I really enjoyed this book. I love watching period Kdramas and this one gives me that same setting. My favorite thing about the book is that it’s based on the real-life love story of the authors’s grandparents. It’s a quick read, but it sticks to you! I love the book!

The Last Tiger is a sweeping YA fantasy inspired by the authors’ Korean grandparents’ real-life love story during the Japanese occupation of Korea. In a colonized land where tigers , symbols of cultural strength are hunted to extinction, two teens from opposite worlds, Seung and Eunji, form a fragile alliance. Their bond is tested as they search for the last tiger, a mystical creature tied to their people’s lost freedom. Along the way, they confront class divides, personal destiny, and the power of memory.

It’s a story of rebellion, forbidden love, and finding your voice in a world that tries to silence it.

A sweeping, magical retelling inspired by the authors’ grandparents’ lives in 1920s colonial Korea —and it completely stole my heart 💔✨

🌏 Beautiful worldbuilding
🐉 Rich, culturally rooted magic
🔥 Slow-burn, forbidden romance
💔 Friends ➡️ enemies ➡️ lovers (and I actually loved it!)
📖 Dual POV that deepens every moment

I am leaving my honest opinion voluntarily and without coercion.

A story with rich, atmospheric worldbuilding, a slow-burn forbidden romance, and unforgettable characters, this story beautifully explores freedom, oppression, and resistance under an empire’s rule.

The magic system is filled with cultural richness, and the depiction of the tigers—their grace, power, and symbolism—is absolutely breathtaking.

I’m usually not a fan of friends-to-enemies-to-lovers, but it worked here. The POV shifts felt natural and allowed us to watch Eunji and Seung slowly understand each other beyond class and status.

The supporting cast is incredible—Kenzo and Jin are just as compelling. I’d read an entire novella on Jin; her backstory feels like it would wreck me in the best way.

The real quotes from the authors' grandparents at the start of each chapter are a stroke of brilliance, blurring the line between fantasy and lived history in a deeply emotional way.

This book is historical romantic fantasy done right—emotional, magical, and thought-provoking. I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | Kokila, and Julia & Brad Riew for the ARC of this outstanding walk through the life of Choi and Seung.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars
An extraordinary historical romantasy read that definitely made me feel things. Both plot and characters are well-written, and those twists were definitely unexpected. Ending was quite bittersweet, but otherwise I love this book. If you're looking for a (slightly) emotional read and don't mind it being too long, I would recommend this.

“They still lived. They still found their own moments of joy and love amid desperation, amid pain and fear.” 🐅🤍

a special thank you to Net Galley and Penguin Tern for allowing me access to an Advanced Reader’s Copy of The Last Tiger by Julie Riew & Brad Riew!! it’s an absolute privilege to receive an ARC & i’m so honored to be able to share a honest review in exchange.

🔖 publication date: july 29th, 2025
review: ★ ★ ★ ★.5 (07/26/25)

a heartwarming story with a cute “enemies to lovers” romance, high stake decisions and fights, & a beautiful message of hope

the quotes from the Riews’ grandparents love story were a beautiful touch, and i loved learning about the journey behind the book!! the pacing was really nice, i was worried about everything fitting in one book but it worked out well.

i loved how the book had a bittersweet end, despite the dark realities (like comfort women, abuse & ofc colonization) included!! i do think the epilogue could’ve had a bit more but it wrapped up nicely!! i’ll just be here hoping for a chapter about jin and kenzo one day HAHA

The last tiger

The Last Tiger by Julia Riew and Brad Riew is an incredibly interesting retelling of the Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula.
This is a historical fantasy book I would recommend to all! The book was also inspired by the authors grandparents love story and their experiences during this time period.
The friendship and love between the two main characters was wholesome and the authors did a wonderful job of creating a powerful narrative that showed the struggles Koreans faced during this time. I loved learning more about the traditions and also some Asian folklore.
The Last Tiger follows Seung, a servant working multiple jobs, and Eunji, a noble girl dreaming of being free from her families rules and traditions. Both meet, forming a lasting friendship, while they help each other achieve more in life while also defying the Dragon empire in their own ways. When Eunji faces a death sentence and feels the only way to survive is to betray the old Tiger kingdom for the Dragons, Seung helps her find the way back.

Seung's homeland of the Tiger Colonies has been ruled by the oppressive Dragon Empire for the last forty years. As a peasant, he and his family struggle to scrape by. Eunji, youngest daughter of a wealthy Tiger family, must abide by her limited station as her family is at the whims of the Dragon government and the policies they want enforced. Seung and Eunji are linked by their desire to escape their circumstances. They secretly study together to pass the annual Exam into the academy, earn magical dragon ki powers and elevate their worth. As their two worlds cross, both are exposed to the other's difficulties and must come to terms with their place in society. Budding forbidden romantic feelings, a magical tiger, ki powers, an underground resistance to the Dragon Empire, among other things shape their journey. Will they prevail over the greed of the Empire?

