Picked up 'The Poet Empress' (January 2026) by Shen Tao. This is the Chinese-Canadian author's debut novel. This book is not a translation. It's written in English. The language itself is okay. But the storyline...
It has been a while since I read a fantasy story set in Asia. Well, I suppose this is the English version of all those xian-xia things floating around. I was relieved to learn that this is a standalone series. I would be very annoyed if it's the start of a series that would take years to finish.
Protagonist 16-year-old Yin Wei is desperate when her fifth sibling died, and her rice-farming family and the whole village in Lu’an is on the brink of starvation. This country is ruled by the Azalea Dynasty, that stands on the brink of civil war. She offers herself to the cruel and violent heir Prince Terren of Azalea House as a concubine. However, on Selection Night, he seemed to have been drunk and made her ‘Empress-in-Waiting’.
Anyway, poetry-magic is lost to all except the powerful and rich. In Azalea House, poetry-magic is power. But women are forbidden from reading. Still, Wei learnt to read and in understanding how to write poems, she even wrote Blessings/spells, becoming a literomancer.
What follows is pure xian-xia comedy, and a twist in the ending. The way the Prince tortures her nightly, yet heals her with sword magic so no one knows. Yet the only way to save herself and kill the sociopathic Prince is to write a heart-poem to strike at him. But how is she supposed to love her tormentor. So of course Prince Terren wasn't born a sadist; he used to be a kind and gentle boy. LOLOLOL This is when all of us roll eyes. It is soooooo C-drama.
Let me just say that the ending is not quite C-drama short style, but it is more of a book-world. Wei gains the trust of Prince Terren, but she does not fall in love with him. He remains cruel. And just as he thought he would be Emperor, and might love Wei since she saved his life, she resolutely killed him at his Coronation. He had already killed his elder brother Prince Maro. The third brother Isan took the throne, restoring balance to the kingdom. Isan wasn't as gifted as his elder brothers in literomancy. But he could grow fruit trees, lend agricultural aid to the farmers and enrich the land. He was kinder, and gentler.
Yin Wei held on to twenty-thousand Blessings made by Terren, and sought four boons from the new Emperor, of which he agreed — 1) Isan would open his treasury to ease the famine and feed his kingdom; 2) absolve Wei of all crimes and walk free back to her village, winning her freedom, along with an annual stipend for every household in her hometown of Lu'an, and free admission for her brother to the imperial academy; 3) a quiet burial for Terren, and for her aide Hesin to walk free; 4) she sought freedom for Terren's remaining concubines, for them to return home or to stay but learn to read or practice literomancy.
Had they seen how the country lay bleeding in the famine, had they seen the rice paddies dried and the wheat fields blanched, had they seen the babies curled dead next to their mothers or buried a sister on a hill with their own hands, they would have known the truth.
And it was not conquest, not glory, not blades.
Truth was simpler. It was warm bowls of rice on the dinner table, enough for everyone, not only young sons who were still growing. It was families sleeping in the same room. Villagers working together, staving away demons or something worse that plagued them. It was suffering. It was enduring. It was living.
Isan, I thought, you have no idea. No idea how hard it is, living.
It is not something you can learn from inside the palace walls.
At the end, Yin Wei is permitted to go between her village and the Palace as she please. She is also allowed to stay in the Palace and review Isan's memorials. She isn't allowed to stamp them but she was allowed to annotate them and give her opinions. Her name Wei, in Tenshan language (of which I grinned... because....), isn't a reference to 'end' or tail' / 尾. She chose the character for 'greatness' / 威, and signed off all documents with that.
The ending wrapped up the story nicely. This was a pretty decent ending. I wasn't expecting it. I'm kinda glad that it didn't end like the usual C-drama short, like ML turned kinder for FL, and they had to fight against a bigger villain, defeated them all, and everyone is happy. I like this part about fighting for equal reading rights and literacy for women and their servants.
No comments:
Post a Comment