Paused reading - but wanted to submit a review.

I am a mood reader who is also a slow reader, and while I was enjoying this book, I haven't been able to finish it yet.

What I loved was the overlaying of mythic worlds. and the multiple intersection of identities. The context that I love the most is that we have a family who have moved from China to Canada. In an urban fantasy setting, there is a clash between the Chinese magical world somewhat trespassing / co-existing in the lands of the first nations people of Canada. And that is an intersection of cultures and a take on migration that I haven't seen before.

Add in a Sapphic romance and this story has so much to offer!

Will definitely be finishing when I can get the space to get through it all.

Thank you for the arc of Aunt Tigress! I unfortunately didn't do quite enough research going into this one, and it ended up not being for me. I was excited to read a sapphic romantasy with Chinese and First Nations mythology, but I didn't realize I was getting a gory story. I do not enjoy gore or horror, and I read some of it and it had just a little too much creepiness to it for me.

Tam Lin's, her grandmama was the Tiger Lord of the Mountain in China, and while her grandmama birthed many children, only her father and her Aunt Tigress survived. After her father dies in a car accident when Tam Lin is twelve Aunt Tigress takes over raising Tam Lin to be a tiger, but after her aunt uses her to poison the Thunderbird Tam Lin, opts to leave the supernatural portion of her life behind, especially since most people don't believe her anyway. That is until Janet Child introduces herself in class one afternoon. Janet is not only gorgeous, but she believes Tam Lin's stories of Tigers, Thunderbirds, and mischievous incubi. As soon as Tam Lin realizes she may have met the girl of her dreams, she receives some devastating news, though. Aunt Tigress is dead, and her death seems to have heralded the end of worlds.

This was absolutely wonderful! Yu-Xuan Qin does an excellent job taking two separate mythologies and somehow blending them but still keeping them very distinct. All while throwing in a wonderful forged family between Janet, Tam, and Jack (yes, I know Im not giving away that part), but kind of a next level forged family when you discover Tam Lin's own family's past. Plus her familiars I can not forget about them, because they were wonderful. Who knew incubi could be adorable?

What this really was at its heart, though, were conversations about grief, dealing with it, and toxic family members. And holy shit was Aunt Tigress toxic. She uses everyone around her for her own gain time and again, and at some point, she may have been a semi decent being, but honestly, I doubt it. She is such a prime example of how bitterness and jealousy turn to hate and rage. Honestly, it's one of my new favorite bad guys.

My favorite part, though, is how well done these interconnected stories are. It's not just Tam Lin's story; it's Jack's, it's Janet's, it's Fox's, it's Mama's, it's Tiger's, it's Thunderbird's, and it's The Great Serpent's, hell it's more than that but I think you get my point. Yu-Xuan Qin somehow manages to juggle all of these threads (quite literally) to make a beautiful story of interconnectedness.

I highly recommend this. It is so much more than I could possibly fit into one review that I'm not even going to try. It was simply breathtaking in its scope and incredibly well done for such an enormous undertaking.

As always, thanks to NetGalley and DAW for the eArc!

Tam Lin, daughter of a tiger, has been very human for several years, very well-behaved. She keeps her head down and tries to forget the things she and her aunt did years ago, tries to forget the people they hurt. But when her aunt is found murdered and skinned, she gets sucked back of the supernatural, inheriting a dead fox in a box, a lot of enemies, and a really tangled mess of problems that all seem connected. Equipped with a trio of familiars, a girl she's falling in love with who might be tied to some of her past mistakes, a mysterious young First Nations man who's tied to a demon, and her own mettle, Tam must solve a dozen mysteries and also, maybe, stop the end of the world.
I loved this. I loved the combinations of world mythologies gathered together in Calgary. I liked Tam and all her complexities, and Janet and all her sharp edges. Jack was a real winner of a character and unraveling his story was so satisfying. I also liked the slightly nonlinear structure, with the author completely unafraid to take steps out of Tam's head and into the distant pasts to fill in details with stories both big and small. This was an excellent story.

Aunt Tigress falls squarely in the category of books I would describe as I didn't know my life was lacking until I discovered it. Absolutely delightful, very original, boldly mixing together a mythology I am more familiar with with (Chinese) with one I don't know much about at all (Canadian First People) and packing them very handsomely into an urban fantasy format. Absolutely delightful, read it in two goes, and I expect I will be buying at least five copies to give away to friends.

