This book got better as it went along! At first I did not like Kateri, and through most of the book I still felt like I could not connect with her, but I enjoyed the plot and her growth as a character. Cion was a great addition, as well as Dimic and all the other Desert Boys that Kateri got to know. I almost wish we had seen more of her interactions with her father instead of seeing through recollections like she did, but I also understand why most of the story needed to take place away from the castle. Kateri needed time and distance to come into her own and learn more about the people she had been so desperate to rule. Kateri really was the driving force of the novel, which was nice because the romance was not the main point, but a subplot that simply enhanced what was already taking place.
The setting and descriptions of this world were some of the best parts of the story. The setting came alive, and I could see it playing out like a movie. In fact, I think this would make a great movie!

I wanted to love this one. I love princesses who can kick ass and take names. I love rulers who want to do whatever it takes to do right by their people.

I don’t love whatever happened in Tiger Queen.

The Lady, or the Tiger? was one of the few short stories I enjoyed reading in high school. And I was intrigued by a YA that was inspired by it. And yet…

AND YET.

There was a lot of steaming misogyny in this one. A lot of focus on the boys being better than the girls. I couldn’t get into this story, no matter how hard I tried. It could have been so good, and yet…

Perhaps this story just isn’t for me. I know this isn’t Sullivan’s first rodeo and she’s got several other books that people love out there. It’s possible I just don’t jive with her writing.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for an eARC of Tiger Queen!! Annie Sullivan is a master with her characters. This is the first novel I've read by this author and I'm blown away.

Princess Kateri is told how to do things her whole life. Her main goal is to make her father proud to the extent that she's blinded to a good portion of things around her. She's focused on training so she can win versus her suitors in the arena to prove to her father that she can rule the kingdom instead of becoming a wife. Several turns of events put her into the path of Cion and she slowly lets her walls down. Without a mother and only in the care of her father, I liken this to an abusive relationship in our culture. Her father isolates her and grooms her.

The action and kindness in this book make me want more although Sullivan wraps up the story very nicely. I absolutely adore the characters in this book. It was fun and adventurous and I can't wait to read A Touch of Gold next.

This was a really good read. I didn't really know what to expect going into it. I really loved Annie Sullivan's writing style. It was so easy to jump right in to. The story was simple and easy to follow. I loved the different landscape that the city of Achra allowed me to visit. I don't normally read books that are set in a desert climate. Sullivan was really able to weave an interesting atmosphere that made me feel like I was there standing in the sand.

One of my favorite parts about this book was the story arc of Kateri. You can tell off the bat that she is a strong female character and that is what I loved most about her. Her spirit and determination was really inspiring. No matter what difficulties came her way she kept fighting through them. The plot twist really throughs her for a loop and I love how she decided to handle it.

The whole situation Kateri has to go through and discover about her city was very interesting. I loved her interactions with the Desert Boys and the slow burn romance that developed. Cion was another interesting character to me. He had his own morales and was a great person to get to know.

Overall, I really loved this book. If you love strong female characters, plot twists, desert city climates and great writing I highly recommend Tiger Queen.

This book was so satisfying to read, I loved the character development for our 'Tiger Queen' and I love the setting and world-building that Sullivan does is perfect. It doesn't overwhelm but still immerses you down to the smaller details that I always enjoy in a book. The Desert Boys were probably my favorite part about the book and the ending was great! Loved it!

Thank you so much to Blink and NetGalley for letting me read and review an e-arc for Tiger Queen by Annie Sullivan. It was a super interesting, quick read, so I definitely enjoyed it!

Tiger Queen 4/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads: In the mythical desert kingdom of Achra, an ancient law forces sixteen-year-old Princess Kateri to fight in the arena to prove her right to rule. For Kateri, winning also means fulfilling a promise to her late mother that she would protect her people, who are struggling through windstorms and drought. The situation is worsened by the gang of Desert Boys that frequently raids the city wells, forcing the king to ration what little water is left. The punishment for stealing water is a choice between two doors: behind one lies freedom, and behind the other is a tiger.

