I found this to be an interesting story! I thought the basis of the grandparents' lives and including notes at the beginning of each chapter helped set the tone. It helped me grasp more than just the fiction of the book, if that makes sense -- it carried a little more weight, in a good way. Was there a moment where I was pretty sure what was going to happen next? Yes, but thankfully the character was more than just two-dimensional in that way. I thought the differences in the main characters was important and added to the story - the comparison between the sheltered life of the rich girl and the poor boy, each longing for something the other has. I thought the fantasy elements added to the story, and overall, I just really enjoyed this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group/Kokila for the ARC!

This collaborative work weaves together mythology and family history in a clever retelling of how the authors' grandparents fell in love while fighting to save Korea from Japanese colonization.
While the writing itself feels somewhat unpolished at times, the creative approach more than compensates for any technical roughness. The authors have crafted an imaginative take on Korea's fight for independence and freedom from oppression, using mythological elements to bring to life the very real courage and sacrifice of those who resisted colonial rule.
A favorite in this book is the inclusion of excerpts from the authors' grandparents at the beginning of each chapter. These personal touches connected the fantastical elements in actual family memory and history. The Last Tiger is a heartfelt tribute that takes historical and personal trauma and transforms it into a story of love and heroism.

A blend of historical events and magic being inspired by the author's grandparent's love story as well. It's a story about colonization and occupation and features quotes from the author's grandparents at the beginning of each chapter. The story follows two teens from different classes who for a romance as they both seek freedom as they fight tradition, opposing beliefs, and an empire that threatens to crush them. A girl from a wealthy family discovers that she is going to be forced to marry someone she doesn't want to while the boy she is in love with has disappeared... only for her to run into again later on and find out that not only is he working for the opposing side but he also is fighting against everything she thought she believed in. The book sounded promising and definitely has potential but it kind of missed the mark for me. It was a fine overall story and I did like the historical context to it but I just felt like it was missing something. Overall, I do think that its an interesting story and maybe other readers will have fun with it!

Release Date: July 29, 2025

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

*Thanks Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | Kokila or sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I really loved the concept but, unfortunately struggled to stay engaged. It felt like we really hammered the grief and rage, but missed the exploration of a Korean-esque culture. I felt like we focused too much on certain aspects and not enough on others to the point where the ending felt unbelievable and too easy. I would have loved more exploration of the magic system and how the magic interacts with the world rather than just being told. I really wanted to love this but it just fell flat for me.

The Last Tiger is a beautifully atmospheric debut that blends historical oppression with ancient magic, offering a poignant tribute to Korean resilience. While the premise is rich and the cultural roots run deep, the execution sometimes stumbles, particularly in the shifting relationship between Seung and Eunji, which can feel rushed and underdeveloped amid the sweeping plot. The emotional stakes are high, especially with the symbolism of the last tiger, but the pacing and character depth left me wanting more. Still, it’s a promising and heartfelt story that shines brightest when honoring its heritage and the quiet courage of resistance.

Thank you to Net Galley for this e-ARC.

This book is a beautiful tribute to the authors' grandparents. The testimonials from their grandfather are heartwrenching and I can understand how such an incredible romance inspired this story.

If you like a class struggle romance, you will most likely devour this novel page by page. Seung and Eunji come from backgrounds as different as night and day. However, there's no sugarcoating their experiences as a sheltered high-class lady and a young man barely getting by.

At the beginning, when Eunji and Seung confront each other for the first time, Eunji tells Seung about her strict, suffocating upbringing. In response, Seung doesn't fold and apologize like I've read so many other times. He boldly stands his ground, explaining that he does feel sympathy for her, but he won't shed tears over it. It was a reality check that made me mark this story as a must read!

I love that the inspiration behind this book is the authors’ grandparents’ love story. The sentiment is there and you can tell how the authors really honor their grandparents’ story with their authors’ notes and the grandparents’ quotes at the beginning of each chapter. I went into this book expecting something very multi-layered and complex, but the more I read the more I realized I wasn’t the right audience for this book.

This is a good book for younger readers to learn about occupation and colonization. The story is THERE but the execution of it fell short in some ways. The language of the book almost felt too juvenile, especially for a book that is historical fiction/fantasy. Dialogue such as “I was pissed” and “relaaaaax dude” felt super out of place. There was also a lot of “showing” rather than “telling.” I understand that readers need context, but we should be shown the story rather than told everything. The plot of this book was interesting, but there were more cons about it that were hard for me to overlook. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

The Last Tiger by Julia Riew and Brad Riew is a first person dual-POV YA fantasy drawing inspiration from the authors’ grandparents’ love story. To pass the Exam to gain access to ki and improve his station in life, Seung, who comes from the peasant class, convinces Eunji, who comes from a noble family, to help him study. But a friendship grows between Eunji and Seung and those feelings later blossom into a love that will have to withstand them being torn apart by the violent colonization of their homeland.