Aunt Tigress is an urban fantasy novel, written by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin, and published by DAW Books. A contemporary fantasy with a messy and queer main character, Tam, having to deal with a supernatural world that she belongs to, even if she decided to abandon it, as she's pulled by the death of her aunt; a story that blends together Chinese and First Nation mythologies to create a really enjoyable novel.

Tam Lin is part tiger; her mother, human and her father, tiger, immigrated together to Calgary years early. Tam grew knowing she was different and with violent impulses, but learned to control it after her father's death; she was the apprentice of her aunt (also a tiger), but after some episodes that hurt other people, she cut ties with her. After this, she step out of the supernatural world, until the violent assassination of her Aunt pulls her again, but this time in the company of a university friend, Janet, who also has a certain background with her Aunt Tigress.

While the story starts a bit slow, and the direction seemed unclear, we rapidly uncover more about why Janet wanted to befriend Tam; however, from that starting point, we get an excellent exercise of character building, giving each one a complex past that ties them with the present. While Janet started with an intention, we can see how the relationship fastly evolves into a queer romance, which is tied with the rest of our fantasy story, investigating about Aunt Tigress and her past grifts.

What I really loved is the worldbuilding: not only with the blend of Chinese myths with fantasy and other mythologies, but how well integrated they are as part of the world; also props for using a non-USA city for the story. The pacing is a little bit slow at the start, but it is more a consequence of how the past of the characters is introduced to us, making the plot to wait a bit until it advances.

Aunt Tigress is a strong debut, a great urban fantasy novel if you are looking for different mythologies and queer relationships with a fair dose of intrigue and action. I wonder if the author will continue writing in this world, but my curiosity is picked, for sure!

This long and complicated novel reminded me strongly of Journey to the West, and wasn't afraid to take on serious subjects, despite it's sometimes wry moments. The main character has a great voice, and though the episodic pacing of the novel was sometimes hard to take, it all came together at this end.

✨ FIVE STAR READ ALERT✨

Look, you know it's a big deal when I feel compelled to immediately post to Instagram after finishing a read, but I need more people to know about this book!!

Massive thanks to @dawbooks for providing me a review copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

What's the book, I hear you ask?

Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin.

Our protagonist, Tam, is the descendant of a tiger spirit, desperate to distance herself from the shady magical underbelly her Aunt Tigress pulled her into as a child. But when Aunt Tigress is murdered, Tam finds herself needing to face up to that past and pay long-overdue debts.

Aunt Tigress' magic isn't "nice", and it isn't "fun". It's gritty and dark and scary, and despite not being a horror fan I loved leaning into that side of mythology. Throughout the course of the book Tam encounters body-snatchers, gruesome ghouls, and cannibalistic wendigos - but Qin's nuanced writing never pins these horrors as truly evil, but more of a natural darkness that we often see in legends from around the world.

Honestly, I feel like the marketing materials for this book lean a little too hard into the "snarky urban fantasy" angle. We definitely have some in there, especially from Tam's manic-pixie-esque love interest, but I think it underplays the depth and complexity of Aunt Tigress.

If I were looking for a comp title, I'd say American Gods - it has that same more gritty take on the collision of immigrant mythologies with each other and our modern world. (Side note: if you're looking to replace AG on your shelves right now, try this.) Unfortunately, Aunt Tigress does seem to also suffer some of the same pitfalls as my comp title, including a slow start, tangents, and lore that is left very much up to interpretation - but these are some of the same things I loved about it.

Based on the description and cover of this book I knew I would love this book. Our protagonist, Tam, is messy, queer, and full of heart, all while thinking she doesn’t deserve love.

“You make me feel that falling in love will save the world.”

I very much enjoyed the storytelling method employed by Qin that wove together the past and the present in such a satisfying way that showed how all of the characters were more connected than they realized. Janet, Tam’s girlfriend, has a pretty tragic connection to Tam and her Aunt Tigress. I caught the early hint at it but it still had a great emotional impact.

I enjoyed how much Janet and Tam grow individually and how that helps them grow together throughout the book.

“You don’t have to see, and you don’t need to change,” I tell her. I lower my voice. “You’re perfect.”

While the story follows Tam, a Chinese-Canadian, we do get lots of Chinese mythology, but this story also pulls from many myths including Scottish, indigenous, and Arabic.

“I think to myself, that Tigers are not easy to love.”

The writing style in this is unique and may not work for everyone, but if it works for you, you’re going to absolutely love this story and may find your new favorite read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to @dawbooks for the #gifted ARC and finished copy! All thoughts are my own.

