Tiger Slayer introduces readers to an amazing, powerful, and respected woman who ruled in a new and daring way. The story follows Nur Jahan, a Muslim Empress that ruled an impressive empire in India over 400 years ago. Following her life, readers learn how Nur Jahan was incredibly intelligent, compassionate, and competent. She hunted tigers with skill, rode elephants with grace, designed beautiful and long lasting public buildings, truly cared for and helped those of lower status and gained the ability to make royal decrees in her own name - something unheard of before.

The illustrations are beautiful and incredibly detailed, making the book feel like an ancient fairy tale. The story is engaging, and extremely difficult to put down. Readers of all ages are sure to love this story! I am so happy that Ruby Lal and artist Molly Crabapple made this younger-reader version, as it serves as an amazing appetizer for the adult version of the book (Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan). I can’t wait to read more!!

'Tiger Slayer' by Ruby Lal is a nonfiction biography of the only woman to ever rule the Mughal Empire, Empress Nur Jahan. Defying societal and political expectations, after marrying her second husband, Mughal emperor Jahangir, she rose up in the ranks eventually taking the reins and practically running the empire behind the scenes. So much so that, as is always the case, she was resented by many in the emperor's court, including his son, the crowned prince Shah Jahan.

The book takes the readers through her story from birth as her Persian noble family relocated to India, with Nur being born on the journey, through her first marriage and eventually her second marriage. Her rise to the top is a fascinating story especially when one considers all the obstacles that she would face, not only as a woman, but the emperor's twentieth legal wife.

Unfortunately, while I learned a lot from the book and enjoyed it, I found the narrative style was too dry and clunky. Sentences at times felt a bit chopped or abrupt. And while I am usually a big fan of background information and tangents, as I find they help me see the bigger picture and understand the figures in question, in this case, I found myself often confused and a bit lost.

I can't help but wonder if the target audience, as this book is listed for middle-grade readers, might find the book overwhelming. While the book does introduce some of the less familiar terms and words, there were many that I felt weren't covered. I also wonder if perhaps some of the more nuanced cultural and religious details might be missed or lead to misunderstandings. For example, while Nur was a Muslim and we see her beliefs and influences throughout the text, there was at least one time when we know she (or her husband) prayed to Allah (the name of God among Muslims and Arab Christians), followed by conversation about the gods (who I assumed to be the Hindu Gods but I consider myself ignorant about the Mughal empire so please anyone feel free to correct me) but we didn't learn much more about this. I feel that to a young reader with no prior knowledge, they might find themselves potentially confusing the two religions. The interplay and coexistence of the beliefs is fascinating and worth the exploration and I wish this was explained more.

That being said, the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. Every time I came across one, I had to pause and take in all the details. I mean, you can even see it in the cover! They really brought a lot of the key scenes to life and were absolutely vivid and beautiful.

I appreciate the passion going into the book, and I personally learned a lot from it as an adult, but I do think that younger readers would benefit best from it by co-reading this with an adult that can help them understand the bigger picture and introduce them to the intricate details and rich culture.

The title and topic will be sure to capture the attention of readers to pull this book off the shelf.
I think somethings could be cut out of the story to make it better suited for young readers. But older readers will more likely read through this book.

This is a DNF review at 30%. Regrettably, while positioned as a biography, Tiger Slayer reads more like a general history textbook. The narrative is so bogged down with unnecessary background information and tangential fluff that the actual subject of the biography is completely lost.

This lack of focus is compounded by writing that is frequently clunky and awkward. The book often resorts to disorganized information dumps, with some paragraphs that read like a haphazard collection of non-sequitur facts.

After forcing myself through a third of the book without learning anything significant about the person it was meant to profile, I couldn't justify continuing. The book does contain some lovely art, but that isn't enough to save a text that feels dry, uninspired, and unfocused.

Tiger Slayer reveals the true story of 16th century empress who ruled the Mughal Empire of India.
In 1577, baby Mihr is born as her family travels from Persia to Mughal India, leaving their homeland after the demise of the Persian king. By beginning of 1579, the family reaches Fatehpur-Sikri, the Mughal capital – the Red City, where they settle.

In the first quarter of the book, there are a lot of explanations of customs that we hardly learn anything about Mihr, and suddenly she is dressed in a wedding shirt. Throughout the story there are a lot of historical background and explanations. Thus, the story has the explanatory sound. It feels like you have to search for those moments of what happens next to the heroine.

From her husband she gains the knowledge about government and military. After his death, she arrives in harem, where with time she becomes the favored wife of the emperor. She starts to develop her natural skills, among them hunting.

She distinguished herself spending lavishly on poor and needy, designing public buildings, making key political decisions, leading troops into battle atop an elephant, and hunting tigers.

Mihr later called Nur Jahan was an incredible woman and it’s always fascinating to read about such characters who inspire and empower others.

The target audience for this book is middle grade. There are words which might be hard to understand and there is so much explaining of history and customs that I wonder how far children would get in reading this book on their own. The author is historian. Thus, I understand the passion in bringing all this history and customs but we have to keep it simple for the target audience in order for them to persist in reading, to get that part which inspires and awes.

Beautiful illustrations and book. My daughter was hooked from the start. She said it was one of the best books she has ever read. She asked to read it more than once.