Shen Tao
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dragons.bsky.social
Shen Tao
@dragons.bsky.social
500 followers 170 following 92 posts
Canadian writer based in Seattle, WA
The Poet Empress Jan '26 🌸 Tor Bramble (US) | Gollancz (UK) | preorders available!
https://linktr.ee/ThePoetEmpress
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dragons.bsky.social
SO excited about a second starred review for The Poet Empress! A world of thank yous to Library Journal 🥰
DEBUT Famine spreads across the land of Tensha, and young Yin Wei does the only thing she can think of to save her family—become a concubine to Prince Guan Terren. Heir to the Azalea Throne, Terren is a cold man, with poetry magic that he uses for cruelty and death. As Wei navigates the inner machinations of the court, she realizes that she may have to become just as self-serving as Terren to survive. Not only do the other concubines battle each other to secure the spot as future Empress, but Terren deals with attacks on his succession from his honorable older brother, and both Wei and Terren face treachery from other court members. To achieve her goals, Wei must kill Terren—and with one forbidden poem, she can accomplish it. However, the only way to write this poem of death is with love, and she hates everything Terren is. The novel’s unique magic system and character-driven plot create an immersive tale.VERDICT Tao’s debut is an intricate study of court politics and what a young woman will do to survive. Hand to fans of The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang or She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. DEBUT Famine spreads across the land of Tensha, and young Yin Wei does the only thing she can think of to save her family—become a concubine to Prince Guan Terren. Heir to the Azalea Throne, Terren is a cold man, with poetry magic that he uses for cruelty and death. As Wei navigates the inner machinations of the court, she realizes that she may have to become just as self-serving as Terren to survive. Not only do the other concubines battle each other to secure the spot as future Empress, but Terren deals with attacks on his succession from his honorable older brother, and both Wei and Terren face treachery from other court members. To achieve her goals, Wei must kill Terren—and with one forbidden poem, she can accomplish it. However, the only way to write this poem of death is with love, and she hates everything Terren is. The novel’s unique magic system and character-driven plot create an immersive tale.VERDICT Tao’s debut is an intricate study of court politics and what a young woman will do to survive. Hand to fans of The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang or She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan.
November 6, 2025 at 4:33 PM
dragons.bsky.social
I'm so happy to say that The Poet Empress got a starred review from @publisherswkly.bsky.social !
Starred review for The Poet Empress from Publishers Weekly with quote "Tao’s prose gleams with poetic precision, and climactic revelations strike with devastating inevitability." The Poet Empress Shen Tao. Bramble, $29.99 (480p) ISBN 978-1-250-40681-1 Tao’s haunting debut immerses readers in a famine-stricken empire where poetry is power. In the final years of the Azalea Dynasty, Yin Wei, a peasant girl desperate to save her starving family, volunteers as concubine to the notoriously cruel Prince Guan Terren. This act of survival pulls her into a labyrinth of palace intrigue and rebellion, where each written word contains magic that can shape a person’s destiny, but where female literacy is illegal. Against the lush backdrop of Tao’s lyrical worldbuilding, which draws from Chinese history and myth to craft a court defined by both beauty and brutality, Wei’s transformation from naive villager to calculating courtesan is expertly rendered. Meanwhile, Terren emerges as a monstrous yet profoundly human prince. Their uneasy bond anchors a story less about romance than the corruptive and redemptive powers of language and ambition. The many political threads become fascinatingly tangled, Tao’s prose gleams with poetic precision, and climactic revelations strike with devastating inevitability. Fans of R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy War and Shelley Parker-Chan’s She Who Became the Sun will be enthralled by this fierce meditation on love, power, and survival through art. Agent: Jennifer Azantian, Azantian Literary. (Jan.) Reviewed on 10/31/2025
November 4, 2025 at 8:20 AM
dragons.bsky.social
They are giving away 50 copies of my debut, The Poet Empress, on goodreads! I hope you'll enter 🥰

#booksky #ThePoetEmpress
50 physical copy giveaway of The Poet Empress by Shen Tao on Goodreads, until November 3
October 20, 2025 at 10:36 PM
dragons.bsky.social
My first signings 😊
Thank you PNBA and @torbooks.bsky.social for having me!
Shen Tao with ARCs of The Poet Empress at the Macmillan booth Shen Tao signing ARCs of The Poet Empress
September 30, 2025 at 5:11 PM
dragons.bsky.social
Excited to share that advance copies of The Poet Empress are now available for request from @gollancz.bsky.social! ❤️🧡💙

www.netgalley.co.uk/catalog/book...
Graphic announcing The Poet Empress by Shen Tao is available for request on NetGalley
July 7, 2025 at 10:59 AM
dragons.bsky.social
I'm so blown away by the UK cover for my debut, The Poet Empress! ❤️ Thank you @gollancz.bsky.social and artist Yohey Horishita for the absolutely stunning design!

#ThePoetEmpress #fantasy #booksky
Cover for the Gollancz edition of The Poet Empress by Shen Tao
May 28, 2025 at 6:20 PM
dragons.bsky.social
So excited to share the beautiful cover of my debut fantasy, #ThePoetEmpress, which I am absolutely floored by! 🥰 It's comes out from Bramble 01.20.26 next year!

(Credits to artist Kelly Chong & designer Esther S. Kim!)

bit.ly/ThePoetEmpress
The cover of Bramble's edition of The Poet Empress by Shen Tao
May 28, 2025 at 6:13 PM