Tam Lin comes from a family of magical shape shifting tigers but has cut herself off from her magic in order to reassure her human mother. But once her indomitable Aunt Tigress is supposedly murdered, Tam goes on a quest to find her murderer while fighting off her aunt's old enemies. As she entangles herself in the magical side Calgary again, she begins developing a relationship with a quirky girl named Janet who may also be someone from her complicated past.....

I have to say that it was nice to read an urban fantasy story that takes place in somewhere other than the US or the UK. O Canada!

The blending of Chinese and First Nation mythologies was a unique premise for a story. I particularly liked the concept of not being able to call on certain beings or magic if you are not of the land from which they originated. (aka we will not have cultural appropriation of our magic thank you very much). However, I found myself confused by the rules and mechanics of the various magics, particularly the shapeshifting tigers of Tam's family. (Did her father truly shape shift from tiger to human or did he have a skin he literally shed? Was Tam born a tiger and needed to have a human skin sewn on to her, could she ever shape shift?) I'm not sure if I just missed context but I found myself asking a lot of questions. I also had a hard time visualizing the 'in between' realm as described by Yu-Xuan Qin once I got to that part of the story. There was not adequate description of how the realm was structured and how it differed from Earth. Again, I found myself confused and having to reread portions of the text to try and grasp the details.

All of the characters were so well fleshed out and complicated. I loved hearing about all of their backstories (my favorite was Miss Little and Raja). If you like a story including a complicated daughter and mother relationship, this is the story for you. The tumultuous relationship between Tam and her mother felt realistically portrayed especially the difficulties they have communicating with one another. It hit home with me as I too have had a strained relationship with my own mother at various points in my life. (And you can see both sides of the relationship and what each of them is doing wrong, which is nice.)

I'm also not sure if any pacing or arranging of plot points were changed between the ARC and the published book but I do think there was room for improvement. Yu-Xuan Qin spends a long time building up to the final confrontation with Aunt Tigress, only to rush all the events that happen afterwards until the end of the book. We don't get a satisfying explanation of Tigress's motivations or what happens to Jack, Miss Little and Raja's stories. I think there should have been less time with the initial build up in the first 2/3 of the book and more time wrapping up all the storylines in a cleaner way. Some of the flashbacks were also thrown in at seemingly random times and broke up the cohesion of the story. This could have also been cleaner.

That being said, it was still a fun read with a unique mixing of various mythologies. I would definitely read more from this author as she does have an interesting voice.

Reviews going live on Goodreads, Storygraph and Fable on 3/24 and Tiktok on 3/25.

In Aunt Tigress it's a story that balances action and story telling. On the one hand, there's this sense of murder, investigation, and the supernatural. We are never really sure if we can trust what we see, because we, as a reader, aren't sure what will happen next. It's this world where someone else can see beyond what we can. And we aren't sure what is going to spring out at us. Because of that, there's this heavy hand of storytelling. Not only are we learning about this world, but Tam is also learning about the history behind her family and the world she grew up apart from.

While I wish that there had been a stronger sense of internal character introspection, I enjoyed the action. For me, I'm one of those readers which benefits from some introspection and so I need to be involved in the internal angst, in the processing of feelings. At times, Aunt Tigress falls into the action and while I enjoyed that, I just needed a bit more balance.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

3.5 stars

I feel majorly conflicted about this book, because on one hand, I was really anticipating this and I love the concept. On the other hand, the execution left something to be desired.

I think the themes of generational trauma and repatriation was done really well. Tam has complicated relationships with her mother and her aunt, and feels responsibility to fix her aunt's mistakes. The narrative never shies away from showing the depths and complexity of Tam's internal struggles.

The narrative alternates between the present and the past, with each chapter including a story from the past, which gives more context to what is going on currently. I appreciate the importance of these stories; they are definitely vital for showing the full context of what is happening, but I found that in the second half of the book, this switching became less natural and more jarring. Being constantly taken out of the main narrative made it hard to build-up steam towards the climax.

I loved how the mythological elements were weaved into the real-world setting, I'm always a sucker for magical people seeing stuff that regular people can't type of stories. The overall vibe is very surreal, especially with the lyrical writing style. The magic system doesn't have hard rules and is more vibe-based but I like that.

Unfortunately, I could not vibe with the romance. I don't think they have any chemistry whatsoever. I can't disbelieve that the love interest, Janet, is into Tam for any reason other than the magic, and I have no idea what Tam sees in Janet.

