The Poet Empress - by Shen Tao (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

DELUXE EDITION―featuring gorgeous gilded edges, detailed endpapers, and beautiful case art under the book jacket!

Debut author Shen Tao introduces readers to the lush, deadly world of The Poet Empress, a sweeping, epic and intimate fantasy perfect for fans of The Serpent & the Wings of Night, The Song of Achilles and She Who Became the Sun.

In the waning years of the Azalea Dynasty, the emperor is dying, the land consumed by famine, and poetry magic has been lost to all except the most powerful.

Wei Yin is desperate. After the death of her sister, 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, dissolute heir of the blood-glutted Azalea House.

But in a twist of fate, the inner court stands on the knife-edge of civil war with Wei now at the center...as the prince's chosen.

To survive, Wei must harden her heart, rely on her wit, and become dangerous herself, even if it means learning the art of poetry magic in secret, in a world where women are forbidden to read―and wielding the most powerful spell of all. A spell of death...and love.

About the Author

Chinese-Canadian author Shen Tao has dreamed of publishing fantasy stories since she was seven. An engineer with roots in Nanchang and Toronto, she later moved to Seattle to be closer to the mountains and the ocean, where she currently resides with her partner, her piano, and her menagerie of stuffed critters. Shen is a finalist for the Mike Resnick Memorial Award for science fiction, a two-time finalist for the PNWA unpublished novel contest, and a graduate of several speculative fiction workshops including Taos Toolbox, Viable Paradise, and Odyssey.