This is such a confusing and difficult book to rate because on one hand, I really enjoyed it! I thought the entire premise was so unique and exciting, being bonded to animals and sharing their bodies and thoughts and souls? Sign me the hell up! I loved the variety of animals that were shown to be Bonded to humans — they were all tigers and lions and bears and that. There were smaller, less conspicuous animals and I thought that was entirely adorable and accurate.
I also adored Julia Ember's writing. Let me tell you something, Ember's writing is just so beautiful. I can lose myself in it — it is the kind of writing where I mean to read only a chapter but before you know it, I'm halfway through the book and can't seem to stop. I adore her writing, which is definitely something I realised from reading THE SEAFARER'S KISS which was also released this year.
Honestly, kudos to Julia for getting two novels out in one year. I couldn't cope with that!
I did enjoy the plot for this story, despite it being slow paced. I enjoy my fantasy to be slow burn, mostly. Hell, my favourite series is A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE so that is obvious. I wish that the book had been a little longer. In my opinion, instead of splitting the series into a trilogy, I would have preferred a hella long standalone, but that's just me. I still plan on reading the rest of the series and seeing where our characters end up.
Which brings me to our characters. Which is where most of my problems lie.
The book is told through the prospective of Tashi. I have mixed feelings about Tashi. On one hand I enjoyed them because they're so different from the typical hero we have in fantasy. They were overly brave, they often considered themselves a coward and wondered why their tiger, Katala, chose them. But on the same line, that is another reason I didn't enjoy Tashi. They just didn't seem real to me.
You should be able to get a good grip of the main character you're reading about, right? By the end of the first book, you should understand what motivates them and who they are and what decisions they'll make. I don't know anything about Tashi. There were times they were making decisions and I just got whiplash because one minute they've given a pep talk and the next second, they're whimpering again? I just couldn't get a grasp on them and when I can't grasp the characters I'm reading about… how am I supposed to root for them?
I did appreciate that they made wrong decisions for right reasons. I really do because we don't see that enough. Not everyone is meant to save the world and I adore that. I just wish I knew Tashi more to root for them.
There is another character called Pharo who is Tashi's best friend and is also the guy they've been in love with for ages. Pharo wasn't really in the book much and we didn't get to know him either, which was another problem. When the romance thing came out I was just like… what? They love him? Where the f*** did that come from? And it made me feel icky. Especially the thing that happens between them at the end. I felt icky with that.
But that just be my little demi heart showing itself again and because we didn't get much development between them, it just didn't sit well with me.
The only character I really enjoyed was Xian. No surprise there seeing as I saw Zuko from Avatar the second he was mentioned. I am Mrs. Fire Lord Zuko, okay? I love him so much and Xian gave me all the vibes of Zuko. I felt like he was the only character who felt truly three dimensional and developed. I can't wait to see more of him in the next book!
And lastly, before this ends up a novel in itself, my final complaint is the world building. Overall, it was just generally lacking. I didn't get a strong sense of where we were and the people who lived there. It's very much like we're thrown in the deep end with no prior swimming experience and our floaties have been locked away. Words are spouted and history talked of but never explained.
Perhaps this is because it's told from first person and so Tashi won't know every single detail. But when you're creating a new world, I don't think that works. That may just be a personal opinion but I couldn't get a real sense of this world and so couldn't understand what was at stake.
All in all, THE TIGER'S WATCH is a novel with an interesting premise that fell a little flat but I have high hopes for the next book in the series.

4.5 for me.

Wow. When I first started this book, I found it a little hard to get into because it was bringing up things and names I didn't know, so it was like coming midway into something. But like an epic story, The Tiger's Watch does start in the middle of it all, specifically, the ending of a losing battle in their own homeland. Tashi and their friend Pharo are escaping to the monastery, hoping to live another day and not die or be sold as slaves like the rest of their comrades. However, before they can even begin to think that they're safe in the cold mountains, a troop of enemy soldiers arrives at their door, and it's their commanding officer, Xian, that really starts off the story.

I liked this a lot. The cover totally got me to click on it and when I read the blurb, I thought it was interesting. The beginning was slow only because I was getting the crash course in kingdoms and names and culture and 'should-already-knows', but I quickly caught on once things slowed down. Tashi was a very interesting character, and I liked that they knew they were weak but still tried to do better. I also enjoyed the fact that they didn't identify with only one gender, though reading it from their POV only took me out of the story once because of the whole 'I did this' coming from someone who wished to be addressed as 'they/them'. I don't know the rules or proper use of address, and most of the time, it was more of a fact like Xian having blue eyes, which was also a cool thing to do to make it normal despite the type of character not appearing all the time. I just really appreciated that this was done. Aside from their refusal to reform, I thought they were also strong in a sense that they refused to do what felt wrong to them. It's a war, and sides are not always black and white. I loved that they knew this without being told, because it made for a really interesting plot.

