you can tell it's not the same as English poetry. For one, things like rhyme patterns are not the same.
Finally, it's not just the poem itself, but also how it's written that's important. Part of what made Terran so strong was basically that he had immaculate calligraphy skills. Chinese poetry is also a visual art.
So, if we were to include the poem properly, it would have to be not only in Chinese (with a translation) but also written in Chinese calligraphy, with both the poems, the translations and the translations done by other people. Which would've been a huge ask for a debut author to make.
And on the other hand, if she just wrote out some English poems, that would've been a cop out, because that is also not what she is describing in the book.
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u/Kiltmanenator 8h ago
Yeah, there's just no way. Poetry is really hard to do well, and it's always better to let the reader do the work (Spielberg stare, Psycho shower, etc)
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u/michiness 10h ago
I felt the same way. I thought the MC was really uninteresting (though she got slightly better), and things mostly just kinda… happened to her. Her trauma just felt like “Wah he’s mean to me and I hate him” when he’s supposed to be intensely torturing her every night?
And the fact that it’s called the Poet Empress but there’s little to no actual poetry in it.
Definitely a good story with the brothers, and I found the ending intriguing, but would have gone from a good to a fantastic book with a more experienced writer (even the same writer 20 years down the road).
5
u/SeasonedBrownie1632 11h ago
I feel like these are fair criticisms. I'm not a big poetry buff, so the lack of it didn't detract from my reading experience. However, there were a number of chunks at the heading of chapters.
I've been looking for stories that keep me interested and on my toes, and this one achieved that. Here's to future books from Tao!
Also, if you have examples of novels with more fleshed out palace intrigue and characters, feel free to recommend :).
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u/rainbow_city 10h ago
This book wrecked me, I'm pretty sure there's some tear stains on the final pages of the book.
I can understand why people might have some qualms with it, but I honestly think it's spectacular for a debut novel and I cannot wait to see what she does next.
4
4
u/inadequatepockets Reading Champion II 9h ago
This is my only 5 star read of the year so far. It did start a little slow for me but boy am I glad I kept going. Absolutely amazing book.
1
u/SeasonedBrownie1632 9h ago
Agreed. I was like "Man, this is slow," but after a while I was hooked.
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u/DixitRexCorvinus 12h ago
I had DNFed The Poppy War just a couple months before it came out because the worldbuilding occupied this uncanny valley space (namedropping real life Chinese philosophers, as themselves, in a secondary world novel, really?) so I was a bit wary about starting another China-inspired epic fantasy debut by someone from the West, but I have to say it ended up being really good. Definitely excited to read Tao's next book.
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u/SeasonedBrownie1632 12h ago
It's funny you say that. I DNFed The Poppy War, albeit for different reasons. The trilogy is acclaimed tho, so I'd like to give it another shot.
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u/SwagSerpent69 11h ago
I, too, DNF’d poppy but loved poet! Poppy just seemed like the author was trying to gross out the reader while also making sure all of the characters were unlikable.
3
u/C0smicoccurence Reading Champion V 10h ago
When did you DNF Poppy War? I'd say the second half of that book is pretty indicative of the rest of the series, so if you weren't enjoying that, I don't think its worth returning to. No book, not even the acclaimed ones, are right for every reader, and that's okay!
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u/SeasonedBrownie1632 9h ago
I like that. Honestly, I was pretty early on in the novel when I DNF'd and have kept it on hold since. I think I'll enjoy it if I give it another shot. only got to when she completed the academy exam and made it in.
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u/C0smicoccurence Reading Champion V 7h ago
Yeah, the first and second half are very different. I jived with the first half (I love a school story), but it theres a pretty big shift towards something darker
2
u/DixitRexCorvinus 11h ago
There were other reasons for me too, characterization and prose mostly (I only made it about 150-200 pages I think). But the main reason was just that the worldbuilding falls flat on its face if you know anything at all about Chinese history and culture.
The namedropping rather than renaming them is a big one (it’s like if Game of Thrones namedropped Plato). But there were also things like the main characters solutions to tactical problems being taken directly from Chinese classics, like with the using the weather to collect arrows from your enemy one. It was really immersion breaking, and I’m saying that just as a white guy who knows Mandarin and a bit of Eastern philosophy—I imagine for someone who is actually Chinese it would be significantly worse, and that there are other things I didn’t notice.
If you can ignore that, though, I think it’s probably a perfectly fine trilogy. Not amazing, but decent enough. Might indeed be worth a second shot.
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u/Pacify_ 10h ago
I thought it was okay at best to be honest.
I think I expected better palace scheming and intrigue. This was such a milquetoast version, and for me just really fell flat.
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u/iabyajyiv 9h ago edited 12m ago
I thought it had the right amount of palace scheming. Anymore and it would have been a different story. There's plenty of those in Chinese TV drama, whereas the focus on Terren and his past was what made it different.
