This is one of my most anticipated 2026 reads and I’m so glad I got to read The Poet Empress early. This epic fantasy was totally not what I expected in the best way! Keep reading this book review of The Poet Empress for my full thoughts.
Summary
In the waning years of the Azalea Dynasty, the emperor is dying, the land consumed by famine, and poetry magic lost to all except the powerful.
Wei Yin is desperate. After the fifth death of a sibling, with her family and village on the brink of starvation, she will do anything to save those she loves.
Even offer herself as concubine to the cruel heir of the beautiful and brutal Azalea House.
But in a twist of fate, the palace stands on the knife-edge of civil war with Wei trapped in its center…at the side of a violent prince.
To survive, Wei must harden her heart, rely on her wit, and become dangerous herself. Even if it means becoming a poet in a world where women are forbidden to read—and composing the most powerful spell of all. A ballad of death…and love.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
The Poet Empress is a deeply emotional and intense book. Please check out the trigger warnings beforehand, but it’s a book about desperation, survival and ambition. It’s about danger, power, and cruelty sharpened to an edge. With poetry magic, Wei’s story is heartbreaking. There’s torture and abuse as she’s forced to figure out if she can harden herself to survive. Is becoming the very forces that torment us, the key to survival? It’s an environment of fear and power which go hand in hand. It’s heartbreaking how much she has to take into her own hands before she can imagine a future where she can rise again. What power does Wei have?
If she refuses to be cruel, will cruelty not find her anyway? And The Poet Empress is a story that does not paint the picture in black and white. We see the ways betrayal and court politics shape relationships, personalities, and futures. When children learn cruelty at the hands of their parents and their ambitions. It’s heart wrenching when see these universal desires and aching for things to be true, for kindness, reflection, and amends. But what happens when instead we are met with scheming and adults who twist the world for us to make us second guess and backstab? The Poet Empress is very much a story about kingdoms that don’t care about innocent casualties and instead let their power plays spill over.
(Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links. For more information you can look at the Policy page. If you’re uncomfortable with that, know you can look up the book on any of the sites below to avoid the link)
It’s a story about seeing into the truth of someone even in their cruelty. Tao doesn’t allow anyone to be securely one thing, to be confident in one aspect, and instead accepts the complicated nature of a person. In The Poet Empress we are asked how much of ourselves we will sacrifice until we become unrecognizable. It’s a deeply intense story, but one that I enjoyed even as my heart broke. Find The Poet Empress on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.