This story of survival and struggling to understand that what you were always told was a lie made things a little suspenseful, while still keeping that chill, slightly romantic aspect of Tashi with Pharo and Xian. Loved the world that was built up, liked the tone and writing style. The characters were pretty interesting, as was their interaction with them. It was complicated, and it made sense to me. They're young, stuck in the middle of a more confusing time. It was overall an excellent story I'm glad to have stumbled upon because I so look forward to the second installment.

Sixteen-year-old Tashi has spent their life training as a inhabitor, a soldier who spies and kills using a bonded animal. When the capital falls after a brutal siege, Tashi flees to a remote monastery to hide. But the invading army turns the monastery into a hospital, and Tashi catches the eye of Xian, the regiment’s fearless young commander.

Tashi spies on Xian’s every move. In front of his men, Xian seems dangerous, even sadistic, but Tashi discovers a more vulnerable side of the enemy commander—a side that draws them to Xian.

When their spying unveils that everything they’ve been taught is a lie, Tashi faces an impossible choice: save their country or the boy they’re growing to love. Though Tashi grapples with their decision, their volatile bonded tiger doesn't question her allegiances. Katala slaughters Xian’s soldiers, leading the enemy to hunt her. But an inhabitor’s bond to their animal is for life—if Katala dies, so will Tashi.- Goodreads

I have mix feelings about this book and I have mix feelings about book two and it didn't even come out yet. Jumping right into this, when I began the book I was all over it. Tashi is an interesting character because he/she makes decisions that are based so much more on emotion rather than common sense, faith or basic knowledge. The decisions come off really selfish and surprising especially at the end. Tashi also isn't as passionate as I would have liked nor is there growth in that area. Tashi's emotions from beginning to end feel really misguided and it was frustrating to read because Tashi could have been a bad ass. 

The story centralizers around relationships, oddly enough. Be it Tashi's relationship with the tiger, Katala, Xian and Tashi's partner/friend. Although the author makes it seem as if the war and the battles are the focus, it really isn't. It is the backstory because while Tashi falls in love with Xian, the author throws it in there that he is enemy. I wanted more about the war and the battles won and lost. I wanted more fight and blurred lines between love and duty. There was a really great battle scene but like having your first taste of sugar, I wanted more.

My excitement for the book didn't last because things began to become redundant. The relationship between Tashi and Xian didn't have the chemistry or passion one would expect with first love and at the end you really don't know where the two actually stand. And as important as Tashi's relationship with Katala and her partner, you see less and less of it as the book goes on.

Now my mix feelings about book two is it isn't in Tashi's point of view. That bothers me because the ending just kind of ends. I want to know what Tashi is doing at this point and my interest in her partner isn't even there.

Overall, it was alright. I liked it but at the same time I'm on the fence if that makes sense. I just wish Tashi made smarter decisions and the book wasn't so relationship based. 

3 Pickles

I really enjoyed The Tiger’s Watch. And here are four thoughts I had when reading it:

1) I wish it had been longer.

I actually enjoyed the tightness of the plot and storyline, but if it had been a little longer I feel like some of the characters, relationships, and world building would have been more fleshed out.

In regards to Tashi and Pharo’s relationship I think length would have benefitted that a lot, because I didn’t really feel the connection that Tashi said they had towards Pharo because Pharo wasn’t actually in the book that much.

2) Tashi is genderfluid.

That’s not really a thought, but I had to mention it because GENDERFLUID PROTAGONIST IN A YA FANTASY NOVEL OMG YES. There wasn’t a lot of exploration of Tashi’s gender, but in a way I kind of liked that? To try and explain: it was a story about Tashi, who was going through these intense things because of the war between their country and another, and they were also genderfluid. I’m definitely not saying that stories that focus on genderfluidity aren’t needed because they are, but the way The Tiger’s Watch didn’t solely revolve around Tashi’s queer identity is an equally important story to tell.

Also, the fact that almost everyone (except an asshole character) used Tashi’s they/them/their pronouns made my soul happy.

3) The magic was awesome.

These people mentally and physically link with animals when they’re eight years old and I love it. Like, it’s kind of sad because when the person or animal dies then the other pretty much does, too (after a long coma-type thing), but also ANIMAL SOULMATES.

I really liked the relationship between Tashi and their golden tiger, Katala. Again going back to my first point, a little more length to this book would have benefitted their relationship but it was definitely strong enough to have me invested throughout.

4) The love triangle was interesting.

It’s actually been a while since I read a book with a love triangle so it wasn’t as abhorrent as it could have been. Tashi kind of falls for their master, Xian, who is pretty darn evil. Sure, there were moments of kindness and vulnerability but I don’t think there was enough of him not being a torturous asshole for me to like him. I just needed Xian to be kind to someone other than Tashi because the fact that he was only kind to them didn’t tip the scales for me.

Pharo, who I mentioned in my first point, is Tashi’s other love interest. Even though I didn’t get to read about him as much as Xian I think I liked him better. He cared about Tashi and the other magic students, and wasn’t a torturous asshole so huge bonus point to him.

5) I really want to read the sequel.