But when Kateri’s final opponent is announced, she knows she cannot win. In desperation, she turns to the desert and the one person she never thought she’d side with. What Kateri discovers twists her world—and her heart—upside down. Her future is now behind two doors—only she’s not sure which holds the key to keeping her kingdom and which releases the tiger.

Let’s start with my favorite aspect of pretty much any book- the characters! I really liked the Desert Boys and I thought Kateri was an interesting character- at times she seemed super naive and too trusting, but at the same time, it made sense as to why she was the way she was. Growing up as the only child to the king, next in line for the throne IF she’s able to defeat all of her opponents in the arena must have been a lot of pressure and a lot of sheltering/training. I thought that Rodric was a little bit meh in terms of a villain- he seemed very on dimensional and that made me kinda sad- he could have been built out in so many ways, so I wish that had actually happened. Cion was an interesting secondary main character and having him leading the desert boys made him so much more interesting.

I really liked how quick a read this book was. The plot moved along very steadily throughout and it was generally just a fun, easy read. Tiger Queen comes out on September 10th, so be on the lookout for it then or pre-order it/request it at your local library to make sure that you have a chance to read it ASAP!

For some reason I didn't have very high expectations when I started reading this book, but it drew me in from the very first chapter. I didn't expect it to be so cultural. Annie Sullivan does an amazing job conveying just how harsh living in the desert could be. The people not only struggle with the heat and lack of water, but also sandstorms, bugs, scorpions and snakes. The harsh realities of desert living are brought to life in this cultural retelling that I found this book to be a great read.

I really loved reading about Princess Kateri. She lived in a society where strength is the most valued quality and she had to fight suitors to prove her right to rule. Her father had expectations that were extremely high. Anything less than perfection was considerred failure to him. He abused her trying to mold her into being absolutely perfect and she tried so hard to please him. I found this relationship sick, but also easy to understand because every child wants to please their parents. Kateri was uptight and fierce, but throughout the story she grew so much and I wound up loving her so much more by the end than I had at the start of the book.

The plot was really cool. The inclusion of the desert boys really added a unique element to this story. Cion, the leader of the desert boys, was one of my favorite characters . He was a great fighter, but also had a sense of humor and he taught Kateri to loosen up and he added some levity to the story. The scenes wher3e the desert boys have fun in various ways really made me smile and made me feel closer to the characters. There was one twist in the plot that I saw coming, but one that caught me completely off guard. I found myself so invested in this story that at one point I was so angry with a character that I wanted to throw my book across the room. I really didn't anticipate that I was going to enjoy this book as much as I did.

Overall I am super impressed. I didn't think this story would be so cultural, but it was the characters that really got me invested. This was my first read by Annie Sullivan, but now I'm dying to read A Touch of Gold. Annie Sullivan knows how to bring characters to live, balance the heavy scenes with banter or light moments and also write a plot that makes the book hard to set down. Annie Sullivan is an author to pay attention to and I can't wait to see what she does next.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read Tiger Queen by Annie Sullivan. I loved the world building in this book. I felt like I was in a desert country. Each character was unique and loved how you become a part of each of them. Annie really knows how to weave a story. I enjoy reading books by this author and I can't wait to read more in the future. I suggest picking this book up when it becomes available.

I recieved this ARC for review from Netgalley and Blink publishing (thank you).

Now, I'm sure if I've heard the original story of The Lady and the Tiger, but I did enjoy this story.

Kateri is a princess/gladiator that wants to keep a promise that she made to her mother before she died by the hands of the Desert Boys. She also wants to prove to her father that she is strong and the desert has chosen her to lead. So, of course things do not go as planned and Kateri finds how that everything she believed might not be true. And yes...there are tigers.


I think that Kateri's growth was a bit accelerated, but I did enjoy seeing her journey. It was cool to see a gladiator princess who knows her way around a sword. And that's not to take a shot at princesses who don't. Anyway, this story features a strong woman who goes through a hard journey to become the Queen her.people deserves.

Wow Wow Wow

The Tiger Queen by Annie Sullivan was one of my absolute favorite reads of this year.