Romance aside, I enjoyed this book as a whole, especially the magic-y folklore bits.

A urban fantasy story that mixes in Chinese and First Nation mythology as well as a sapphic romance! Here's the thing, on paper this should have been a five star from me. I adore urban fantasy stories plus a Chinese mythology setting with demons, ghosts, and monsters AND a sapphic romance?? It sounds perfect! Too bad the execution was the main issue for me. The writing just didn't connect with me whatsoever and the way the story was told just didn't work for me. I was never really pulled in or invested and maybe if this was a TV show I would have a much better time, but this is a book and sadly, it's one that just didn't connect with me. I didn't care for the romance or the characters, and the way the story unfolds just didn't really work for me. The pacing wasn't the best and the writing style is definitely for some people... just not me.

Release Date: March 18, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and DAW for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Tam Lin is part tiger. Her mother, human, father and aunt, both tigers, immigrated to Calgary, Alberta, years earlier. Tam grew up knowing she was different, and violent, and after her father's tragic death, learned how to control her impulse to eat people. She also spent time, before this, apprenticed to her aunt Tigress, a violent grifter, and with her, hurt several people and supernatural beings, before deciding to stop and pull away. Tam also decided to pull away from everything supernatural, except supernatural beings keep showing up in her life.

Now older, she argues with her mother, dislikes her stepfather, but likes her stepbrother Paul. She misses her father terribly, also.

In university, she meets Janet in one of her classes. Janet is brash and forthright, and Tam finds her instantly attractive and the two get involved, despite Tam's concerns about hurting a human being.

Then, Tam learns that her Aunt Tigress has been killed, and Janet insists on helping Tam discover what happened. Jack, a medium, also helps, and Tam remembers her aunt, and all that she did with the forceful, older woman. Author Emily Yu-Xuan Qin relates these memories, and information about various supernatural beings living in Calgary as stories, which was a nice touch. But, there were so many stories, and so much information imparted that I found the story's pacing suffered.

These exposition chapters not only slowed down the plot, but after a while I found they overwhelmed the plot to the extent that I kind of lost where we were in the present, and what the point was, except to highlight how awful Aunt Tigress was.

Janet rubbed me the wrong way immediately. Her brashness and love of danger and decision to stick with Tam like glue rang warning bells for me, and though the reason is explained, I never really warmed to Janet. I also felt really uncomfortable with her fascination with the supernatural, and never felt comfortable with the dynamic of the relationship between her and Tam, and did not believe in them as a couple.

I wanted to love this book, and I did, for the first third or so, but found the plot, which was really simple (find out what happened to Aunt Tigress) kept meandering, and the more time I spent in this fantastic version of Calgary and with Tam and Janet, the less I cared about the outcome of Tam's search for answers.

I went back and forth between the book and audiobook, and though I liked Jen Zhao's voicework, especially as Aunt Tigress, I think I just got tired of the book by the halfway point, and had to force myself to finish.

This was really too bad, as I felt that this author's story was inventive, wonderfully weird and violent, with interesting supporting characters and terrific detail. And, it was great reading a story set in a Canadian city for a change, especially one with such a rich selection of supernatural beings and folklore.

Thank you to Netgalley, DAW, and Spotify Audiobooks for these ARCs in exchange for my review.

Tam has avoided her monstrous history, becoming the perfect soft-spoken, vegan daughter. When her estranged Aunt Tigress is found murdered and skinned, Tam inherits an undead fox and old enemies. While she can deal with demons, ghosts, and gods, she can't deal with the thing stalking her across the city. Even the girl she's falling in love with might be yet another tie to her past. Tam can't avoid the past or the suffering she caused. Do monsters even deserve happy endings?

The worldbuilding in this novel is inspired by Chinese folklore and the Siksiká Nation in Canada. Tam's Chinese family emigrated to Canada, and the intervention of Tam's paternal aunt led her to see the spirits and mythological creatures that live around her. She tries to be a good daughter and sister, but can't help but react to what she sees, especially when there's a more sinister cast to it. Her mother knows it's real but wishes it wasn't, and her stepbrother has always accepted it as part of her. Her Aunt Tigress is a practitioner of these arts, but isn't necessarily a benevolent influence; she had cheated people and took advantage of others in their weakness, pulling Tam into it when she was younger.