I know I enjoyed the first book in a series when I want to read the sequel immediately, and I definitely felt that way about The Tiger’s Watch! I’m incredibly keen for the sequel, and I’ll be excited to see where the story goes after that big ending.

© 2017, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

I so much wanted it to be good.

I so much liked the description of this book, so when I was approved to receive an ARC of it, I was happy. But it took me 17 days to read a book with 180 pages. Yes, I really wanted it to be good, but it wasn’t.

I liked the idea of bonding with animal and I had never read a book with gender fluid protagonist, so I really wanted to know more. Apart of that, I’m huge fantasy fan and the whole premise of bonding animals and fight in a war and spying and everything else sounded perfect. But after I read 20% of the book everything started to feel flat and not okay.

In my opinion, the world building was not enough – lots of things wasn’t explained – I wanted to know more about Thim, how it was founded and at least a small portion of the story of all inhabitors. Instead, we see only the insecurities of the main character. All of his decisions was based on their own feelings and they were selfish and childish most of the time.

As the main character is said to be gender fluid, I also wanted to see more about that. I can’t really know if the representation was done well, but I didn’t felt it. It was great that in this world they were accepted and appreciated. But… I didn’t get why Tashi consider some other people and also talk about them as “they”, when there is not even a clue about said people’s sexuality. Is this a common thing? I understand that it’s not compulsory to explain that and yes there had a few lines in the beginning, but they wasn’t enough and I think this would only add to the story if it was included.

Let me talk about the romance and the love triangle. Yes, I didn’t liked it. It felt unreal, all of it. I wasn’t convinced even 1% that Tashi have feelings for both of them, it felt like lust and call for acceptance.

The only believable character in here was Pharo and I really liked him. Also, Katala was very interesting and I wanted to see more from her point of view. I pushed myself to finish the story only because this 2 characters. And as I’m talking about characters – Xian also wasn’t portrayed well – I wish to know more about him, so I can understand his decisions and desires. That “dark thing” in him – I wanted to explore it and understand it. And I hope it will be explained in the next book.

Overall, this book wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good too. I was very hesitant about the rating and I give it 3 or even 2.5 stars and the only way to continue with the series would be the change of the main POV character.

I've given this book 3/5 stars and to be honest it was on the lower side. I really wanted to enjoy this book, and unfortunately I didn't. However I did see some really great qualities within the book and can for sure seeing people enjoying it.

I had fairly high expectations for this book based on the sheer amount of hype it seemed to be getting prior to its release. To be fair, much of the hype I was seeing was moreso surrounding the fact that this book contains a nonbinary character -- Tashi -- and a great deal of other forms representation. The Tiger's Watch is actually one of the first (of hopefully many more) books I've read with a gender-fluid protagonist, and I really loved it.

This review is difficult to write because I know that I really enjoyed this book, but when I try to answer 'why' I enjoyed it so much, I'm not sure how to describe it. It comes down to this: I didn't want to put this book down. It didn't feel like there was a lot of plot going on, but I still couldn't help but keep reading. The characters, the story, the setting, the world -- all of it was fascinating. There was something captivating about Ember's writing that really drew me into the story and the small world that encompassed it.

Tashi was an incredibly interesting character. They were pretty shy and seemingly innocent, but at the same time they were also pretty tough. In a weird way, I especially liked that they made pretty really bad decisions (some of which annoyed me more than others. Also, I was so pleasantly surprised to see how easily this world seemed to accept non-binary people. There were than a few instances where someone would tell them that Tashi preferred to be referred as "they," rather than "s/he," and for the most part people just said okay, move on with their lives, and respect that choice. What? A fantasy world that doesn't keep all of our prejudices? I know, I'm also in a state of shock.

I've always been a fan of the fantasy trope of people bonding with certain animals, and I especially loved the way it worked in this book. For instance, the animals chose who they bond with at a certain age, and then the human -- known as an 'inhabitor' -- only lives as long as the animal lives and vice versa. There were something very authentic about how this relationship worked, as Tashi also made several mentions throughout the book regarding how her tiger was still wild and she couldn't necessarily communicate normally or speak to her animal.

I had mixed feelings about the benefits and drawbacks of bonding with animals thought was brought up, along with some other more spoiler-y things that I won't get into. The bonding with animals is mentioned by Tashi as being something that she wishes that they could give up so that they -- and other inhibitors -- could live longer. I completely understand that, but I don't understand either: 1) why bonding is so important, or 2) why you would want to give up something is ancient and magical and apparently really great. I just felt like this idea wasn't quite explored as in-depth as it could have been.

I was also impressed with how Ember explored different forms of relationships. She did a great job of noting and using the difference between relationships based on deep, emotional feelings and attachments versus relationships centered sexual desire and attraction, something that I wish more authors considered.

The only thing that I felt sort of let down on was the lack of history and context in this book. I know that there is a huge conflict going on and Ember does explain this to a point, but I just felt like was more that was missing. I can see future books going into the world and background more, but I just felt a little left out of the loop regarding what was really going on.

