The Poet Empress by Shen Tao is going to hurt you, and it’s going to be worth it. This is a complicated story that showcases the difficulty of duty, personal sacrifice, and the hard decisions that are required to do the most good, even if people are hurt along the way.
Wei Yin helped her mother bury yet another child. The famine in her village is unrelenting, and the royal family continues to ignore their plight of lackluster harvests and starving families. When Wei learns that the heir is looking for concubines, she makes a desperate plea to join the group of refined merchant and noble women to help her suffering village. The palace may be beautiful, but its vermillion veneer and bountiful gardens hide the danger within. Wei must learn to navigate the political landscape of jealous concubines and a violent, cruel heir if she hopes to craft a love poem that will save her village and the fate of the empire.
The Poet Empress is a captivating story, but it is not an easy one to enjoy. This is not a story of triumph, but one of sacrifice, trauma, abuse, violence, and hardship. The longer you spend with Wei, the more you will realize that her story is not a happy one. Wei’s wins are rare, and much of her story is a heavy thing I wanted to put down at times. Yet her trials, failures, and close calls are what make her journey so incredible and impactful. I admire her tale so much, even if it was hard to bear at times, and as a reader, I learned to find ways to celebrate her determination in the face of something so terrible.
And while the story is primarily focused on Wei, it also dives deep into the relationship between the eldest prince, Maro, and the heir, Terren. In an attempt to understand Terren better, Wei uncovers stories of his childhood to piece together why the boy became the violent, cruel man he is today. It quickly becomes clear that Maro and Terren’s past has planted the seeds for the tension, violence, and hatred that exist when Wei arrives at the palace. It is as much their story as it is Wei’s, and Tao turns back time throughout the story to highlight the events that influenced the tangled web Wei finds herself in presently.
Wei is not a perfect protagonist, and her characterization feels grounded in the reality of her terrifying and tenuous role as a concubine. Tao doesn’t make leaps to force Wei into someone she is not. She is not stunningly beautiful, cunning, or smart. Tao honors Wei’s humble village beginnings in all the ways Wei guesses incorrectly, makes mistakes, and stumbles through court life unprepared and uneducated. On top of that, the hopeful village girl does not survive the vicious nature of the palace. Wei starts to play the same violent, cruel games at court because the only choices left for her are bad ones. Her hand is forced, and she can’t remain an unblemished, perfect character when the fate of an empire lies in her hands.
The Poet Empress is a hard story to enjoy, but a devastatingly easy one to love. I highly recommend you open your heart to hear Tao’s complicated and compassionate story of the monstrous things we do for love.
Rating: 9.0/10
-Brandee
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. The thoughts on this story are my own.