While this is heavily inspired by the occupation of the Koreas by Japan, it is not a perfect one-to-one. The Tiger Colonies are an analogy for the Koreas and Japan is the Dragon Empire. If a reader is aware of their recent Korean-Japanese history, a lot of things will feel very obvious, including the fear that many Koreans felt under the occupation, the concept of han, comfort women, the enforcement of using Japanese instead of Korean in daily life, the use of the Korean classic song Arirang, and how some Koreans took Japanese names for a variety of reasons. This is not a history book and shouldn't be treated as such (Japan does not have a secret school that grants people access to ki, for instance), as it's more a very strong allegory, but the inspiration is very explicit.

Eunji and Seung’s friendship is one built on mutual respect and the gradual pulling back of the curtain of each other's lives. Eunji has never really considered exactly how privileged she is until Seung points out to her that nobody from his station passes the exam and Seung is unaware of the immense pressure placed on Eunji as her family seeks to increase their power and influence. Besides class, another obstacle in their way is Eunji’s engagement to the son of an elite family from the Dragon Empire, an engagement she very much does not want but everything she tries to do to break it is met with resistance from her father.

I would more call this a fantasy with a love story backbone rather than a fantasy romance, romantic fantasy or Romantasy. The story could technically exist without Seung and Eunji falling in love and the majority of the book is them being separated, with Eunji hoping to see Seung again and him believing she's moved on and will marry her fiancee. We also don't see that much of them falling in love and the romance structure isn't utilized. For me, this book is the difference between a love story and a romance: a love story is about people who love each other doing anything to be together while a romance is a lot stricter and has firmer rules in terms of voice, beats, and if the plot is about the actual romance itself or the journey to be together.

I would recommend this to fans of Korean-inspired fantasy looking for something with WWII era worldbuilding and readers of romantic fantasy who like love stories more than the American romance genre

An enchanting and satisfying read. I appreciated and enjoyed every aspect of this book. The main characters, based on the authors’ own grandparents, were endearing and I was always rooting for them. I also loved the magic system and the mythology, and it was very easy to imagine the world, inspired by real events but still its own creation, that the characters were living in. The story was well written and well paced. I am happy for the authors’ family to have their history shared in such a unique and fun novel. I recommend this to lovers of fantasy with romance, historical fiction, or anyone looking for an inspiring story with compelling characters and a great setting!

⅘ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Last Tiger
Author: Julia Riew & Brad Riew

Thank you Netgalley and Kokila for my copy of this read! A beautifully written YA fantasy debut inspired by a true story. A servant and a noble girl fall in love, but soon find themselves on opposite sides of a growing conflict, the hunt to wipe out the last remaining tiger. They must choose whether their loyalty to each other outweighs their loyalty to their people. I loved the atmospheric worldbuilding, the emotional depth, and the unique touch of journal entries woven throughout. The side characters also added so much richness to the story. This was a fantastic YA fantasy read!

DNFed at 53%. This fast paced debut novel follows a fictionalized version of the author’s grandparents love story. I knew going into it that it was for younger readers, but it felt too young for me, and the characters POV’s were too similar in tone and writing to tell apart. Younger readers wanting an introduction to colonialism with a fantasy twist would enjoy this book.

I can’t believe this is a debut.

Inspired by a true story set in one of the darkest periods of Korean history.
A tale about how two people from different worlds fell in love and change fate for their country as a whole during the Japanese colonization of Korea with a fantasy twist!

This is a beautiful, and emotional book. I really enjoyed the letters from her grandparents in between parts showing the readers the similarities between them and the characters.

I really think this book would have benefited more being for adults instead of YA and that’s my only complaint.

This was an interesting book. I was trying to explain its premise to someone the other day, and it sounds just bonkers. That's a little how I felt while reading this.

Taking into consideration that this was based on the real-life story of the authors' grandparents' lived experiences in Japan-controlled Korea, it feels a bit messy. I either wish that they had published a biography of their grandparent's lives and love story, or they had separated this entirely from reality and just published this as a pure fiction story.

I didn't really know anything about Japanese colonialism in Korea before reading this, and it was an interesting staring point - I'm definitely going to do some further reading on the topic. But if you know anything about the topic, this book probably won't really interest you.

The ki powers and upper vs lower class interactions were pretty interesting, but nothing I haven't seen elsewhere in fantasy. I did like the exploration of how certain colonized people, especially those in positions of power, flip on their homeland for a payout and to stay relevant.

