Very well written, beautiful love story. Some of the author's world building is slightly problematic.

K Arsenault Rivera's The Tiger's Daughter opens a most unusual fantasy series, Their Bright Ascendency. Its leads are two magically powerful young women whose destinies have been intertwined since they were infants.

I have to admit that I found the epistolary style in which this story is written difficult to connect with. Readers follow past event through letters. We watch love bloom and grow between these two women, a love that survives even demonic possession.

The following DNF review was posted to Every Day Should Be Tuesday on 11/14/17:

I stuck with The Tiger’s Daughter for either a short time or a long time, depending on how you look at it. On one hand, I only made it 20% through the book according to my Kindle. On the other hand, I spent over a month getting to that 20% according to Goodreads. If a book is that much of a slog, and I have a figurative stack of ARCs sitting on my bedside table I am excited about, why grit my teeth and push through?

It’s a bold strategy to structure at least the first fifth of your book as an As You Know, Bob. I say at least a fifth because Rivera was still doing it at the point in the book at which I bailed. The book (apparently) focuses on two women, and in particular their relationship. Each is the daughter of a powerful woman in Mongolian and Chinese analogs, respectively. The portion I read is entirely structured as one of the women telling the other women about their childhood together by letter.

Does it pay off for her? No. The first fifth of the book contains exactly one action sequence (involving a tiger). It is a bit much considering out young the girls are at that point, but I generally pretty happy to overlook that sort of thing. The rest is presumably intended as setup of their characters, their relationship, the setting, the underlying conflicts, and so forth. I’m not even sure that stuff in uninteresting, but the basic structural choice of presenting it as an As You Know, Bob absolutely deflates the setup. A good story told poorly isn’t a good story at all.

The only good news is that now I really want to finally open Elizabeth Bear’s Range of Ghosts to wash the bad taste out of my mouth. Based on Karen Memory, Range of Ghosts can’t possibly be as bad as The Tiger’s Daughter. Which maybe gets good at some point! But life is too short to stick through to the end for every single book.



Disclosure: I received an advance copy of The Tiger’s Daughter for review.

Well, it took me nearly three months to complete this brand new fantasy series. I came close to DNF'ing a number of times. Personally, it was the perspective from which the story was told. Relating a story in which one character is reviewing for another, all that has happened when the latter was actually there for those events, was a bit strange. It felt very similar to reading a prequel which fills in all the little hints that were given in the series. On the other hand, I will give the author acknowledgement for steeping the series in the traditions of Japanese and Mongolian culture. Also I liked that two strong young women framed the basis of the love story. As a teacher, I think it is important that students have examples of different relationships not just the tried and true- one girl, two guys, who will she choose?

I will settle on a 3 star because I neither hated nor loved the story.

Didnt love it or hate it! I can see why some people would love it, but i feel like what I was promised and what I got were two different books

I had been excited for this book for a very long time and was overjoyed to get to read this novel early. Before starting my review, I want to link several others that address the cultural aspect that I didn’t spot when reading and that I think is very important to take into account especially since the author seems to not have done enough research:

The first review that I read after finishing the novel and that made me delete my rating: Laurelinvanyar’s Reviews on goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2032356303?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1
Aila’s review (positive nonetheless): https://onewayoranauthor.wordpress.com/2017/09/22/arc-review-the-tigers-daughter-by-k-arsenault-rivera-their-bright-ascnedancies-1-fan-art/
Aentee’s review (positive nonetheless): https://readatmidnight.com/2017/10/05/book-review-the-tigers-daughter/

Told in second person perspective, this is a long letter that Shefali writes to Shizuka. There are sometimes small parts where we get to see Shizuka POV when she is reading this letter and reacting to it. While it is a very unusual way to frame a novel and it took me a while to get used to it, I quite liked this. At times it felt a bit heavy-handed when Shefali describes some place that we know Shizuka already knows, or even conversations they had. We really feel the love Shefali has for Shizuka, it’s even funny when she directly addresses her and reassures her of her love when slightly critisizing her.