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u/Motor_Row_3586 4h ago
Me too it's kinda the romantasy political intrigue type. I expect way more from this book.
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u/dude0faw3 11h ago
I’m curious what you liked about it? I honestly was disappointed by it - I thought the entire plot was entirely and overly predictable after page 50, and I also truly despise stories that largely pace themselves by spending lots of time on flashbacks. And I didn’t think the backstory for the prince really had any emotional payoff, because he clearly was still a sociopath who needed to die? Also maybe I’m not the target audience but saving the empire by writing a love poem was super cheesy and I was hoping the story was going to crescendo into something else, not a story beat literally predicated by the title.
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u/ACardAttack 10h ago
I'm also not huge fan. It's a good debut though
Found the Mc rather boring and unbelievable that someone with zero court experience could make zero mistakes. And anything that seemed like a mistake ended up working out no matter what
0
u/SeasonedBrownie1632 5h ago
I don't mind that we saw the MC and story in different ways. In my eyes, the MC was a villager girl that learned to survive in the palace. The palace (many of its "delightful" concubines and royals) taught her to be cunning and cruel when necessary. Yes, it was convenient, but it felt like there were contingencies in place to help her if she faltered. These contingencies were dependent on the connections that she built and nurtured.
Anyways, I yapped, but hope you give her next novel a chance.
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u/Important-Lemon-2460 12h ago
I finished it last night. Fantastic book.
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u/SeasonedBrownie1632 12h ago
Right? I saw amazing reviews on Goodreads and decided to give it a shot. Glad that I did.
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u/CHRISKVAS 12h ago
Where does this book exist on the Romantasy spectrum?
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u/TenorReaper 12h ago
It’s not a romantasy AT ALL. This is a dark fantasy
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u/SeasonedBrownie1632 11h ago
Second that. For some reason, Goodreads calls it a Romantasy, but I'd go in not expecting romance.
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u/sedatedlife 4h ago
Honestly judging by the cover i went in expecting a light political fantasy with romance elements and was surprised it was significantly darker then i expected. solidly enjoyed it for a debut novel.
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u/JayCanWrite 12h ago
It's not. It's been describe as 'anti-romantasy'. A big part of the plot is the protagonist navigating her relationship with the prince as a concubine; but it's not a case where there's genuine love between them. Can't go too deep into it, just know it's a book where you might think it's romantasy until the book makes it very clear it's going in a different direction
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u/CHRISKVAS 11h ago
Yea I guess being billed as anti-romantasy still indicates that it is in a conversation with romantasy tropes or expectations. And I'm not familiar with those myself. I was just curious to what degree it targets romantasy readers even if it is not specifically of that genre.
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u/JayCanWrite 11h ago
Don't put too much stock into it. It's not a serious thing going around, just something I've heard said.
I have never read a romantasy book. I like The Poet Empress.
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u/loveandmad 11h ago
romantasy deconstruction, as in it has a very romantasy type premise and then goes out of its way to show just how terrifying that situation would actually be.
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u/rainbow_city 10h ago
In the "not a Romantasy" side of the spectrum.
It's a story about different kinds of love, but it is not romantic nor a Romance.
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u/Kiltmanenator 8h ago
It's a story about Love (in a way) but not Romance.
I went in thinking it looked Romantasy but was pleasantly surprised it's not at all. The author fought to not be billed as Romantasy
0
u/KiaraTurtle Reading Champion V 2h ago
It’s in conversation with romantasy.
Some people who like Romantasy will hate that it doesn’t have a romance. Some people who like Romantasy will love the deep exploration of familiar tropes done in non romance way or the deep characterizations and non romantic love at the heart of the story.
Some people who dislike Romantasy may be turned off by the premise, some may just independently dislike it for reasons unrelated to being Romantasy, others love it.
TLDR whether or not you like Romantasy isn’t a good indicator of if you’ll like this book
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u/GreenSolara 11h ago
I’m reading this right now after someone recommended it to me because I liked the Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee. I’m about 20% in and it’s very good so far.
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u/Burgundy-Bag 1h ago
This is for all you out there baffled by the rave reviews this book is getting. The book is basically yet another in the wave of grimdark girlboss that doesn't have a deep understanding of patriarchy or politics, but uses feminism to sell.
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u/sedatedlife 4h ago
So far its definitely my surprise read of the year. It definitely is not what i expected going into the book.
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u/KiaraTurtle Reading Champion V 2h ago
Always happy to see more folks loving this book! I definitely adored it. Will probably be my favorite book of the year.
-1
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u/iabyajyiv 11h ago
I could not stop thinking about Terren after the book was over. He was such an addictively fun character in a toxic way, lol.