I really liked the relationship between Eunji and Seung, especially in the first half - they had a really wholesome friendship. But then when a year jump happens and a bunch of character development happened off page, I felt like I lost a lot of that connection to them as characters.

Jin and Kenzo were fun side characters - Jin's story was especially heartbreaking (CW for rape), and I'd definitely want more of her story.

There are very few books I read that leave me completely emotional. No, seriously. I have only ever cried over one book because of how the plot squeezes your heart.

It probably doesn’t help to be a sucker for love stories. So when I saw that The Last Tiger by Julia and Brad Riew was based on the author’s grandparent’s love story during the Japanese Occupation of Korea, I just knew I had to get my hands on this book.

And let me tell you: I sobbed like a baby (so now, I guess I’ve only cried to two books).

This story has a dual perspective between Lee Seung, a poor servant, and Choi Eunji, a noble (yangban) girl whose parents are loyal to the Dragon Empire. The Dragon Empire took over the Tiger Colonies many decades ago and kill off tigers to remind people that the Emperor (and Subsequent Governor-General Isao) have all the power. It probably doesn’t help that the soldiers in the Dragon Empire’s army possess Ki powers of inhuman strength.

Eunji has her life mapped out as the youngest daughter. She is going to go to the Dragon military academy and then she is expected to marry into Dragon nobility to help further her own family’s wealth.

Meanwhile, Seung, being poor, is going to struggle for the rest of his life unless he can get a chance to apply for the Dragon military academy.

One fateful night leads the two of them to strike a deal: Seung is going to sneak Eunji out once a week in exchange for Eunji tutoring Seung for the entrance exam to the military school. During one night, they both encounter a tiger roaming through the woods.

Unfortunately, tragedy strikes that separates the two of them and the thought of the last tiger leaves them.

A few years later and they’re both on opposite sides: Seung finds himself working with a group of rebels and Eunji is trying to appease the Dragon General, both on a quest to find the last tiger. As they embark on their quests, they will have either forge their own destinies or fall victim to the life path set for them.

Have I already said how much I love this book? No? I LOVE THIS BOOK.

As someone who studied the Korean language in school, I was already familiar with the 웅녀 (ungnyeo) myth about the bear and tiger told to stay in a cave and eat mugwort and garlic for a hundred days. To see it play such an integral role about the tigers in this story gave me so much joy and actually gave life to the question: “what happened to the tiger in that story?”.

Additionally, I loved how this YA book handled the topics of what it was like for the people in Korea when Japan occupied it. Obviously, this was inspired by those events as well, so to see the perspectives of two people on opposite sides fall in love was inspiring. The authors also wrote about comfort women (as one of the later characters in the liberation movement, Jin, was a comfort woman and talked about her experience), which was so important because Japan has still refused to acknowledge and apologize to the impacted women for those horrors. So much history was packed into this story that I found myself astonished that the U.S. education system doesn’t cover this aspect of history in depth (for context for my international readers: we know about Imperialist Japan, but I didn’t know about things like Nanjing or comfort women until college). I could honestly write a whole post about how this book interweaves history and folklore altogether, but that would be a lot (and quite frankly, you’re here for a review of this book).

Which leads to another aspect I loved, which was the plot: the romance between Seung and Eunji. Even though we already know that it’s based off a real love story (and we know that it’s going to be a happy ending), I found myself rooting for them. I wanted them to shut up, fight for the right to be together, and live happily ever after. Obviously, this is the whole point of the book and it would be extremely short if I had my way. This book did an excellent job of showing how life’s circumstances can get in the way and how challenging those circumstances can lead you to forge your own future (or love, in this case).

My only complaint is that the ending left so many unanswered questions (which, okay, if you know how history played out, no it didn’t). I found myself wanting them to not only liberate the Tiger Colonies, but to put a stop to the Dragon’s Emperor in general. I definitely felt like there could’ve been more to address in those issues. But again, the main focus was on liberating the Tiger Colonies, so it’s easy to guess what happened next.

My favorite character was Jin. She, despite her circumstances, was such a badass character that I wanted to read more about her story (even though I know how depressing and dark it’d be). Learning her story and how she fought with everything she had until the end of the book was so inspiring. To the authors: if you’re reading this and you want to make a third book that’ll make me cry, please consider going more in-depth about Jin. She stole the show in her few moments and I loved her character.

I told you, I love this book. As soon as I get my next paycheck, this book will find a new home in my personal library. As expected, this book gets five out of five stars from me.

If you’re interested in Korean folklore, historical fiction, or love winning, I highly suggest this book.