I really enjoyed this novel. The underlying story of strength, passion, humanity in a setting with highly oppressed and abused people is an amazing one. To also know that this fictional story has roots in the real lives of the authors' Korean grandparents is also pretty amazing. The magical nature of this novel has been incorporated well and drives the story through it's satisfying arc. Seung and Euniji are two characters that tell a meaningful story and are easy to empathize with. 5 stars.

This is an honest review based on a digital Advanced Readers Copy provided by Penguin Young Readers Group/Kokila and NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This work is obviously very personal to the authors, and that personal connection (along with the beautiful cover) was one of the reasons I picked this up. And though I think the excerpts from the grandparents’ letters are lovely, they don’t make sense as epigraphs when presented as chapter openers. This reads quite young for YA and I found it difficult to get through, which is why I ultimately dnfd at around 50%. I expected something more complex and nuanced based on the premise but it became clearly early on that I am just not the audience for this book. I wish the authors had trusted their readers a bit more and spent less time on spoonfeeding character motivations and emotions through interiority and more time on depth of character. The writing is serviceable but the world building is simplistic and surface level, lacking in sensory details and imagery. I am not a hardline stickler against modern language in fantasy, but the use of it felt inconsistent and juvenile here.

I would still recommend it for younger readers as a starting point for delving into the real world historical events the book explores in the fantasy setting, and for learning about occupation and colonization.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Young Reader’s Group/Kokila for a copy of the eARC.

Thank you NetGalley and for the ARC.

In this YA fantasy, we follow Eunji Choi, a noble girl who dreams of living life her way, and Lee Seung, a servant of the Choi family who dreams of a better life. The Dragon Empire has colonized the Tiger Colonies and tigers are being hunted to extinction. In return, the Tiger colonies must assimilate into Dragon society, but they will never truly be on their level.

This story was inspired by the authors’ grandparents and their forbidden friendship/love during one of the darkest periods in Korean History. This was a YA historical fantasy with an interesting magic system.

I found this book to be a very interesting look at how a society survives under harsh colonialism. Our main characters are minors who exist on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of their status under colonial rule. They manage to find common ground and build a friendship while helping each other pursue what they want—freedom and knowledge, respectively. Eventually, they find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict and must wonder who will get the last tiger in the end.

I did enjoy this book for what it was, but I wish it had been longer and offered more character depth. It felt a bit rushed at times, and the ending was somewhat weak. I also wish we had received more information about the magic system and the other land that was mentioned throughout the book. Several elements had potential to be expanded on but were instead dropped and left unresolved.

Additionally, I didn’t feel the romance between the characters—it came across as forced. This book would have been stronger if it had focused on the friendship between the grandparents instead of insisting on a romantic storyline. The messages from the grandparents between chapters were a nice touch, but they didn’t add much to the overall narrative.

Due to my negative experience with this book, I'll only be posting my review to NetGalley. I love the idea of this, and know it's a debut novel, but it was not enjoyable to read.

The worldbuilding is unfortunately absent. I loved the idea of basing a fantastical story on family history (which is one reason I don't want to share a negative review publicly... this work is obviously very personal), but I don't think the addition of magic was ever satisfactorily justified or fully explored. How did things change with the presence of "ki" in this world? Not just in terms of the immediate plot or the slight adjustments to history, but on a larger scale? How do people's everyday lives change? I wanted more sensory descriptions, and worldbuilding, and more character development in general. Everything was very basic and simplified in a way that was quite generic. The use of modern-day slang in particular felt like lazy writing. Even if this had been pure historical fiction, I would have wanted more from the prose and the plot. My favorite parts were the passages from the grandparents, but these often felt unrelated to the chapters they preceded.

I want more books like this to exist, and I'm grateful for the chance to read the ARC. This one just didn't work for me.

I was hooked from the beginning!
It was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.

I love the story that inspired this book but it just felt a little lacking in the love department. I never really felt a connection between the characters I didn’t really see how they would end up together. I do love the ki powers and the concept of them getting their powers because a spirit animal gives it to them. I also love how seung kind of grows as a character. Although the story was lacking in some parts I still enjoyed reading this book and could see myself recommending it to other readers

ARC review | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25 | YA Fantasy

Release date: July 29th, 2025

Publisher: Kokila/Penguin

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an absolute powerhouse debut from a pair of siblings who were inspired by their own grandparents’ love story during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The Last Tiger is a staunchly anti-colonial epic that centers on the fight for liberation and all we lose and gain through that fight.

There were some moments where quotidian language peaked through a bit much for my tastes in fantasy and unfortunately I found the letter excerpts at the beginning of each chapter distracting. I think just knowing the story was based on a real-life love would have been sufficient. However, neither of these things would keep me from recommending this to fantasy readers with my full chest.

- advanced copy reading

🐯 historical fantasy
🐯 dual pov
🐯 forbidden romance
🐯 ki powers/ magic

Influenced by their grandparent’s true love and korean history. This novel is written by brother and sister! Which I thought was really cool. Given that this is their first novel, the writing the strongest. At times it did read a bit modern giving the time period. I do believe however that they should keep up with the writing and there is a lot of room for improvement!