Overall, I found this book really engaging and easy to follow along. I was invested in every character and found myself very much engaged in the story. Thus, I'm giving The Tiger's Watch four stars!

Ahoy there me mateys! I received this young adult fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So here be me honest musings . . .

the tiger's watch (Julia Ember)

Title: the tiger's watch

Author: Julia Ember

Publisher: Harmony Ink Press

Publication Date: TODAY!!!! (paperback/e-book)

ISBN: 978-1635334852

Source: NetGalley

Well, yet again, an interesting cover led me to take a look at this book. Gender-fluid protagonist who is bonded with a giant golden tiger? Yes, please. This book certainly was a quick read at 180 pages. I read it in one evening. It was an enjoyable read for me but not a fantastic one.

The pros:

- Gender-fluid protagonist. Hooray for diversity! Also Tashi is accepted by society and their friends. If only our world could be this way for everyone.
- The protagonist is conflicted. Tashi does cry and get confused and make uninformed decisions. I like that the main character has emotions.
- Tashi didn't just magically become a kick-ass warrior in a second because suddenly there is war.
- Tashi's spy training is laughable in a good way because their society has been at peace for so long that Tashi thought those studies weren't extremely important.
- I loved the best friend Pharo. He is stubborn and rash and lovable and caring.
- Bonds with animals. Awesome of course. I loved all the unique animals that humans could bond with. I also enjoyed the consequences for possessing the animal bond. Not all fun and games but no spoilers here!

The cons:

- The protagonist is whiny. I don't mind that Tashi cries sometimes or is scared. I did mind that they kept wanting someone else to save them. And yet they would rush into danger at the drop of a hat at other moments.
- An eventual love-triangle thing. It wasn't instantaneous and there is a love-side and a lust-side. But why! So unnecessary.
- The politics and world-building are not really handled well. Cool concepts but not enough explanation. Plus Tashi becomes both a spy and a trusted companion in a really pathetic way.
- The plot is confusing. What plot there is seems to be driven by the love-triangle. Tashi's lust gets in the way of rational thought. And plot points occur because they are not thinking. For example, the perspective on the lust-interest is a 'He tortures people! He is so dreamy!' kinda thing. Ugh.
- The ending! It was very abrupt and the protagonist makes a really dumb choice. Going from one extreme to another with no real thought. It is kinda explained but is a rather flimsy excuse for me taste.

I would have liked Tashi to use intelligence and wits to overcome their fear and uncertainty. I would have loved Tashi to have become an awesome spy. I would have loved for Tashi to make choices based on others instead of their own simple yet conflicted feelings and desires. That said I did enjoy many parts of this book. I just wanted more. The next novel apparently is from the different perspective of Pharo. It may be interesting to see the world from another perspective We shall see . . .

So lastly . . .

Thank you Harmony Ink Press!

The author's website has this to say about the novel:

Sixteen-year-old Tashi has spent their life training as an inhabiter, a soldier who spies and kills using a bonded animal. When the capital falls after a brutal siege, Tashi flees to a remote monastery to hide. But when the invading army turns the monastery into a hospital, Tashi catches the eye of Xian, the regiment’s fearless young commander.

Tashi spies on Xian’s every move. In front of his men, Xian seems dangerous, even sadistic, but Tashi sees a more vulnerable side of the enemy commander – a side that draws them to Xian.

When their spying reveals that everything the inhabiter's academy taught was a lie, Tashi faces a choice: save their country or the boy they've started to love? But while Tashi grapples with the decision, their volatile bonded tiger doesn't question her allegiances. Katala slaughters Xian’s soldiers, leading the enemy to hunt her. But an inhabiter’s bond to their animal is for life – when Katala dies, so will Tashi.

To visit the author’s website go to:

Julia Ember - Author

To buy the novel please visit:

the tiger's watch - Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

I will not summarize this book, I’m gonna throw you into the review, just like I was thrown into this book.
See, when the book started, I was lost, I almost wondered if my file was defective and I started it in the middle of the story. But, no. This book just has an abrupt start.
After that, the main character, Tashi tried to give us some backstory but still, even though I liked this captivating, original world, I felt like some explanations were missing…
Still, I enjoyed this story. The characters were loveable, especially our main character, Tashi. They had a sweet naïveté thing going on that made them endearing.

All in all, I feel like this could have been longer, with more worldbuilding… But I’m still looking forward to reading the next book.

<b>TW’s for misgendering, gore, violence</b>

“But linking with Katala gave me the courage to express what I’d always known: that my gender wasn’t set, binary. I didn’t feel like any of the things people expected of boys or girls fit with me. Some days I felt more masculine and others more feminine.”

• <b>I really liked the main character Tashi</b>. Apparently not everyone did, but I got their choices and never felt like they acted unreasonable. Of course they made mistakes, but I get what they were trying to do. Their beliefs were challenged and it made them act accordingly. Imagine your whole world is turned upside down and you learn that many things you thought were true, actually are all lies. In my opinion, the author managed to make me understand Tashi’s motivations for doing what they did, no matter if I agreed with their choices or not. Therefore, I never got angry with Tashi and was caught up in their journey and the emotions they faced. I am always happy if I connect with the protagonist, because that’s not always the case.

