Trigger warning for interpersonal violence, torture, and references to child sexual abuse.
Yin Wei is used to having to make hard choices, but that doesn’t make anything easier for her in Shen Tao’s gutting, trope-defying novel, The Poet Empress. Wei is a rice farmer’s daughter in the middle of a famine. There is no sign that anyone in the government or from the magically blessed imperial family will offer assistance. Then, opportunity arrives: a call for volunteers to become concubines for the crown prince. Women who are rejected leave with a small gift that might help their families live a little longer. Women who are selected for even the lowest ranks might be given enough money for food and to send a bright younger brother to school. That’s all Wei hopes for when she takes her chances. There was no way that she could predict what would happen next.
Crown Prince Terran’s violent unpredictability are notorious enough that Wei has heard of his brutality even in her remote village. Still, she manages to make it to the capital and, to her utter shock, is chosen by the contrary prince to be his wife, the empress-in-waiting. The selection process makes it clear that Terran has no respect for the way that things are done. Not only that, an assassination attempt and its aftermath further underscore just how much danger Wei is in. Her startling new position attracts an offer of help from a eunuch who’d like to rise to power with her. With her wits and Ciyi’s help, Wei has to figure out how to stay alive and somehow help her family and her village.
We are dumped into the deep end of magic and cutthroat imperial politics right along with Wei. And I have to say, this book is dark, one of the bleakest works I’ve seen in recent years. Terran’s magical gift is the ability to summon and control any bladed weapon. He will use that gift at the slightest provocation, even if that provocation is all in his paranoid head. He regularly hurts Wei on their nights together. Shen Tao doesn’t linger much on the torture, thankfully, but Wei’s ability to endure it all without completely breaking down mentally tested my ability to suspend my disbelief. Not only does Wei have to handle being magically hurt and healed, she also has to avoid being poisoned or imprisoned by rivals. Again, it’s a wonder that Wei survives all of this.
The thing that really saves Wei’s life is the promise she wrangles from Ciyi to teach her how to read. Knowing how to read and write gives Wei the power to try drafting a magical poem strong enough to overcome Terran’s magic and kill him before he can destroy the empire. In order to write this poem, Wei must learn to love Terran and find out what turned him into the monster he is. I loved the magic in the world Shen Tao created. Even though it can be turned by people like Terran into a weapon to hurt the world that hurt him, it also has the ability to end famines, build roads through mountains, and conquer nations.
What I like most about The Poet Empress is the way that the story refuses to lean into tropes. Shen Tao kept me constantly wondering which character would turn traitor or ally at every turn. She also kept me guessing about what Wei would ultimately do with her new abilities. Would she change the succession? If so, who would become the new emperor? Would Wei seize power for herself? Would she cause enough chaos to escape back to her home in the confusion and leave the imperial court to devour itself?
Readers looking for fantasy that’s darker and more original than a lot of the titles being churned out right now should take a look at The Poet Empress.