The Poet Empress

 

I saw The Poet Empress in a book quarterly magazine the local library gives out. I will admit the lovely cover and unique name made read the synopsis then put a hold on it at the library. 

I am struggling to review The Poet Empress and it is not because I disliked it. For any novel let alone a debut novel it is gorgeous. The writing is lovely, elegant, almost like poetry itself even when the story is violent, horrendous, and terrifying. Wei is a complex character who clearly evolves from the simple village girl with big dreams of helping people. Even though the story is told totally from Wei's point of view I feel like I ended up knowing all the characters who played a part in the world. 

If a bit of the fluff had been taken out shortening the book about fifty to sixty pages I would have given it five stars. A few chapters while gorgeous to read really did not add much to moving the story forward.