• <b>It was great to read about a non-binary MC</b>. Tashi initially is misgendered by a few people throughout the book, but others are calling them out. Both Pharo and Xian use Tashi’s correct pronouns without questioning them. They accept Tashi like they are. The fantasy world is also mostly accepting, of Tashi, so it’s not the focus of the story, but gets touched upon. We do need stories like that as well as stories where being non-binary is the focus. I’ve linked a few Reviews by non-binary Reviewers who have said that the representation is good, which is important, since the rep is not ownvoices.

• <b>I also quite liked the love Triangle</b>. I never thought I’d say that either but the main character didn’t focus on the romance all the time or was indecisive, swooning etc. That really prevented me from being annoyed or rolling my eyes. I like it best when the Love Triangle is not the whole focus of the entire story. It helped, that both Xian and Pharo were interesting, completely different characters. Normally my problem is that I hate one of the love interests, but that wasn’t the case here. I liked both of them, even though Xian of course had his flaws, since he technically is the enemy. I am, however, here for a good enemies to lovers romance that’s done well!

• <b>The Worldbuilding was really unique and interesting</b>. A bit more would be great, but there’s still time for that in the sequel. I loved that there were no large info dumps, but instead information was perfectly woven into the story, something I really admired. It felt natural for the information to be revealed, so I explored the world a little at a time. I’ve got to say that it has a great potential. The story is about inhabitors, who bond with an animal and whose souls converge. However, I loved that there is a price, which increases the stakes. Since their souls are bonded, if the animal dies, the human falls into a coma. That means that their life expectancy is bound to the animals. E.g. Tashi might be able to live for 30-40 years since that’s how old their tiger is able to get. However, someone bonded to a sparrow will die young. In general, I loved the bond between Tashi and Katala, it was very interesting to see them interact.

• <b>The writing style is very enjoyable</b>. It has got the perfect balance between description and action. There are vivid, lush words and never info dumps, that disrupted the reading flow, which made me enjoy the book very much.

• <b>Plotwise the book was decent, but could’ve been more</b>. The plot felt a bit too slow and it lacked a bit of purpose. I would have loved to see a clearer goal. I cannot put my finger on what my exact problem was, but it might be connected to the length of the novel. The Tiger’s Watch was way too short, so maybe that is why the plot felt a bit slow and flat at times. There definitely was potential for more to happen and a few more pages would have helped with that.

• <b>The only thing that annoyed me was all the violence</b>. It was mainly directed at Tashi especially by Zeymur and Ugyen. The latter was physically abusive towards Tashi and Pharo, which made my blood boil, because it’s not really addressed, neither does he face real consequences. Tashi at one point even defends him and I just wished that Ugyen had faced consequences, because suddenly he was all nice, when previously he had hit, slapped, yanked and grabbed Tashi all the time. It just really rubbed me the wrong way.

<b>IN CONCLUSION</b>: The Tiger’s Watch is a great diverse Fantasy book, set in a vivid, unique world, which has me itching to explore it. The characters are great, but the plot could’ve been a bit better build, as there was definitely potential. The same can be said about the book in general.

Received via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

Spoilers ahead.

I really enjoyed this book. I just loved Tashi's character. It was my first time reading something with a gender-fluid character and I feel like it was done well. The plot isn't focused on that fact, if someone calls Tashi a 'him' they always have others correcting those people and saying 'they' and that will be that. Sometimes Tashi felt more feminine than other days and sometimes more masculine, and it was good to note this. When reading about Tashi I didn't even view them as particularly male/female but as a 'them' which I think the author portrayed well.

Tashi can be both strong in ways, and weak in others. They show their vulnerable side but also have a dangerous side to them mostly when it concerns those they care about and love. And Tashi also has a fun side - I loved what Tashi did to Zeyar's saddle and the joy they got from it, that was just hilarious.

As for the romance aspect. There is Xian, the army commander who Tashi is secretly spying on but then becomes privy to his weaknesses. Xian I will not forgive for killing Kalx as we know at the end Kalx could have come back from his coma and I would have loved to see that! He is half evil and half nice. I ship Tashi more with Pharo than Xian as Pharo is so sweet and loving, they have a bond, a closeness no one can understand. Tashi is in love with Pharo so would always choose him, however they are in lust with Xian who is just aggressively hot really. But he's evil and only cares about his own agenda so...

Tashi and Pharo are split up at the end with Tashi still spying and with a new job to do. I mean Xian still doesn't know they're an inhabitor. But I'm so happy because book 2 is told from Pharo's POV and I love him. So I'm excited for the next installment. Tashi did a selfish thing but a good thing (for me) as it brought Pharo back but everything has its repercussions.