The Last Tiger is a gorgeous new fantasy story, based off of Japan’s takeover of Korea and the authors’ own grandparent’s love story. We follow two main protagonists- Seung, a poor boy based off of their grandfather, who struggles to get out of his circumstances and dreams to pass the exam needed to acquire Dragon Ki, and Eunji, a wealthy young lady based off of their grandmother who dreams of a life other than arranged marriage and babies.

Seung, working in Eunji’s household on mondays as a servant, accidentally witnesses Eunji sneaking out to view the slaying of the last Tiger in the kingdom. To protect her secret, she agrees to help him study the exam, and as the two get closer, they encounter what is actually the last living Tiger in the kingdom, and the decisions that follow change their lives.

I adored Seung’s drive and his passion for his family and his people, but towards the last third of the book, Eunji was so selfish that I honestly couldn’t stand her anymore, which did lead me to dock a star. However, this was still a fantastic read!

The Last Tiger releases on July 29, and thank you to Penguin and Netgalley for the arc! Review will be edited when up on socials!

Story that introduces the harshness of Japan occupation in Korea without going into huge detail. Great start for people to be introduced to the topic. Based on authors grandparents love story. The letter excerpts at beginning were an interesting way to connect with the history of the time. The characters switch pov easily and smoothly which keeps your interest to see what becomes of them as it continues. You hope that the tigers are saved by the end as they are being hunted to extinction and you by the end become more interested in some of the side characters backstory that briefly is introduced. Overall good read though it switches back and forth between too far and too slow moving.

DNF. I loved the idea, but sadly the execution became increasingly painful to read. Perhaps if I was a child, I could immerse in a story whose elements are so tempting, but as it was, I kept longing for the grandparents' story--but written by someone else.

This is a quick read that is compelling and really a good depiction of young love in dark times the formatting of the chapter titles really gives you a sense of what to expect, over all this was fun and compelling I do wish the chase for the last tiger was better paced but I really like this.

I really appreciated and enjoyed this story. I was able to read it in tandem with audio thanks to Netgalley and PRHAudio. The parallels of Korean/Japanese history and the world building and magic system were so perfectly blended and I loved the parts from the authors' grandparents because this was inspired by their life and love. The political intrigue and motivations were very compelling and I was so invested. Im really excited for this release and for more readers to get their hands on this story. Looking forward to reading more from both Julia and Brad Riew.

This fantasy novel had some lovely and unique aspects that set it apart from many other YA fantasies that I've read lately. First, the inspiration for The Last Tiger was the love story between the authors' grandparents during the time of the Japanese occupation of Korea. Not only did this influence the characters in the story it was also a very large part of the worldbuilding for the setting and the dynamics between the kingdoms within the novel, which were the Tiger Kingdom (representing Korea), the Dragon Empire (representing Japan), and the Serpent Queendom (which I'm guessing represented China). Each section of the story also incorporated letters from the grandparents that told snippets of their story as well. I loved reading those and seeing a glimpse of the real people that inspired this novel. In terms of the story itself, I loved the first half of the book when Seung and Eunji first meet. The story is told from dual points of view between Seung and Eunji and I appreciated how each character had their own distinctive voice. Sometimes novels told from dual points of view don't work for me if the protagonists sound too similar. But that was not the case for this book at all. Seung and Eunji are both very well developed and come from very different backgrounds. While each feels trapped by their circumstances they see the world through very distinctive lenses and suffer in very different ways. Their distrust and dislike for each other initially soon gives way to friendship at a time when both need one and eventually blossoms into star-crossed love. I also appreciated how the historical aspects of the novel with an occupied Tiger Empire, which is based on Korea, and the colonizers, the Dragon Empire based on Japan, are seamlessly woven through with magic that stem from varied spirit animals. The main power or ki that everyone would like to have is Dragon ki that comes from the Dragon Empire's spirit animal and gives people incredible strength along with the ability to heal oneself. But as the story unfolds we are given hints that there might be other types of ki that exist as well. The second half of the book slowed for me a bit in pace once Seung and Eunji are separated by circumstance. I found Eunji to be a bit annoying in this section and at the start of the last section of the story. I found Seung to be a much more sympathetic character. I also enjoyed how the secondary characters become better developed though in the last half of the novel. Jin and Kenzo were each dynamic in their own right, and I'd love to see each get their own story set in this world someday. The realism of the struggle for good to overcome evil at the end made the last third of the book a nail biter but one I thoroughly enjoyed. The authors do not hold back in terms of hurting their darlings in this book and do not shy away from portraying just how dark things got for Koreans in the 30s and 40s under the yoke of Imperial Japan. It left me truly questioning if all of the characters would make it at the end, including the tiger that the book's plot revolves around. I was easily able to give this novel 4.5 stars and would happily read more stories set in this world. I would like to thank both NetGalley and Penguin Random House for allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for this honest review.