The Poet Empress

The Poet Empress is a hidden knife, one that cuts so deeply and cleanly that it excises your heart and makes you like it. I have rarely had such a breathless reading experience, where each page reveals the ways in which humanity’s beauty and ugliness run lockstep with one another. Terrifying and enthralling! * Andrea Stewart, Sunday Times bestselling author *Taut, sharp, and compelling. With haunting prose and characters vividly real, THE POET EMPRESS is a devastating composition, revealing intrigue, magic, and politics turn by thrilling turn. Impeccably paced, vicious and romantic, this is a deadly debut that’ll have you at the edge of your seat * Kritika H. Rao, Sunday Times bestselling author of THE LEGEND OF MENEKA *The Poet Empress will surprise you. It will, at times, terrify you. But Tao’s rich tale is multifaceted-it is brutal, yes, but also beautiful and full of hope and kindnesses both big and small. If you love court intrigue, creative magic systems, and protagonists who know that empathy is a strength and not a weakness, even as they are forced to make impossible decisions, this is the book for you. * Kemi Ashing-Giwa *

Shen Tao immigrated to Canada at an early age, and grew up inspired by both Chinese and Western stories. She has wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember. The Poet Empress is her first book.