Disclaimer: I received The Tiger’s Daughter from the publisher (through NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Title: The Tiger’s Daughter
( Ascendant #1 )
Authors: K. Arsenault Rivera
Published: 3. October 2017
Edition: Tor Books
ebook, 526 pages
Genre: Fantasy | LGBT+
Summary:
Even gods can be slain.
The Hokkaran empire has conquered every land within their bold reach―but failed to notice a lurking darkness festering within the people. Now, their border walls begin to crumble, and villages fall to demons swarming out of the forests.
Away on the silver steppes, the remaining tribes of nomadic Qorin retreat and protect their own, having bartered a treaty with the empire, exchanging inheritance through the dynasties. It is up to two young warriors, raised together across borders since their prophesied birth, to save the world from the encroaching demons.
This is the story of an infamous Qorin warrior, Barsalayaa Shefali, a spoiled divine warrior empress, O-Shizuka, and a power that can reach through time and space to save a land from a truly insidious evil.
◄ 3 out of 5 stars ►
As soon as I read the synopsis for this book I knew I had to check it out. It just sounded like a story that I would immensely enjoy. Sadly, I didn’t end up loving it as much as I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong, there were parts of the book that I enjoyed and also some that really bothered me. The Tiger’s Daughter ended up being quite the disappointing read for me.
Books that are written in a letter format are either a hit or a miss for me. Sometimes I adore them and sometimes they just don’t work for me. In the case with The Tiger’s Daughter it didn’t work for me. I think that has to do with the way this whole story is structured. There are two different timelines, one in the present from one of the main characters point of view and the other in the past, told in a series of letters. I think the switching between these timelines and formats they were told in didn’t work for me.
I did like the two main characters, Shefali and O-Shizuka. I enjoyed learning more about them as the story continued. Their relationship was fun to read about and I enjoyed seeing them interact with each other. These two characters and their relationship were probably my favourite aspect of the whole book. There were some other characters that I found interesting, but we never got to know them all that much. Aside from the two main characters none of the others were developed, which was a shame as there were many I was interested in.
The world of this book wasn’t the best. There is the fact that this book is rather info dumpy at points, which did bother me. But the bigger issue is the way the author used aspects of East Asian cultures to create the world. Some references and descriptions were very questionable and they kept bringing me out of the story. I’m by no means an expert in East Asian culture, but even I noticed some of the strange language used. I definitely recommend checking out some own voices reviews, as they can definitely explain the problems more accurately and with more detail.
Overall, The Tiger’s Daughter was an okay book. There were some things about it that I enjoyed and some that really bothered me. This one is a hard one to recommend, as I’m really unsure about the representation in the book.
Disclaimer: I received The Phoenix Empress from the publisher (through NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Title: The Phoenix Empress
( Ascendant #2 )
Authors: K. Arsenault Rivera
Published: 9. October 2018
Edition: Tor Books
ebook, 544 pages
Genre: Fantasy | LGBT+
Summary:
Since she was a child, the divine empress O Shizuka has believed she was an untouchable god. When her uncle, ruler of the Hokkaran Empire, sends her on a suicide mission as a leader of the Imperial Army, the horrors of war cause her to question everything she knows.
Thousands of miles away, the exiled and cursed warrior Barsalyya Shefali undergoes trials the most superstitious would not believe in order to return to Hokkaran court and claim her rightful place next to O Shizuka.
As the distance between disgraced empress and blighted warrior narrows, a familiar demonic force grows closer to the heart of the empire. Will the two fallen warriors be able to protect their home?
◄ 2 out of 5 stars ►
When I started reading The Phoenix Empress I hoped that the issues I had in the first book would be addressed, but that didn’t happen. Somehow it stayed the same and became worse in some aspects? I really don’t know how to explain it properly. I really didn’t enjoy my experience of reading The Phenix Empress.
The world building was expanded in this book and I’m not sure that was a good thing. Somehow it felt even more scattered and confusing than in the first book. There were many gaps in time and events that were just mentioned. It was honestly hard to follow what was going on in the story at points. The world building in The Phoenix Empress just wasn’t well done. The side characters still weren’t developed. This is something that bothered me in the first book and even more in this second one. There are just so many characters that I find interesting and that I think have the potential to be great, but there is just nothing being done with them.
I still enjoyed reading about Shefali and O-Shizuka, but I had some problems with them as well. There was a very long time gap in their relationship, but when they came back together it was as if no time had passed. That seemed like a strange choice to me, as a lot can happen and change in those many years. It would have been interesting to see their relationship build back up, rather than just jumping straight into it. Their relationship just stopped being believable to me.
Overall, The Phoenix Empress was a disappointing book to me. I just had so many problems with it. I don’t plan on reading the third book, I have just lost all interest in this series.
Have you read The Tiger’s Daughter and The Phoenix Empress? Did you enjoy them? Let me know in the comments below!
Thank you very much for reading and I hope that you have a wonderful day!
-Anna♥
anaelwyn 
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