The Tiger's Daughter
The Ascendant series, Book 1
K. Arsenault Rivera
Tor
Fiction, YA? Fantasy
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: When they were born, Imperial heiress O-Shizuka and Qorin nomad Shefali were marked by destiny to grow close as two pine needles, despite their different lineages. O-Shizuka's Hokkoran ancestors conquered half the world, and only Shefali's warrior queen mother kept them from slaughtering the Quorin of the steppes as they had so many others. Bad blood still flows thick between their people, not helped by the decadence of the current emperor and the resurgence of dark powers that were once contained by the Wall of Flowers in the north. The two girls, princess and warrior, may be all that stands between humankind and the darkness of the Traitor's blackblood minions - but destinies as grand as theirs are never without tragedy, and the price of victory may be higher than either wishes to pay.
REVIEW: The phrase "star-crossed lovers" is thrown around an awful lot, especially in romances. It seems any couple with even the slightest obstacle between them gets branded with the term until it loses its original meaning: two people who must fight the very heavens for their love, and may not succeed even then, but for whom walking away is simply not an option. Here, Rivera returns the meaning, the beauty, and the tragedy to the phrase in a truly epic love story literally touched by the gods.
Told largely in a letter from Shefali to O-Shizuka that recounts their adventures, from first meeting through later journeys and victories through defeats, the chemistry is tangible from the very first moments and lasts throughout. Both characters have flaws and strengths and personalities that occasionally clash, and more than once they hurt each other (mostly unintentionally), but beneath that is a bond that transcends mortal flesh, as unquestioned as the rising of the sun. As they grow up and grow together, a rich tale unfolds in a complex world inspired by Asian cultures, from the divine courts of Hokkoran through the nomads of the Silver Steppes and even the conquered yet proud jungle kingdom of Xian in the south, among others. It is a world of shamans and priests, of demons whose black blood infects any touched by it, of royal decadence and common poverty, of past grievances and current prejudices, of gods and legends and truths that bleed into myths even within one's own lifetime. The characters are equally rich and nuanced, with family and fate and love in its myriad forms driving much of the story, where even divine powers do not preclude great failures and tragic miscalculations; powerful as love may be, there are some futures it cannot change, some hearts that can never be together. (Does that include the leads? Sorry, I don't deal in spoilers, but I will say that this is not one of those romances where a happily-ever-after is an easy given.)
This is one of those books that keeps you coming back for more, where you're practically counting the minutes at work until you can get home and return to its pages. It's a beautifully told story in an excellent world that I'll happily revisit in the future; I've already added the sequel to my shopping list, and am debating adding the third title preemptively.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Range of Ghosts (Elizabeth Bear) - My Review
Rhapsody (Elizabeth Haydon) - My Review
The Black Tides of Heaven (JY Yang) - My Review
No comments:
Post a Comment