The character development in this story is absolutely incredible. Princess Kateri is hands down one of
my favorite characters in any book I've ever read.

The fact that it's not a series is a bit bitter sweet because I would love for their to be another story but
this book comes together so perfectly at the end that I'm super happy with the way it turned out.

I'll be posting a more in dept review on my website later but I just want to say I absolutely
recommend The Tiger Queen and I give it all the stars!

5/5 Stars

Title: Tiger Queen
Author: Annie Sullivan
Pages: 336
Release Date: September 10, 2019
Genre: Fantasy, Fantasy Realism, Retelling
Series or Stand-Alone: Stand-Alone
Stars: 5
People of Color?: Yes
LGBTQ?: No
Bechdel Test? (Depiction of Women): Yes
Trigger Warning: Some violence, but not gratuitous

I received a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Story: Tiger Queen was a wonderful read! Sullivan takes the short story “The Lady or the Tiger?” and sets it in a fantastical desert oasis. She does a great job of setting up the scenario of the tigers and the sultan. I loved the fierce princess Kateri and how she comes into her power and self-understanding. I also loved the Desert Boys who were a mix of Robin Hood and the Lost Boys. The love story was adorable!

Recommendations: I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys fantasy. Even though it's not a fairy tale exactly, it does have a retelling element that was fun.

It’s suitable for young adults and up!

Rating: 4.5/5

I went in only knowing two things: The cover is GORGEOUS (yes, I'm totally guilty of judging books by their cover) and it was a Lady or the Tiger retelling. I read that short story for school, but like most people it was a LONG time ago and I didn't really know much about it.

For those that need a little refresher (like I did), the original short story featured a young woman responsible for her love's fate. She had to choose between two doors: One has a tiger behind it, one has a lady that the man would marry. And the woman has to choose between watching her love die... or go with someone else. The short story ends with no actual answer to the title question, leaving the reader to decide.

After I gave myself that little refresher course, I was definitely intrigued as to how that short story could be told in a new and unique way, and Annie Sullivan did NOT disappoint!

When we first meet Kateri, I felt a bit disconnected from her and it took a bit of time to understand her, but I LOVED reading in her perspective and seeing her side of the story, especially because it added this extra layer to the story and this distrust. The narration and voice were really well done and though I usually don't read 1st person POV, this one did a really good job of it!

The few main characters were done really well, though it definitely took some time for me to fully trust them all! Cion was definitely an intriguing character and though the chemistry felt a bit lacking at first, I definitely grew fond of them! I especially loved the missing pieces of their backstories and how everything slowly pieced together, keeping me intrigued throughout the story!

The character development was really great, and seeing my girl Kateri grow stronger was AMAZING.

I especially loved the villains of the story because for once it wasn't "morally grey" it was just EVIL. I never had a moment of doubt about the bad guys maybe being redeemable, and that was definitely refreshing for me (since I'm a sucker for reading about morally grey characters).

I LOVED the staging of the plot and how it started off slow (but never took away my attention) and then suddenly I was at the climax and I HAD to finish the book IMMEDIATELY. It was beautifully paced (though I felt like there needed to be more substance leading up to the inevitable romance--I didn't ship them for a while, and I wish I did because Cion is SWOONWORTHY OKAY?).

I really loved the world-building and how perfectly everything was incorporated into the plot. The little details in the desert were so carefully placed but everything that was mentioned was brought full circle and I LOVED THAT. I especially loved that the climax of the story had me on the edge of my seat, gasping out loud and screaming because it was all so exciting and nerve-wracking and STRESSFUL! And the way the story wrapped up was just a cherry on top for how amazing this book was!

Overall, this was such a unique story that I would definitely recommend to anyone who needs something new!

If you enjoy unique retellings, stories set in the desert, amazing GASP-OUT-LOUD moments, beautiful world building and storytelling, strong women fighting evil evil men, and Desert boys that know they're perfect but also are totally humble and deserve all the water in the world this is the book for you! If you want astonishing discoveries of truth, great character development, and rebellions against unfair laws definitely pick this up TODAY!

2.5 stars

Unfortunately, this was a huge miss for me.