I first heard about this book when I was browsing through diverse book lists back in January or February (somewhere around that time), and I remember being very intrigued by the plot because I had never read a book containing a gender fluid character, much less as the main character! This made me realize two things. One we are finally progressing toward a broader representation of genders and sexualities. And two, that due to this being the first book with a gender fluid MC for me, it means that we still have quite a ways to go.

I truly commend Julia Ember for bringing her character Tashi (referred to as a they) not only to the page, but also for sharing them with us. As someone who used to roleplay on sites online, I have years of character and story creation behind me, and during that time I have had a number of characters come to me who would either not 100% fit into the categories of male or female, or who plain refused to choose just one gender altogether. While a few roleplay sites were welcoming to characters like this, there were still many that were not. I was hesitant to bring such characters even to some of the more welcoming sites due to the reactions they (and myself) would receive from other roleplayers and characters. This is why I think it’s great that Ember’s character Tashi is not some character on an obscure roleplay site, but the main character of a book which is being published and made available to the world.

As you may have assumed, this book addresses certain issues involving genders, and what I found particularly interesting was how different types of masculinity and femininity were discussed throughout the narrative, as well as heterosexual matrimonial responsibilities and such. Even though this book is set in a fantasy world (which to me felt like perhaps China with magic), numerous subjects were brought up which are relevant to our actual world. This book would get even those who have never given gender roles, varying sexualities, and the like any thought to thinking about such matters.

The world building was fairly good, and I did keep in mind that due to this being a novella, there was a limited amount of space which could be devoted to descriptions (of world, or characters). Despite this being a novella, however, I did get a feel for the world in which The Tiger’s Watch is set, and I did catch myself at times wondering about the cultures, and other locations of Ember’s world. The writing in this book was also good and quite comprehensible. And while I did come across one or two colloquial word which threw me off, I found that these things did not generally hinder my immersion into the story.

The plot and characters kept me interested throughout, and I particularly enjoyed the relationship and magic between inhabitants and their animal partners. This is a unique type of magic, and I appreciate the detail and thought that went into creating this magic. There is quite some mythology which Ember has created for her world, which ties in with the plot as well as with the magic of the inhabitants (something which I always appreciate also). Overall, this was quite an interesting novella to read, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more work from this author.

I wish I had paid more attention to the synopsis before I requested this from Netgalley. If I had, I would’ve noted that the MCs are all 16-17, usually much too young for me when it comes to books. I haven’t been that age in quite some time and really can’t related to stories told from the POV of teenagers.

I requested this for 2 reasons. 1) Because I thought the idea of someone having a “bondmate” with an animal, where you can feel each other and see through each other’s eyes, sounded really fun and interesting. Plus, I love animals! 2) The MC, Tashi, identifies as “they”, which just isn’t in enough books, and I was really excited to read from the POV of a gender fluid protagonist. But, there really didn’t end up being anything that distinguished Tashi as gender fluid, other than the fact everyone referred to them as “they”. I would’ve liked to have seen more of Tashi’s past and acceptance of who they are, and maybe see something different with regards to the romance. Unfortunately, the romance was fairly contrived and not really believable, and I found that I didn’t care that much. I ended up wanting to read more from Katala’s POV than caring about Tashi’s, and ultimately, in the end, found Tashi to be exceptionally flighty and overly emotional. Making decisions that will greatly and gravely affect everyone around her, but doesn’t really care as long as she gets her selfish wishes. I honestly have no desire to continue with the series because I found Tashi to be just another hormonal, self-absorbed, self-conscious teenager that doesn’t know how to make any rational or analytical decisions.

However, I think this story is perfect for those readers that enjoy YA and find that to be their main genre of choice. I also think this would’ve been received better in the hands of someone that enjoyed fantasy more; which is on me. I also intend to pick up something else from this author to see if it’s just this story that I have an issue with.

Copy received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Les personajes han sido mi cosa favorita. Tashi llega al monasterio acompañade por su amigo Pharo, habitante de un lobo, y otro compañero que está en coma tras la muerte de su halcón. No tienen más objetivo que esconderse, ya que el ejército invasor teme a les habitantes y pretende acabar con elles, pero ese plan se complica cuando Xian invade el monasterio y elige a Tashi como su criade personal. Tashi es une protagonista con muchas dudas y se debate entre hacer para lo que le han entrenado, espíar y luchar contra los invasores, y traicionar a su país una vez empieza a conocer a Xian. Me gusta mucho cómo se trata el tema del género: en los pocos casos en que a Tashi le tratan en masculino, se corrige a la persona que ha cometido el error y se respetan sus pronombres.

Aparte de elle, Xian es el más interesante. Él se debate entre los motivos personales que le llevan a invadir el monasterio, las órdenes de sus superiores y su afecto por Tashi. Es un personaje con un carácter cambiante pero no típicamente malo y al que cuesta tachar como villano. La relación entre les dos es inestable y cargada de secretos y mentiras, al contrario de la que Tashi mantiene con Pharo, su mejor amigo. Pharo es mucho más fiable y una presencia estable en la vida de Tashi, a quien siempre trata de proteger. Y sí, hay un triángulo amoroso, pero nunca está pintado como "a quién elegirá Tashi" sino que sus sentimientos por ambos chicos son totalmente distintos y las relaciones no son las típicas. A veces querías gritarle ACLÁRATE DE UNA VEZ, HIJE pero porque la situación era confusa para todes.