Tam tells stories about the spirits and anomalies to Janet, but she can't tell if she's actually believed. As the story progresses, she discovers more about the ties between them, and with Jack Little, who is helping her in the wake of Aunt Tigress' death. Tigress had done incredible harm, and Tam is only becoming aware of it as she's being targeted. The interplay of Chinese and First Nations spiritual practices and mythological creatures is fascinating. As the story continues, with ties from Calgary and an in-between world of spirits, we discover how interconnected Tam is with the supernatural community. Sharp-eyed readers will catch it before Tam does. The different characters are tied together in unexpected ways that we discover over the course of the story, and I really liked seeing how it all comes together.

The themes of family, redemption, and forgiveness are strong in this story. Using supernatural creatures and traditions means we get at the question of legacy sideways. Who are we supposed to be? The traditions handed down, the traditions where we live, or the traditions we build? Children carry the weight of families and the choices made around and for them, and must be better.

I can't say I hated this book but I didn't entirely love it at all. I found it difficult to get hooked and the plot was all over the place. I did love a few things about this book like the world building wasn't done horribly. I did love the mythology aspect of the book and a few characters but the writing felt hard to get into and the pacing was quite slow. The romance was simply bad to say the least it feels like Tam and Janet never connected. I feel like this book might be for certain fantasy readers, but not for me.

I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it. The Chinese and First Nations mythology part was great. The constant dropping out if the main story for another bit of mythology or a bit of back story was eh. It slowed the story down a lot. The relationship between Tam and Janet was not great. No chemistry and really they don’t seem to like each other very much. If I knew someone who had that vibe with their significant other I wouldn’t be super surprised by an ugly breakup…. I’d try another by this author but not a book two in this series. But…. If the description sounded great to someone else I wouldn’t recommend against reading it either. It was on the whole ok.

Rated 2.5 really.

First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley and Edelweiss, and got approved on both sites. Thanks to DAW for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

I'm so, so bummed (more so because I was approved for this one on both the galley sites!). The blurb and the Seanan McGuire comparison had me very excited for this book, and I can see the merit in it (the book - the comparison, not so much), but I wasn't enjoying myself, and I decided to call it quits at 25% for a few reasons. First off, the story and the writing didn't manage to grab me - both the supernatural world and the imagery felt too crowded, for lack of a better word, and at times confusing, or it may be that my eyes glazed over because there wasn't a single element that stood out enough to hook me on the narrative. Secondly, while I'm a seasoned horror reader, I was often grossed out by the specific brand of horror employed here (like, for instance, women with a hole-shaped disease on their arms, or fetus-like creatures preserved in jars and described in detail). The story-within-the-story device didn't help - it isn't one I'm particularly fond of, because it takes me out of the story, and if my interest is already waning, it only exacerbates the matter. Last but not least, I need to forge a strong connection with my characters (especially when I have issues with the plot), and Tam didn't came across as a compelling enough protagonist for me to do that. I saw what this book was trying to do (especially in regard to themes of heritage and cultural appropriation), and I'm sure it will resonate with a number of fantasy readers, but I couldn't find it in me to continue reading.

DNF. I was really enjoying myself for the first third of this, but once past that, I rapidly started losing interest. After the second third, the thought of continuing became exhausting, and that was the death knell.

The set-up is going to be familiar if you know Urban Fantasy: living among and just out of sight of humans are magical beings of all kinds, only some of whom interact with the human world. Aunt Tigress is unique, though, in populating itself with, not generic witches and werewolves, but figures from the mythologies of indigenous Canadians. Being set in Canada, this makes perfect sense! Our main character, though, is part tiger, descended from Chinese tigers and tricksters, and most of the conflict in the book comes from her eponymous tiger aunt fucking with the locals in an attempt to regain the power she had back in China.

This is all great! I know next to working about the mythologies the author is drawing from, so I can’t comment on the representation at all, but I was delighted and fascinated to be presented with beings and creatures I’d never come across before. There were also beasties I did recognise, but which the author has put her own spin on, like the incubus, who here is more of an adorable pixie creature of animal intelligence, rather than a human-sized sex demon.

The problem is that the incubus was my favourite character.

Tam Lin, our MC (who has the name of a Scottish ballad for some reason, maybe to make it clear that she and her love interest Janet – the heroine of the Tam Lin ballad also being named Janet – are fated to be together, or something. It drove me nuts that no one ever commented on this) is…kind of wishy-washy and flavourless. I had no real sense of her as an individual, except in the flashbacks of the times she spent with Aunt Tigress as a kid: in the now, she doesn’t seem to have any drive or desires, just kind of drifting along with the plot and/or with what Janet wants. She’s surrounded by distinct personalities – her mother and stepbrother, Miss Little, Aunt Tigress, even Janet – but doesn’t really have one of her own, and constantly lets those other personalities move and direct her. I still don’t understand how or why she abruptly decides she’s responsible for stopping her aunt, or how or why she goes from ignoring her heritage and abilities to reclaiming them; most of her decisions were really not articulated enough for me.