Concept: ★★★★
Execution: ★★ 1/2
Characters: ★★

Tiger Queen was a story that I was incredibly excited to read given it's description: A princess is tasked with proving her worth to her kingdom by fighting her potential suitors in a once-a-month arena battle in front of her kingdom. If she can beat 12 suitors in the year of her majority, she proves her worthiness.

What the synopsis doesn't describe: this seemingly warrior-woman story is completely surrounded in misogynistic male tropes. And it struggles from the lack of an #OwnVoices touch.

Princess Kateri is reaching the age of her majority, and it's time to prove her worth to her kingdom. Her father, the king, has brutally trained her and forced her to betray any sign of weakness in the name of strength. His new second in command, Rodric, is worse. She's been honed to a keen edge by a doctrine of hatred and steel, and is hell-bent on avenging the death of her mother at the hands of the kingdom's rebelling force, the Desert Boys.

The Desert Boys, and their leader, Cion, are are group of—you guessed it—all boys who steal tightly rationed water from the kingdom and bring it to their desert hideout to supposedly make the kingdom weaker. It's a blend of Peter Pan's Lost Boys and Robin Hood's steal from the rich to feed poor narrative, and it's pretty easy to spot right away.

Kateri finds herself at the wrong end of Rodric's gaze when he is revealed to be her last suitor to face her in the ring. In a very on-the-nose ploy, Rodric reveals that he has always wanted the throne to himself and he will never allow a weak girl (girl is emphasized here, not her actual strength) rule. He's going to use her for heirs and then murder her. Nice. So Kateri runs away from the palace before this battle takes place, desperate for another way to claim her throne.

But where can she go in the desert, and who will help her topple the corruption in her kingdom?

Well, maybe the Desert Boys are more than what meets the eye...

I don't know, folks. I found Tiger Queen to be extremely predictable, and not in a way that I personally enjoyed. I'm willing to blame my extensive reading list of YA fantasies and the fact that I've read these tropes before, and often in better contexts, so please take this critique with a grain of salt.

It rubbed me the wrong way that Kateri was the only woman with any agency or sense of purpose in the entire narrative, and even her actions we continually reinforced/initiated/reactionary to the role of the men in the story. For a story that was supposedly about a woman warrior, it had a awful lot of male messages. And a lot of male-dominated plot points. Now this shouldn't have bothered me as a reader except for the fact that this story is touted as a feminist warrior narrative with the title of TIGER QUEEN. I felt a bit cheated by the cool lead-in.

Also, definitely don't read this novel for the tigers—as a girl who loves and respects tigers, I did NOT like that story arc.

Ugh! My heart! This book was SO GOOD! There are so many things that I could rave about - from the plot, to the characters, to the writing, to the setting and the twists. SO MUCH OF THIS WAS AMAZING! Annie Sullivan's sophomore release is a sweeping fantastical stand alone set in a desert climate.

One of the first things I'm going to say about this book is the language. I cannot express how grateful I am that never once did I have to cringe at the language being used, or have to remove it from classroom consideration for it. It is a cleanly written, yet POWERFUL read.

I found the concept to be very intriguing. A desert kingdom under siege, water shortages, princesses that must fight to rule. It was all just so "up my alley". I originally requested the book from netgalley, and then was able to meet Annie and receive a signed copy at BOOKCON! Let me tell you, I started the book on the plane home and I finished it the next day (the plane ride was 3 hours), totally about 8.5 hours to read. IT WAS OUTSTANDING. There was so much depth, and intrigue and loyalty.

Kateri is goals, 100%. She presented herself as this bad ass warrior princess who no one really liked, but who still wanted to make her dead mother, her father, and her people proud. The struggle and arc that she made through out the book was beautiful.

There is so much more that I could say about this novel, but instead, I'm going to urge you to read it! Read it, love it, rave about it! And then go grab "A TOUCH OF GOLD" and read that too! ;)
5/5 stars!

Such a fantastic journey! This book had magic, harsh environment, romance, survival, and one determined princess.