I loved watching these two young women love and protect one another, fight together and always being there for the other no matter what they went through. You can feel they are destined to be together, there’s a bit of insta-love, but they also take a while to know each other well. I loved their mothers who are the most badass warriors I’d read about, I wish we’d seen more of them. By the end of the novel, I grew to like these young women and was very invested in their story and was cheering for them. I think my favourite part of the novel was the end where there is a lot happening and I raced through the last 50 pages or so, to find out what would happen to them. It’s also because it takes a while to get into the story and it really felt like a reward to get to this point and everything finally picking up.

Indeed the chapters are very long and there’s a big case of info-dump, it is slow paced and we don’t always understand what is the point of this letter.
I loved the demon fighting but the book focuses way more on the feelings these two young women develop than on the political aspect and supernatural elements that I was looking forward to. I don’t very much understand why the whole “Even gods can be slain” thing was put front and center for the promo of this book because it isn’t the central point of the novel nor are there literal gods, except if I understood something wrong? The demons slaying part was there but, again, I wished there had been more of it or more explanations.

The fact that the author used real racial slurs is a big no, it is addressed in the reviews I linked at the beginning and I agree that it’s a really bad choice. I can’t help but think about Asian women picking up this book because an epic-fantasy set in a non-european setting with lesbian warriors does sound awesome and being faced with those slurs might be a pretty crappy experience.

This is another novel where I loved the queer representation (which is #ownvoices) and the characters, the slow pace and action scenes; BUT because other aspects (the setting verging on cultural appropriation and racism) can be very damaging I wouldn’t really recommend this book.

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to like this book, really I did. It's hard to find well-written Lesbian novels that feature women of color, and so I was excited to see it and start reading. The first couple of chapters were alright, though strangely written in a reminiscent letter kind of way. I ultimately had to shelve this novel at 56% completed because I just completely lost interest in it and couldn't get past the blatant use of racial slurs and obvious lack of any proper research into this book.

Honestly it was difficult for me to judge where this book was supposed to be set geographically. I'll admit my knowledge of Asian culture is severely lacking, but it was just difficult to tell. I spent most of the book thinking it was set in a civilization based on Ancient China, but after a bit more research (and reading a few other reviews), I realized this book was supposed to be set in a Japanese like setting with the secondary main character group being based on the Mongolian culture.

This book was full of racism, inaccuracies, and words that had been modified by one letter so that it wasn't quite the same. The honorifics for example became -sun and -tun instead of -san and -tan. Minor changes, but they begin adding up. On top of this, Rivera chose to make the name for her main group of people (the Hokkaran) Ricetongue in the Qorin language. I'm not the best person to speak about racial slurs since I'm not Asian, but the term makes me feel extremely uncomfortable in this setting. Which should have been a point to do that, but the term was used casually and throughout the parts of the book I read.

I did make it to the scenes of Shefali and Shizuka together, but it was mostly uncomfortable and awkward to read. The passion that they supposedly felt didn't translate well to me and it seemed more as a slap to the face of Shefali's mother and Shizuka's uncle than actual passion. It also felt as if Rivera had tried to use the supposed prophecy of from the pairs birth to hint at the romance. It was highly unenjoyable all the way around.

I'm disappointed in this book, it had a lovely discription but it completely failed on all fronts to be any kind of decent book.

Once upon a June, I picked up a fantasy debut I’d been excited for since it’s announcement. It’s been a rough reading year, and I hadn’t actually read a fantasy novel since January which is unheard of for me. It was time, I decided. And it was the best reading decision I’ve made all year.

I. Loved. This. Book. Honestly, love isn’t a strong enough word. I don’t think the words to explain what this book means to me exist. It immediately moved to the top of my favorite books of all time list. If you’re a reader you know how hard it is to answer that inevitable ‘What’s your favorite book?’ question. Without hesitation, The Tiger’s Daughter is my answer to that question.

