I picked up The Poet Empress because several reviewers I trust wouldn’t stop talking about it. When that many sensible readers agree, I pay attention.

They were right. This is an excellent debut.

Wei Yin is a starving peasant girl in a famine-stricken empire. When she hears the heir to the throne is seeking concubines, she tries her chances. Not for romance or luxury, but for rice and hope for her family and village. So she volunteers to become a concubine to Prince Terren, a man known for cruelty.

The gossip wasn’t wrong. Prince Terren is indeed cruel and has little redeeming qualities. He tortures and then uses magic to heal the wounds he inflicts so he can begin again. The palace and other concubines are no better - jealousy, hate, and danger force Wei Yin to grow fast. Or she’s dead.

Wei’s plan is desperate and dangerous. She must learn to read and write in secret. She must craft a poem powerful enough to kill a prince. And to fuel that spell, she must understand him, perhaps even love him.

The Poet Empress does not flinch from abuse or violence. There are scenes that hurt and Tao doesn’t make Terren tragically misunderstood. He is monstrous despite his tragic backstory. As Wei uncovers fragments of his childhood and the fractured relationship between the princes, the story gains momentum and shows a brilliant, heart-wrenching family drama.

Wei herself is not a chosen one who is preternaturally clever. Tao never forgets that she is a peasant girl thrown into a political machine built to crush people like her. She makes mistakes, misjudges people, and learns slowly. That’s what makes her transformation so much better. The hopeful village girl doesn’t survive court life unchanged. She has to adapt and harden, and start playing the same ruthless games because the alternative is death.

For a debut, it’s remarkably assured. If this is Shen Tao’s starting point, I can’t wait to see what she does next.