She is best known for her debut novel, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, an East Asian-inspired retelling of the Evil Queen legend from Snow White, and its sequel Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix.
Booklist called the characters "complex and intriguing; villains are admirably drawn so the reader sees their path,"[11] and Eric Smith of Paste also praised Dao's "beautiful writing and imaginative storytelling.
"[12] In 2019, Dao published her third novel, Song of the Crimson Flower, set in the same world as the Rise of the Empress duology, about a nobleman's daughter who must make amends to the would-be lover she cruelly rejected by freeing him of a witch's curse.
[13] Of the novel, Publishers Weekly said "Dao’s latest fuses beats of Cyrano de Bergerac with elements from her Rise of the Empress duology to create an East Asian–influenced tale of love, greed, politics, addiction, and found family,"[14] while School Library Journal predicted that "this will appeal to lovers of fairy-tale retellings and new fantasy worlds.
In October 2024, Dao published her first adult novel, Now Comes the Mist, a retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula centered around Lucy Westenra, to be followed by the sequel, So Blooms the Dawn, in late 2025.