Clearly this will be more of a love letter than a coherent review, but I will try my best to explain why this book means EVERYTHING to me.

The first thing that stands out in this novel is the writing. The prose is absolutely breathtaking. It’s quietly beautiful + well balanced and I would very much like to wrap it around myself like a blanket. There were so many passages that just burrowed under my skin and bled into my heart and if that’s not the sign of a great book, I don’t know what is.

The world-building is expansive and detailed but never overwhelming. The story never gets lost in the minutiae of its setting, and it’s very obvious with every small detail that the world of the Qorin Steppes and Hokkaran empire was well-thought out and lovingly crafted.

The characterization is, in a word, magnificent. There is not a single character who is left undeveloped and they are all so beautifully realistic. Nobody is just one thing and this book illuminates that. Our heroes and rulers are just as messy and flawed and make as many mistakes as the people they are trying to save. The characters in this novel are a shining reflection of everything that makes humanity both great and terrible and that is a significant part of what made this such an important book to me.

And then of course there is the most important aspect of this novel – and that’s the love story. Don’t come at me over this, because I will die on this hill. Like any good fantasy, this story is full of magic, perilous adventures, difficult decisions, bloody battles, and political machinations, but the beating heartbeat under all of it is the friendship and love between Shefali and Shizuka. They may have been fated at birth to always share a connection and to be the saviors of their world, but it’s the fierce loyalty to each other over everything else that makes them the most beautiful love story I have ever encountered and that love is what drives every other part of the novel and makes them the f/f OTP that dreams are made of.

Also this story has my favorite final scene of any book in the history of the universe.

Basically The Tiger’s Daughter is my heart and utterly flawless and you should all do yourself a favor and read it immediately

This was a pretty mixed bag for me. It tells the story of Barsalayaa Shefali, a young Qorin girl and her friendship with Hokkaran Empress O Shizuka. First and foremost, I liked the setting for this novel. The tribal quality of the Qorin who live on the Steppe, are great archers and wonderful horse riders, remind the reader of the Mongols just as the Hokkaran are synonymous with Imperial China. I thought that the author was quite adept at re-creating this environment and it felt visceral and truthful. Unfortunately, the plot was laboriously slow and the narrative structure was irritating as I found myself wondering why Shefali would be telling O Shizuka about events in a letter that they both took part in - it just didn't ring true to me. I do think that the series has potential in terms of the demon enemies, but these really need to feature more prominently in future instalments and the plot needs to be tightened up considerably to keep my interest.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I fully expected to LOVE this book and yet . . . <b>It just didn't suit my personal preference</b>. The premise was good, the blurb was great and a number of reviews made me extremely excited for this book (Schwab! Chokski!) and yet I was so disappointed...

<b>I adored the prose - it really is beautifully written and lyrical with an almost classical feel</b>. I loved the lush descriptions and the vivid imagery that [author:K. Arsenault Rivera|15144005] was able to concoct with her words.

<b>I struggled to connect with the narrators</b> - the first being written in third person present tense from the point of view of O-Shizuka, a warrior empress from the Hokkaran empire and the other narrator being Shefali, a Qorin warrior and is in the style of a letter written by Shefali to O-Shizuka.

<b>One of my biggest problems with the narration was the 'letter' which takes up a good portion of this book</b>, so it's basically a novel sized letter. I understand that the author needs to have all the history and world building worked in to the book and yet it just didn't make sense to me WHY a lot of the information would even be in a letter in the first place! Shefali is, for a lot of the letter, recounting things that Shizuka already knows and was even present for and I'm pretty positive that Shizuka wasn't in need of a history lesson. It made it <b>difficult to suspend my disbelief</b> and when I'm constantly questioning the narration, even though I am smitten with the prose itself it's just not a good reading experience. I'm also not a big fan of info dumps and I felt like <b>the letter was just one big info dump device.</b>

<b>I also found myself struggling with the depiction of culture in this book</b>. I know that inspiration was drawn from East Asia and specifically Japanese and Mongolian and Chinese culture, and I think that the author was actually trying to exacerbate the situation by being intentionally calloused, but as a reader I didn't enjoy being thrown out of 'my zone' by such repugnant treatment of culture, especially by a narrator that was actually writing a letter to her close friend and didn't need to exaggerate a point.