The plot moves pretty slowly, which would not bother me if the relationships we used that time to explore were less boringly awful. Tam’s mother is terrible: Aunt Tigress is a terrible person, but also terribly interesting, whereas Tam’s mom I just despised – despite knowingly marrying a tiger, she endlessly resents Tam’s unhumanness, wanting her to have nothing to do with her heritage or magic. That she spent years backing Tam’s militantly vegan stepdad in denying her meat – when she is literally a tiger! – meant I hated her way before she blithely tells Tam, to her face, that Tam is difficult to love. HI, GOODBYE.

Tam and Janet, on the other hand, are confusing in the way of badly-written romances everywhere: I never had a clue what drew them to each other, there’s a lot of tonally odd snark, and the dramatic betrayal-reveal that usually comes nearer the end of a book instead came out ten minutes into their relationship. It is then almost instantly forgotten about. (And please don’t get me started on the deeply disturbing tiger-y sex where the issue of wait did you really consent I don’t remember is never really resolved!!!)

The best bits were easily the glimpses we got of baby!Tam bonding/apprenticing with Aunt Tigress, a lot of which is also disturbing and creepy but a) it’s clearly meant to be and b) it’s really interesting. Disturbing is fine in fiction if it’s interesting, this is Writing Fiction 101, and it was really cool getting insight into what being a tiger means, what a terrible but compelling character Aunt Tigress is, and seeing and learning about the magical world, which Tom mostly learns about via her aunt. Aunt Tigress makes baby!Tam complicit in awful things, uses her for her own schemes, and tries to shape her in her own image. Does she actually care about Tam? If she does, it’s in a way I hope no one ever cares about me!

I think the author was trying to create a conflict between Tam’s ‘tiger self’ and her ‘human side’, but that was nonexistent except when it made for convenient drama. We don’t see her needing to resist the outlook or thinking her aunt tried to instil in her, or have any idea what her ‘tiger’ wants that her ‘human’ part does not want. There’s just this sense of nebulous guilt that is very dull to read about.

Plot-wise, I was bored and confused. The quest-objective Janet brings to the table was resolved very quickly and seemingly easily, with Tam suddenly displaying a skill in her father’s magic that wasn’t much hinted at previously. The conflict between Janet and Tam’s mother was eye-rollingly predictable. I’m still not sure who or what the suit monster was, or how we suddenly have an undead fox. Aunt Tigress was up to Major Fuckery, but I kept forgetting about it because it kept fading into the background (oh no the sunsets are extra-dramatic, everybody panic!!! what even). What is the in-between realm and why are we suddenly going there. How exactly does the demon’s pet jack-of-all-trades human help us? He’s very sweet but seriously, what is he doing here. Why are you bringing your human girlfriend to another realm when she can’t even SEE the supernatural (and refuses to be given the ability)? How is it that Tam has no one to reach out to for help except her aunt’s lawyer, and why doesn’t she bring the problem to the locals instead of playing outsider-savior?

They get to the in-between realm and the functional, powerful non-human adults allegedly assisting immediately put the responsibility of finding what they’re looking for on the three barely-adults who have never been to this realm before. OKAY THAT MAKES SENSE FOR SURE.

TL;DR: Prose was great, worldbuilding was interesting, but the pixie and the villain were the only interesting characters and the plot was a mess.

Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin is a captivating blend of dark fantasy and sapphic romance that immerses you in a world where myth and reality intertwine. The story follows Tamara (Tam) Lin as she embarks on a quest to uncover the truth behind her aunt’s murder. Along the way, Tam confronts her complicated heritage, her fraught family dynamics, and her own unintentional role in a larger supernatural conflict.

What I loved most about this book was its rich storytelling, especially in the retrospective sections, gave the book a magical feel. The blend of Chinese and First Nations mythology was beautifully done, and I appreciated how the author used these elements to explore cultural identity. Tam’s journey was compelling—she’s flawed, relatable, and easy to root for, even when her decisions frustrated me.


Aunt Tigress is a very imaginative debut andI’m excited to see what Emily Yu-Xuan Qin writes next. If you enjoy stories that feel like modern folktales, this is definitely worth picking up!