A princess raised by a king who created a world where everything is a lie. Men age must fight in an arena and best. If they lose they are exiled and if they win Kateri will become the winners bride and be shammed.

A world of sand and magic. Kateri’s journey, strength and growth are inspiring. Such a beautiful book. I highly recommend The Tiger Queen

The tiger queen was a story about love, the desert and real strength to survive and to lead. I really enjoyed this book but I did find a few things I felt took away from the story. I struggled with the characters not being described properly. We got very vague descriptions of “muscled” “dark haired” or “not considered tall” but I have no idea what any of the characters actually look like. Do they all look the same? It was mentioned people from other places lived there but again only a vague description of a tattoo or marking. We have no idea if this world has all kinds of different people or if they all generally look the same or anything. I have no clue what any of the main characters even look like. I found this distracting trying to figure out how they would be looking or how their bodies would be moving. No mention of any specific features at all except that Cion has brown eyes with gold flecks. I understand the author wanted to avoid appropriation, but it felt like it was taken too far. It was so vague that it made me stop and wonder what I am actually imagining. I did enjoy the characters and their personalities. It seemed this was a stand alone so I liked the wrapped up ending.

I read A Touch of Gold, another of Annie Sullivan’s books, and enjoyed it immensely. It was little wonder then that I found myself liking Tiger Queen.

Tiger Queen revolves around Kateri, a warrior princess who finds herself in sore need of a combat trainer. In the desert oasis she lives in, heirs to the throne must prove themselves worthy to rule by fighting potential suitors. If Kateri loses, she will be forced to marry the suitor she lost to. If she wins, the suitor will be banished into the desert and presumably die. Life in the city is harsh as well. Water is rationed because of the severe drought they have been in the midst of for several years now. Somehow, Kateri must beat her notoriously cruel final suitor, replenish their city’s dwindling water supply, and stop a band of boys from raiding what little water remains in the wells. Her solution? Well, you’ll have to read it to find out.

I really liked Tiger Queen and will continue to watch this author for more books. She has yet to disappoint.

This is an amazing book! I absolutely loved the story line and I was hooked from the start. The characters were relatable and I loved the character dynamics. Annie Sullivan is an amazing author that knows how to grab and keep a reader’s attention. I barely put the book down and I finished wanting more. I highly recommend this book and I hope to read more by Annie Sullivan soon!

4.5 stars, great read!

Tiger Queen by Annie Sullivan is a YA fantasy standalone inspired by the short story, The Lady, or the Tiger. Set in the desert world of Achra, with a strong willed female lead, Kateri, is faced with challenges and changes that she never expects in her kingdom and her world is turned upside down.

Thank you Blink and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book!

The setting isn't one that I would typically pick up from a book and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the this world and the world building. Annie Sullivan writes in a style that "gets to the point" so to speak and I really appreciate that having recently read some YA fantasies I felt a little slow placed at times.

I did find myself guessing the story line correctly and finding it a bit predictable at times, but hey, that happens a lot in YA and Tiger Queen still made for a really enjoyable read with an epic ending! I definitely recommend this book!

I wasn’t familiar with the short story this was based off of, The Lady, or the Tiger, but I still love YA fantasy, especially standalone novels so I was excited to give it a shot.

Kateri is a 16 year old fighting one potential suitor every month leading up to her 17th birthday. If the man wins, they get to claim the throne and her as their wife. If she beats all of them, she is becomes queen on her own.

I wish there had been more in the beginning to establish Kateri as a good person to start off with but instead when we jump in, she’s immediately a self-important know it all brat. She is haughty, prideful and negative, but I pushed through hoping it was just the beginning of her character arc and I’m really glad I did.

There’s a great deal of growth over the course of 200 or so pages as Kateri finds out that much of what she’s been told has been a lie. We’ve got a couple we’ll executed tropes and well written fight scenes that didn’t bore me to death as they occasionally do.

I really enjoyed the way the book ended and the way it was written. I was easily imagining it as a live action movie throughout. Sullivan does a great job of making something as expansive and monotonous as a desert seem really interesting. I struggled through the first few chapters in my annoyance with Kateri but I ultimately really enjoyed it.