<blockquote>While Hokkarans hate me because I am dark and flaxen haired and remind them of a horse, the Qorin dislike me because they think I am too pampered. When I was a child, it was worse.
My nose didn’t help.
I have my mother’s round cheeks, which you always seemed to have an unending fascination for. I have her wavy hair, her skin, her height, her bowleggedness, her large hands, her grass green eyes.
But of all the features on my wide, flat face, my nose stands out. It is narrow, pinched, and begging for a fist to reshape it. My father’s stamp on me.</blockquote>

Not only do I think that this is completely unnecessary to be included in a letter to your friend, but I also really didn't think that a person (especially an Asian) would ever truly describe themselves in this way. Flat faced? It seems pretty insulting to me.

My final complaint, and possibly the least problematic for me was that this book only has six chapters in total for a book that's over 500 pages. Not to mention that chapters 1 and 6 don't even take up 10% of this book. When you're the sort of reader that isn't happy with stopping mid-chapter this makes a huge difference!

A few sensitivity readers and some heavy editing might have made this work a bit better for me. If it still intrigues you then it's something that you should try. I'm guessing it's fairly polarising because readers seem to either love this one or hate this one going by some of the other reviews.

**** Huge thank you to Tor for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!****

This book was very unique and I feel like my mind is still processing the sheer amount of world building in it as well! It’s also a diverse read featuring two Asian women and a F/F romance which was amazing!

PLOT

First things first, this is a slower paced book and not the action-packed, fast-paced adventure I thought it was going to be. This is more of a character-driven story which was fine because they did an excellent job with it. However, once I got about half way through it slowed down significantly and while I was still interested I wasn’t AS interested anymore. This is pretty much the only reason I’m giving it 4 stars instead of a full five.

Another reason I can’t give a full five is that when I started reading I was drowning in information and incredibly confused. Major info dumping and it took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure out how the names worked because each main race, Hokkran and Qorin, has a different style of naming and therefore each character was named differently according to who was addressing them. It added a lot to the world building but like I said it took a while to get used to and figure it out.

The world building was absolutely kick-ass, this was my favorite part of the book to be honest. It was all very unique and interesting, I was craving more answers concerning the mythology and world building especially after finishing the book. There’s just so much content and it’s all fascinating and pretty immersive. I need more!

The POV and narration was also really unique as it jumps between the current timeline and from Shizuka’s 3rd Person POV to her reading a letter from Shefali told in the 1st Person POV. It also skips around in time starting with the birth and childhood of the characters into the current time where they are in their 20’s. Once again this took a little getting used to but I thought it was a really distinctive way to tell the story.

The writing was amazing as well, one of the other things I really enjoyed. It was beautifully written and easy to immerse myself in.

The ending was pretty solid and tied everything up neatly but still leaving room for more in the sequel. I would definitely love to see more of the world building explored especially since we essentially know EVERYTHING about the characters now since reading about them from birth. Definitely excited to see a little more demon-slaying!

characters

As I mentioned earlier this is a very character driven book and therefore the most important happenings in the story focus around the characters, their drives, and their emotions more so than any straightforward plot line.

I really liked the main characters Shizuka and Shefali, mostly Shefali though! They’re both incredibly headstrong girls with incredible talent but they also have their flaws and if there’s anything I love it’s a flawed heroine who knows their faults. I love how they both admit to their strengths and weaknesses both and rely on each other.

They were definitely well developed and very complex.

I also loved the strong, positive female friendship that is represented between them that blossoms into a romance.

