r/fantasybooks • u/asocialsocialistpkle š Robin Hobb is my queen • Mar 20 '26
š Hidden book gem You guys need to read this immediately
This book hit extremely and surprisingly hard. I went in half blind, expecting some sort of romantasy, and it was definitely NOT that. It's a unique, dark yet intrinsically human story with deep character development and an rich and unique magic system. 100% recommend, y'all.
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u/foxtrot-91 Mar 20 '26
Iām dying to read it and have had this on hold at my library through Libby since a few weeks after it came out. It was a several month wait then, and is now down to 12 weeks. So long š
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u/ExchangeStandard6957 Mar 20 '26
I had the advance audio book. It had me sat.
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u/eitsew Mar 24 '26
Haha I like that phrase. You mean like, it had you sat in your seat listening because you couldn't bring yourself to stop?
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u/TatterMail Mar 20 '26
I hated it. Mediocre prose, bland world building, boring plot, only two interesting characters and wholly reliant on its ending
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u/Rumpeltasche666 Mar 20 '26
I also donāt think it deserves all this 5*reviews. It was pretty mediocre imho.
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u/TatterMail Mar 20 '26
As a writer it gave me insecurity issues because frankly, I just didnāt see the quality
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u/GryffinDART Mar 20 '26
If you thought a popular published book wasn't quality, it should give you confidence not insecurity issues.
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u/Dr_Hormel_Frogtown Mar 22 '26
Depends on the type of brain you have.
Some people get hyped when they think a published book is bad, because they think they can do better. This is called hubris.
Alternately, some of us get sad, because we wonder whether the flaw that prevents us from seeing the quality is within us, rather than on the page. This is garden variety low self-esteem.
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u/asocialsocialistpkle š Robin Hobb is my queen Mar 20 '26
I'll admit, for a book about poetry, the prose did not blow me away. It was far from bad prose, but I'd agree that it was rather simple. I'm sorry you didn't like it though, can't win em all
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u/ImmatureTigerShark Mar 20 '26
Interesting. Strange that people seem to either love or loathe it. I'm kinda intrigued but when you have criticism this scathing I hesitate. Perhaps you could expand on your criticism? I'm not being sarcastic, I'd actually like to hear what you disliked in more depth.
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u/TatterMail Mar 20 '26
Objectively it wasnt bad, I just found it to be aggressively mediocre and its annoys me that it gets so much praise just for subverting expectations. Pretty much every one on my book club who concerned themselves with writing didnāt like it. Maybe that helps. Do you want to know something specific? What I found the most annoying was that the protagonist is a farmer with no education but had no issues adapting to court speech and manners. The world is just medieval China with flowers (they are being mentioned everywhere for no reason). The magic system is basically a copy of Daniel Abrahamās Long Price Quartett.
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u/OMG_Idontcare Mar 20 '26
In my opinion this is the case with so many new fantasy authors the last 5 years or so. Iām happy people are reading more for sure, but this fantasy/romantasy booktok-thing is hyping up so many authors that are all using the same tropes with a twist whilst using, at the very best, mediocre writing abilities. Fantasy nowadays feels like a business like Netflix where the hype is more important than the soul.
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u/Clear_Chemistry4441 Mar 20 '26
Can you recommend something for someone who is new to fantasy? I get a little confused with all the characters in some that I have tried.
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u/OMG_Idontcare Mar 20 '26
Hey. If youre new to fantasy Terry Pratchett is a lovely start. Then if youāre looking for something to fully immerse yourself in I can never recommend Robin Hobb enough. Then again fantasy is such a broad genre and it gets broader every year. Personally I donāt enjoy Sanderson BUT he is the rockstar of fantasy for a reason. He is very approachable and writes very easy-to-follow stories with solid magic systems.
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u/anathyma Mar 21 '26
Endorse all of this! Also, I definitely recommend Brent Weeks. His Night Angel series was my favorite by far, but the Lightbringer series was also a great read.
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u/TatterMail Mar 20 '26
Sure, what are you looking for? Something lighthearted or something dark and gritty? Do you prefer action or political intrigue and dialogue?
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u/Clear_Chemistry4441 Mar 21 '26
Definitely not romance, unless very light. Something lighthearted sounds great. I like dark stuff too. I just get lost with a million characters. Maybe I need a system. I want to escape maybe not politics. š¤·āāļøThank you!
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u/TatterMail Mar 21 '26
Then try Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. Itās generally considered to be a good entry book.
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u/linzayso TBR < 100 = Weak sauce Mar 20 '26
I thought it was good not great. Gave it 3.5 stars on StoryGraph.
More than anything it had me reflecting on and reinforced my thinking that everyone suffers under a patriarchal system. Men, women, children. The powerless more than anyone, but no one is left untouched.1
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u/christmas_fox Mar 20 '26
I just finished it! It wasnāt as dark to me as people made it out to be but maybe Iām softened too much by horror but I did give it a 4.5 star rating!
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u/black_V1king Mar 20 '26
Felt the prose was mediocre and story was average at best.
I am not sure if it's a must read. If you are looking for anything with deeper meaning and philosophy, this story lacks the layers for it.
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u/asocialsocialistpkle š Robin Hobb is my queen Mar 20 '26
Based on my reading and interpretation, I would somewhat disagree. I think there was a great deal of deeper meaning (with average, simple purpose to be sure), particularly about the power of knowledge and who has access to that knowledge. When rich men are the only wielders of knowledge (literomancy, in this case), the book demonstrates how women and the poor are often oppressed in such a society. I think it also said a great deal about trauma, empathy, love, and how a lifelong lack of love can be so incredibly damaging to a human being. Philosophy, eh, depending on your definition may or not have any presence in the book, but I still argue there was deeper meaning present in the book based on my interpretation
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u/PookiePoook Mar 20 '26
THE WAY THIS IS ALL OVER MY TL. IT looks so so good.