Our characters come from different worlds. Lee Seung, a servant and Choi Eunji, a noble girl. The story focuses on both main characters struggles and longing for freedom. The book really sucks you from the beginning. I liked both main characters but wish the chemistry between them was stronger. I mean they spent a good chunk of the book away from each other 🥹
I loved the side characters. especially jin! 


Overall I would recommend this book to friends.

Thank you so much publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!!!!

I enjoyed this one! I thought the premise of this book was really intresting but I didn’t feel as invested as I hoped to have been. I loved the characters I felt it was really easy to connect with Eunji but the main romance of this story was hard to root for. I wish we had seen a bit more of the characters interacting so I could get a feel for the relationship more and become more invested in them as a couple. I enjoyed the magic in this book but wish it had been elaborated more on. Overall an enjoyable read that I definitely recommend trying out!

This is a more a solid 3.5 star read for me.

I absolutely love the cover and that the real life story inspired this book! That is so precious and I can't imagine how happy the grandparents are.

Loved the quotes at the beginning of each chapter and the little excerpts, it really seemed to pull on your emotion while reading and it was a nice touch. While the story happens in the reimagined Korea and is loosely based on real history, for most part it works. However and this pains me to write - I was expecting more from the love story itself. Maybe that's on me and my expectations, but it just fell short on the book from what I wanted. I just wanted more.

The Last Tiger is OFFICIALLY out in the world and you’re going to LOVE it! 🐅

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Last Tiger is a fantasy based on the authors own grandparents’ story of love, strength, and resilience! When I first heard about this book, it was through a reel telling a story of forbidden love and how despite being from different worlds - in the end love conquered it all. It was such a beautiful and inspiring story so I immediately preordered this tale and, thanks to @netgalley , I was able to read it early and absolutely fall in love with it!

Julia and Brad did a beautiful job of intertwining history with fantasy. And I think this masterpiece will draw you into its world so fully that it’ll be hard to pull yourself back out!

I don’t want to spoil it so here’s the blurb:

In a colonized land where tigers are being hunted to extinction and ancient magic stirs, two star-crossed teens—Lee Seung, a servant yearning for freedom, and Choi Eunji, a noble girl defying tradition—join forces to try and reshape their respective fates.

But their relationship evolves from begrudging accomplices to bitter adversaries as they soon find themselves on opposite sides of a battle over the last tiger, a symbol of their people’s lost freedom and key to the liberation of their country. As the ties between Seung and Eunji are complicated by their conflicting loyalties, tensions rise—especially when a charming princeling of the empire begins to rival for Eunji’s affection.

In this friends-to-enemies-to-lovers story of forbidden romance, antagonists turned allies, oppression and liberation, neither Seung nor Eunji can abandon their mission—or each other. And as they embark on separate quests to find the elusive creature, each must also find the power within themselves to make their own destiny.

This was a struggle for me to get through. Not for me, but maybe for others!

I wanted to love this book, as I love that the story is based on the authors’ grandparents’ true love story growing up in Korea during Japan’s rule. But it just fell somewhat flat for me. The love story never felt like it really bloomed, and if more effort was put into that, I think I would have really liked the book overall. But without the love story, the plot, world building, and character development seemed to be even more obvious in their lackluster. If I hadn’t received this as an ARC, I probably would have DNF’d it. Maybe much younger audiences would like this one more, but even as an avid YA reader, I can’t say I liked or would recommend this one.

𝑨 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏:
The narrators made this book easier to finish, but I did get confused a lot because the distinction between voicing different characters wasn’t always clear. I did enjoy the narration otherwise.

2.5/5 rounded down

Stunning cover and a story based off the authors’s grandparent’s love story??

An important thing to note, is this story takes place (as a reimagining) in Korea while they were occupied by Imperial Japan. The aspect that makes this a reimagining is ‘ki’ a magical-esq power from spirits. Real and terrifying events are portrayed in this book that could be sensitive for some, ie hunting of Korean tigers, comfort women, colonialism in general. This could be a really important book for YA readers delving into history and learning about these events.

Getting to see the grandparents love story, quotes, etc was really endearing. This was a bit too YA for me which can be hit or miss with YA nowadays, it felt like our two main characters had more of a friendship over romantic relationship.

I'm conflicted on my opinion of this book. On one hand, I really liked the story. I liked the magic and the different peoples. I liked the characters. But the writing just isn't working for me. The snippets from the authors' grandparents at the beginning of each chapter, while interesting, detract from the story. I think it would work better to have them in a kind of afterword so readers can learn more about the inspiration behind the story. Worked into the book itself just didn't fit, in my opinion. And the first half of the book has way too many ellipsis ("..."). It gets better in the second half, but only because the em dash ("—") gets used too much and in odd places. It really messed with the flow of the writing. In some places, it's a good stylistic choice. But in most, it's just very jarring and made me want to stop reading. I pushed through because I really did enjoy the story! But I think it needs some polishing. I was also a little confused about the time period for a lot of the book. I think I assumed it was set further back in time than it is, so some technology mentions felt anachronistic to me.