The secondary characters were also done well especially O-Shizuru and Alshara, Shizuka’s and Shefali’s mothers respectfully. Seriously, their mothers are total badasses and if they grow up to even be an ounce like their mothers the next book in the series will be fantastic! I also really liked Shefali’s cousin, Otgar, and her brother Kenshiro. Shizuka’s uncle, the Emperor, made for a good sort of antagonist too.

romance

This was a nice slow burn romance and as mentioned it’s a diverse F/F romance as well. I loved how the girls grew from a friendship into a romance.

They were so sweet, adorable, and passionate. I don’t ever want them to be apart! I will go down with this ship!

in conclusion

Overall I really did enjoy this book but I would have liked a bit more action, more answers for the world building, and less info dumps! Still I will anxiously be awaiting the sequel just to see where they will go now since we have done the past and will move onto the character’s futures!

What I Loved:

The world building and mythology
Unique narrative style
Beautiful writing
Complex, developed, and likable characters
Slow burn and sweet F/F romance

What I Didn’t Love:

Pacing got very slow after 50%
Would have liked a bit more info on the world building
Not a lot of action
Major info dumps

RECOMMEND

I definitely recommend checking this book out as it’s a very unique fantasy book with a really neat premise and beautiful writing. It is inspired by Asian culture and includes a F/F romance, however, if you’re looking for something action packed this may not be for you.

As soon as I saw that The Tiger's Daughter was blurbed by V.E. Schwab, it immediately went to the top of my most-anticipated reads list. When I got approved for a copy on NetGalley, I started reading almost immediately. I was expecting a high fantasy LGBT epic adventure, full of demons and magical quests. The Tiger's Daughter ended up being more of a romance set against the backdrop of an epic fantasy (Note: I would not classify this book as YA). It took me over a month and a half to get through this book. Had I not been reading it for review purposes or gone in with such high expectations, I would have decided to not finish it around the 25% mark. I kept hoping that it would get better, living up to at least some of the potential I saw in it. As it was, turning the last page felt like a major accomplishment because it meant that I had finally completed the slow and tedious journey.

I found it almost impossible to connect with the story or the characters because of the storytelling style. After part of a chapter in the present day, Shizuka receives a letter from Shefali, her childhood friend. Until the last few pages, the ENTIRE rest of the book is told through the letter. This storytelling choice was odd and ultimately did not work at all. It was the epitome of telling, and not showing, the reader how events unfolded. There were info-dumps galore and there seemed to be no point to the letter other than rehashing the entirety of Shefali and Shizuk's time together when younger.

In general, I found the plot to be incredibly aimless and, even after finishing, am still not sure what the point of the story was. I ended up having no emotional connection to any of the characters because the storytelling style was so bizarre and distracting. Because of this, I didn't care at all for the romance, which is integral to the story. I think the plot would have been dramatically improved if the story had been structured differently. Additionally, the world-building wasn't good, I actually wasn't sure at times if this world was meant to be entirely fictional or if it was an alternate historical fantasy world based in Asia. The author borrowed heavily from several Asian cultures and, even though I don't have an in-depth understanding of the issues, I do think additional sensitivity research should have been conducted. (Others much more knowledgeable than I have written reviews expounding this topic if you're looking for more details).

Overall, The Tiger's Daughter was one of my biggest disappointments of 2017. I had such high expectations but this one fell short in every possible way. I think I would have given it the same rating even if I hadn't had such high expectations given the general problems with this book.

I just could not get into this book. I picked it up and put it down and picked it up and put it down. The letter format and reminiscing was weird. I liked the richness of what I was reading but I got bored and I didn't understand what was going on and I didn't feel like I was getting pieces fast enough to care. I made it like 20% in the book and then did not finish it. Sorry..