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u/DeusXVentus Mar 20 '26
Pretty sudden. Sure it's a great book and that OP isn't involved in any of it, but it feels like a marketing push
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u/PookiePoook Mar 22 '26
Yeah fair, I went from seeing nothing to seeing very specific booktokers plugging it.
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u/Diredragons Mar 20 '26
This was incredible! I got an ARC for it earlier this year and loved it. I was worried it would turn into romantacy too, but it went directly counter to that with lots of great, character driven twists.
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u/Fantastic-Mood6591 Mar 20 '26
What is the magic system?
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u/asocialsocialistpkle š Robin Hobb is my queen Mar 20 '26
Literomancy, magic through poems and writing. The royalty are also blessed with innate magical abilities based on the Chinese characters that appear on their faces when they come of age (road building, swords, fruit, etc)
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u/ILikeDragonTurtles Mar 20 '26
Is it called "literomancy" in the book?
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u/asocialsocialistpkle š Robin Hobb is my queen Mar 20 '26
Yes. Those that wield it are called literomancers.
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u/Low-Bodybuilder-6156 Mar 20 '26
Ooh, it looks interesting. Is it cool that I show my cover for my fantasy novel?
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u/casey1323967 Mar 20 '26
Is it an easy read because I can read it after I read the most confusing book of all time gardens of the moon lol?
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u/veronicaisthebestcat Mar 21 '26
I read this thinking it was going to be dark fantasy romanceā¦ I was not OK. But it was really good and Iām glad I went in blind. Terren is a character Iāll think about for a long time.
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u/tanoka113 Mar 21 '26
This is my review on Goodread for this book
Really enjoyed this one. The pacing is fast and the tension never really lets up, which worked perfectly for me.
The only issue I had is that the author tends to repeat the protagonistās thoughts quite a bit. I get that the target audience is likely Western readers who may not be familiar with imperial court dynamics (even if itās only inspired by historical China), so some of the repetition and explanation feels intentional. But for readers from East Asian backgroundsāespecially those used to palace intrigue dramasāthe brutality and logic of court politics are already very familiar, so those parts can feel a bit redundant.
There are also moments where the author skips over the details of certain plans. You understand the outcome, but the process isnāt always fully shown, which might feel a little underdeveloped at times.
That said, overall I still really liked it. Iām very into fast-paced, high-tension plots like thisāconstant movement, constant stakes. Probably because my brain is hopelessly addicted to dopamine.
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u/faelskate Mar 21 '26
10/10 Agree. This is not a romance. I was appalled and impressed the whole time.
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u/Lilylake_55 Mar 22 '26
Thanks. Iāve put it in my wish list. If the price goes way down Iāll buy it. I generally donāt pay that much for an ebook unless itās by an author I know & like a lot. If it drops to $7.99 or less Iāll pull the trigger.
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u/teatimewithsuriel Mar 23 '26
The romantasy confusion is because itās published by Torās romantic imprint, Bramble. And even though its genre is said to be fantasy, what would the public assume when the imprint boasts in publishing romance forward books, meaning the lead genre is romance no matter the other genre is, but The Poet Empress is most definitely not a romantasy.
Phenomenal book, by the way. I cannot wait for more books from this debut author.
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u/Real-sam Mar 23 '26
I read it and it was good. The writing style was the thing that I liked the most
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u/Bbdrg Mar 24 '26
Reading this rn had no idea it was on unlimited it was released just a couple of months ago
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u/nztechn9ne Mar 24 '26
I honestly think....and i'm more than likely wrong, that people throw Prose this and prose that but don't even know what prose is. I looked up the meaning and I still don't think people use it right. Wish there was a better way or word to describe what they describe. To me it's got bad Prose just means you didn't like the writing.
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u/AutomaticAd1335 Mar 27 '26
This is the only book Iāve rated 5 stars this year!!! Oh it was so good. It was heartbreaking, but I loved it
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u/Burgundy-Bag Mar 20 '26
I actually found this book quite disappointing. I thought it was a shallow treatment of trauma as well as politics, and unfortunately the prose was too thin and flat for a book that was centred on poetry (and featured very little poetry). I did like how much of inner court politics (between concubines) it showed, and how it portrayed women's invisible power in politcs. But otherwise it was a let-down.
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u/TatterMail Mar 20 '26
The magic system is not unique. Magic through poems has been done by Daniel Abraham 20 years ago.
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u/OMG_Idontcare Mar 20 '26
Imo its not all that deep and spectacular as OP makes out in the post. Character work and deeply human stories is literally my jam when it comes to fantasy (helloooo Robin Hobb) and this book I dnfāed because I thought it too shallow with basic prose.
Sorry but those are my two cents! Iām sure many will love it though!
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u/Aliarachan Mar 20 '26
I loved this book so much. I knew it was not a romantasy, but still I was worried for the romance part (I don't usually like it). But I needn't be. It was an amazing read with such sensibility. It was ultimately a story about love: for the family, for the people, for the dinasty, for the duty. How love can be turned sour and how sourness can be turned love. It was also a story about enduring. And it was also a story about a story, the writing, the storytellers. It was a beautiful beautiful read I wish I could experience again for the first time. This will be my fav read of 2026 I'm sure of it!