The Poet Empress by Shen Tao, Paperback, 9781399628976 | Buy online at The Nile
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The Poet Empress

Meet the epic fantasy debut of the year

Author: Shen Tao  

The Poet Empress
Paperback

A captivating epic fantasy about an empire on the brink of civil war - and the woman who will risk everything to save it.

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Pre order release date
19th January 2026
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19th January 2026
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Paperback

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Summary

A captivating epic fantasy about an empire on the brink of civil war - and the woman who will risk everything to save it.

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Description

House of the azalea, where thorn meets bud;
Brother betrays brother, blood forgets blood.

Young rice farmer Yin Wei was forced to become concubine to Prince Guan Terren - a monstrous wielder of poetry magic, and heir to the Azalea throne - to save her family from the famine blighting the land of Tensha.

Now confined to the imperial court, Terren's cruelty is not the only danger Wei faces. He and his honourable older brother are locked in a deadly succession war, while Terren's thirty concubines are fighting a war of their own, for the position of future empress.

To survive, Wei must harden her heart, rely on her wit, and become dangerous herself - even if it means learning the one forbidden poem that can kill Terren and save both herself and the nation.

But there's a problem - for the spell to work against a man she hates, it must be written with love.

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.

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Critic Reviews

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

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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.

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Product Details

Publisher
Orion Publishing Co | Gollancz
Published
20th January 2026
Pages
400
ISBN
9781399628976

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