This book was a mixed bag. I picked it up expecting an epic fantasy saga involving demons and warrior maidens, and what I got instead was more of a love story, wrapped up inside a Wuthering Height’s style mega-letter through which we learnt more about the woman reading it.
The setting is a Chinese, Japanese and Mongolian-inspired fantasy world in which the Hokkarans, the powerful ruling empire, and the Qorin, the horse-riders who live in the steppes, live side-by-side in an uneasy alliance, in a world where demons roam the countryside and whose touch is poison to anybody their blood touches. In this world we meet Shizuka, next in line to the Hokkaran throne, and Shefali, the daughter of the clan chief of the Qorin. Given that both children show an early aptitude for fighting, and develop a close friendship in which they (among other things) slay a tiger, you can see why I was gearing up for some epic quest or adventure in the style that the fantasy genre is so well adapted to.
Instead, Rivera forgoes plot in favour of a star-crossed romance between the protagonists, Shefali and Shizuka. Whilst their romance was definitely something to root for- it was a believable and welcome breath of fresh air to have a female romance place first and foremost in the story- I did find myself wondering when the plot was going to start and our heroines get some action. Instead, it floundered: in it's place, we got Shefali’s ruminations on the state of the empire and the differences between Qorin and Hokkarans, interspersed with tantalising plot strands that were never really capitalised on: Shizuka’s villainous uncle, for instance, or her creepy suitors. It's as if Rivera changed her mind halfway through about the kind of book she wanted to write.
That said, there was still plenty to enjoy: the author is a master at worldbuilding and though there has been a bit of buzz online about the fact that she’s borrowed too heavily from Mongolian and Japanese words and culture she still creates a compelling, detailed world that I’d love to learn more about. In particular, the references she drops casually throughout the novel about the strong relationship between Shizuka and Shefali’s mothers, who are legends in their own right for having slain countless demons and brought peace to their respective countries. I’d like to learn more about that particular story!
The plot does pick up halfway, too- in an admittedly very unexpected way- and though it has more ramifications for the love story than anything else it still makes for some reading and the chance to develop the relationship between the characters a little more. Personally, I enjoy a bit of romance, but I prefer it to be secondary to the action- so I do think more could have been made of the plot twist halfway through.
Overall, though, The Tiger’s Daughter is well written, compelling fantasy, and the strength of Rivera’s writing, coupled with the strong, independent female protagonists makes for a great, fresh, read. Though it has a couple of snags and plot holes, it's still worth picking up, and for people who want something different from their fantasy this is definitely one to go for.

This is one of those lush, richly written fantasy tales that clearly has its roots in the Eastern tradition. Set in a large sprawling land that is a cross between Mongolia and Japan, it is the story of two girls born of two close friends. One is a Qorin ruler, leader of nomadic horse tribes, while the other is sister-in-law to the paranoid emperor. I was a bit concerned about the way the animosity between the Oorin and Hokkarans were depicted – would anyone call themselves flat-faced? While I enjoyed the fact this wasn’t a fantasy set in medieval/early modern Europe, I did wonder if it didn’t borrow rather too heavily from other historical conflicts.

These two girls, born close together, first meet as small children and then throughout their young lives, quickly forming a strong bond. This novel is actually a letter from one of the girls, written to the other and charting their adventures together and what they have done. It is a time-honoured structure and mostly successful – although I do think the pacing could have been improved, if only we had hints throughout of just what the stakes were, before they were fully revealed.

However, that grizzle doesn’t detract from the richness of the worldbuilding and the punchy characterisation of these powerful girls. While it is a coming-of-age romance, because of the manner in which their friendship turns into something far deeper and more passionate, it is certainly different. I thought the love between them was tender and convincing, though personally I could have done with less explicit sex scenes.

I liked the fact that though there is a great deal of powerful magic sloshing around, when people get hurt, there is a price to pay. This is a hefty book at 500+ pages, but especially towards the end, the pace really picked up and the story concluded with a nicely climactic ending.
7/10

This beautifully written novel centers around the powerful bond between two brave heroines, divine empress O' Shizuka and warrior Shefali! With rich world building, phenomenal writing, spectacular characters, and a truly captivating story, The Tiger's Daughter had me hooked from page 1!