Aunque también me ha gustado, el worldbuilding tenía sus altibajos. El monasterio, el estilo de vida de los monjes, el entorno inmediato de Tashi (la comida, la preparación del té, las estancias, el bosque donde caza Katala, etc.) estaba bien expresado y eran descripciones muy inmersivas. Eso ayudaba a imaginar las escenas pero por otra parte, fallaba a nivel global. Los grandes rasgos del mundo ficticio nunca se delineaban del todo: ¿por qué sucedió la guerra? ¿quién gobierna el país? ¿cómo funciona el sistema de reclutar habitantes cuando son niñes? Dejan muchas cosas al aire que parecen aleatorias.

El tema de "habitar" animales es confuso porque, por una parte, parece que no le sacan mucho jugo. Tashi pocas veces utiliza a Katala, su tigresa, pero la relación entre elles es muy importante para la trama. Tashi siente que no está a la altura de Katala, ya que elle es asustadize y cuando era une niñe esperaban que su habitante fuera un ciervo o algún animal pequeño. Aunque Tashi adora a la tigresa y madura junto a ella, está el hecho de que sabe que morirá por su culpa. Une habitante no puede vivir sin su animal, que normalmente tienen esperanzas de vida mucho más cortas. Este tema obsesiona a Tashi, no tanto por elle misme, ya que Katala es joven, pero Pharo es habitante de un lobo viejo y le queda poco tiempo para caer en un coma del que nadie despierta.

En general es un libro corto, de unas sesenta mil palabras, muy entretenido con buenísimas descripciones y unes personajes con motivaciones y relaciones complicadas. Mi único problema es con el argumento, que tiene algunos momentos que son un poco confusos pero la narración es perfecta y te engancha desde el principio.

This one is quite a mixed one for me and so it's a little hard to rate. I really liked the concept but I think it lacked abit in execution. The fact that the main character is a non-binary person is great as it's not something I have seen alot in books. I enjoyed all of the characters but felt overall they lacked some development. I wasn't a huge fan of the romance, and the fact that there is a love triangle didn't help. The world is an interesting one but again I felt it was a little lacking in detail. There were a few plot developments that were just way too convenient for me to get on board with. Also I felt a little confused as to where the plot was going and what the point of it was. It was still a good book though and I would still recommend checking it out, if the premise interests you.

For a book that boasts a fantastic premise with very needed representation, I was excited to read this book and I was ready to love it. Unfortunately though, I am sad to say that I was a little disappointed by The Tiger's Watch. I have such mixed feelings about this book too, but I'll do my best to articulate them all.



There were many things that I liked about The Tiger's Watch. What had attracted me to read this book was the idea of humans, or inhabitors, sharing a magical bond with an animal, an unbreakable soul connection between human and animal. For Tashi, the main character, they are bonded to Katala, a golden tiger who is as beautiful as she is powerful. The dynamic between Tashi and Katala was vivid and fascinating, as they share memories, dreams, and accesses to each other's consciousnesses, and one that is is filled with gratitude, power, love, but also grief and longing. The concept of inhabitors was fantastic, and an indisputable highlight of the book. Not only did Ember construct a fascinating culture surrounding inhabitors, their creed, and their practices, I was also compelled by the emotional dynamic between human and animal.

I also really loved Tashi, the nonbinary protagonist who is caught in a difficult position after being appointed the servant of the invader's commander, Xian. Tashi was a great character; they were interesting, flawed, and doing their best to be strong in the face of mounting loss in wartime whilst being surrounded by enemies. There were times when Tashi's actions irritated me, but I reined myself back and said, hold on, this is actually great character development. Stuck in a place where they can trust no one, Tashi genuinely doesn't know what to do. And I appreciated that; I appreciated reading about a protagonist who was vulnerable, made bad decisions in an attempt to save the people they loved, but were doing their best despite.

However, despite the great ideas evident in The Tiger's Watch, there were many things that I wished were better. Although I thought the concept of inhabitors and the culture constructed around them were excellent, unfortunately my appreciation for the worldbuilding stops there. There were many concepts and cultures introduced throughout the narrative, but very few were developed. The world was forgettable to me; there was nothing that would draw me back into this world. For a book that centers its narrative about war, I had a very vague conceptualization about the politics, cultures, and war rhetoric between the Myeik and the Thim. Why were the Myeik invading other lands? Colonialism and war sustain themselves through by justifications, narratives, and myths told to legitimize war. Though I didn't expect The Tiger's Watch to have a full and detailed account of this, because the book predominantly focuses on Tashi and their personal narrative, but I would have liked to have an iota of understanding why it was all occurring in the first place.