Wow, what an infodump/mishmash! Not particularly well written or conceived. I tried to like it for introducing a setting which wasn't the usually Medieval/Renaissance Europe tropes but man, the attempt at Japanese/Chinese/Asian analogues by changing a few letters around?! Plus just using Japanese terms when she couldn't quite figure out how to change it around. Overall, did no finish and no interest in keeping on reading.

The Tiger’s Daughter, by K Arsenault Rivera, is an east Asian-inspired epic fantasy centred on the legendary love story of O-Shizuka, divine empress of Hokkaro, and Barsalyya Shefali, outcast daughter of the leader of the Qorin, a race of nomadic warrior horse-masters.

This is a fable, a ballad, an epic—a story cycle, even. The Tiger’s Daughter feels so familiar it drops right into place in the part of your brain—if you’ve a brain like me—where you keep Sam and Frodo, Monkey and Tripitaka. But this is no pale imitation. The characters are equally vivid.

One-Stroke Shizuka: the insufferably arrogant (yet every inch justified) princess of flowers, deadly with a blade. And her devoted partner, Tiger-Striped Shefali: literal horse whisperer, unbeatable with a bow, prey to relentless darkness.

Are you sold yet? How about if I mention how their love story is prophesied at their birth and grows real and true and passionate? How embracing their love, even in the face of society’s discrimination, lets them become more than human, leads them to fully occupy their destiny as legendary heroes?

The Tiger’s Daughter is unapologetically melodramatic in both its story and its tropes (demonic possession, anyone?). It’s full of fascinating, larger-than-life queer women. But Rivera’s characters aren’t one-dimensional. The novel treats its characters’ failings as honestly as their victories. (God knows I wanted to shake some sense into every single character at some point.) Shizuka and Shefali must face both external threats—in the form of genuinely shiver-down-my-spine-creepy demons as well as Shizuka’s villainous uncle, the Emperor—and their own equally life-threatening flaws and mistakes.

Speaking of the Emperor, I was a little disappointed by his fatness implicitly being his physical embodiment of villainhood. He was intended as nothing more than a one-dimensional bad guy type and he fit that trope perfectly, but I know personally it made me a little uncomfortable, so fair warning if it might you, too.

Nevertheless, Rivera succeeds tremendously at making this story a celebration of queer women being badass epic heroes. I adored this book, and when I finally reached the end I put it down (that’s a lie: I clutched it to my chest and shed a small tear) both utterly satisfied and at the same time heartbroken to leave Shizuka’s and Shefali’s side. I can’t wait to get my hands on the second book of the Their Bright Ascendancy series, The Phoenix Empress, in 2018.

With a premise like that, how could this novel fail, am I right? WRONG. I had to add this ARC to my DNF pile, and we all know how much I hate doing that. But I simply could not get through this novel. I only got through 20% before I had to give up. So what was so wrong with this story? Well, for starters it begins with a letter. Now, I love letters. But this letter was there simply for info-dumping purposes. I mean, it went on and on for about 4 chapters of the story, pretty much laying all of the groundwork. But since that was the only real world-building that was happening, it made the story very clunky and effectively removed any chance of there actually being a plot line. The worst part is that the letter wasn't even well-written! It had no nuance, it had no flair, it literally just narrated everything in an awkward way, which really didn't make for a pleasant experience for the reader. I kept waiting for something to happen with the plot but ... well, nothing really happened. that was a real bummer for me. There is clearly romance between the two female protagonists, but it wasn't executed well, either. The author also makes some very racist remarks that really made me feel uncomfortable; others have also mentioned this on Goodreads so I'm not going to get into it any further. Overall, this novel was quite a let-down. It had garnered a lot of hype and it brought my hopes up. But in the end, it didn't deliver. For those reasons, I'm giving it a 1/5 stars.

This isn't really my cuppa, but the writing is lush without being purple.