The Tiger's Watch does have interesting relationships, one that has a distinct power differential that is adequately addressed and explored, whilst the other is taut with tension and hidden feelings. Even so however, they felt underdeveloped. Tashi develops a complex and conflicting relationship with the commander of a Myeik regiment, Xian, and the internal conflict that follows was great to read. There's even a great discussion about power difference between them and the issue of ownership, and I liked how the relationship oscillated between hostile distrust and camaraderie. However, it's not that I didn't like the relationships in the book per se, but I just wished there was more development, a little more tension, more chemistry, and more buildup. In other words, the relationships in The Tiger's Watch could have been great, but they were lacking.

However, the biggest disappointment of The Tiger's Watch was its plot. Though there were some strong components to the story, it was lacking and lacklustre when strung together. In comparison to the inhabitor-animal concept, the overarching story paled. There were certainly times where I enjoyed the narrative, but a majority of the time, I felt a little bored and uninterested in the story's developments. Perhaps if other parts of the story were stronger and more developed, I would be more compelled or interested. The story, however, does take an interesting turn towards the end of the book, but we don't see these developments come to fruition because they were mostly setup to the book's sequel. For me, this was a little too late.

And here is where I would like to talk about something that I'm not entirely sure about. Often I don't express thoughts I am not wholly confident about, but since this book has yet to release and no one, as far as I know, has addressed the issue, I would like to open the discussion and bring your attention to another issue I had with this book.

I should preface this by saying that I'm not Bhutanese nor Burmese, so I cannot speak for the authenticity of the representation in The Tiger's Watch. However, halfway through the story, I began to feel really weird that all the Myeik, or the invaders/colonists, were coded as Chinese. They all had Chinese names - Chen, Liu, and Xian. That's not to say that characters or cultures cannot be influenced by real life cultures, but what I wanted was nuance: something that would portray the Myeik as something more than perpetrators of violence and imperialism. Unfortunately, I couldn't pick up on the nuance. So, on a very personal level, this was all very weird to me. (However, if anyone with more knowledge, from experience or learned, can weigh in, I would greatly appreciate it.)

Alas, The Tiger's Watch may indeed be brimming with an array of brilliant ideas that would make any fantasy-loving bookreader giddy, there were many things that left more to be desired. Ultimately, The Tiger's Watch could have benefited with more - more development and more nuance.

Julia Ember has fast become one of the authors I most look forward to reading a new story from. Ever since I picked up her first book, Unicorn Tracks, and most recently The Seafarer's Kiss, I've been blown away by how she takes the ordinary or stories you think you know and makes her own unique and powerful fantasy out of the material. In her third novel, a fantasy in an Asian inspired fantasy world, she brings to readers a book about Tashi, a non-binary character with a bonded animal companion facing an encroaching enemy looking for the source of the power the binds inhabitors to their animals.

I don't typically expect a book to engage me right from page one. I'd guess it's usually about 30-50 pages before an author's had the chance to introduce the characters, the setting, etc., and given me good reason to care about the people the story is about. Julia Ember has managed to get me to care about Tashi, the people, and the bond animals around them in the span of about 6-7 pages.

From page one, when Tashi and Pharo are fleeing the burning capitol city and the enemy Myeik on the back of their instructor's bond elephant, there's already a lot to process and I was pleasantly surprised to see how Ember managed to get me to feel so deeply about people I barely knew, a magic system that had only been introduced.

The themes that were woven into The Tiger's Watch, first and foremost that of acceptance, were important to notice not only for how they played out in the book, but how they paralleled with our own world. Tashi has a moment of reflection when thinking about the Myeik invasion and how their people were so enconsced in their mountain homes that they weren't concerned with what their Southern neighbors were doing, were suffering. This complacency was dangerous and bordered on privilege and naivety. Realizing their error and growing helps to shape Tashi, and by extension Katala, into better bondmates.

The friendship between Pharo and Tashi was one of my favorite things of the book because of how loyal Pharo was without being a caricature. He stood up for Tashi whenever anyone tried to use the wrong pronoun for then, even in the face of the enemy (slightly dangerous, but being willing to do so was brave).

The magic system, between the bond animals and the inhabitors, was an interesting relationship and more involved than some similar situations I've seen before. I was slightly unclear on some points, such as whether there was a concrete age when inhabitors had to bond with an animal or what happens to the bond animal if their inhabitor dies (although the reverse was, sadly, clear). The source of this magic and how it relates not only to inhabitor powers, but to that of the country of Thim (home of Tashi and Pharo) and of the Myeix was only just revealed near the end of the story, leaving more mystery to be uncovered in more of Ember's books in the Ashes of Gold series.

While there is an excerpt of the next book at the end, it just isn't enough! It looks like next time will be more Pharo p.o.v.-centric and I can't wait to see what will happen. Will a certain stolen item be recovered? Can someone do that when they feel they've lost what defines them? Strength and trust continue to play defining roles in The Shadow Wolf (Ashes of Gold #2), out hopefully sooner rather than later!