The Tiger's Daughter by K Arsenault Rivera

Title: The Tiger's Daughter

Author: K. Arsenault Rivera
Page Count: 526
Rating: A
Format Read: Paperback
Genre: Fantasy
Keywords: Friendship, Loyalty, Demons
Kid Appropriate: Teens and older

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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.

My Review:

I really loved this book. While like City of Lies it was a bit slower, there was a great deal of interest in the characters and their development from small children to grown women. Their relationship unfolds in a natural way (with the exception of a spoiler I will discuss below) and the format of Shefali writing a letter to Shizuka about their own story was entrancing. 

In one sitting I read well over 200 pages on one day and did it again the next. The writing style is definitely within the realm of an adult fantasy but it is done in a way that never feels heavy and allows for quick reading, so do not allow the larger page count to deter you.

And while this book reads a bit closer to historical fiction than fantasy at certain times, the inclusion of demons and a folklore of gods added just the right amount of magic to make me fall for this story head over heels. 

If you are looking for a solid fantasy series, I recommend beginning here. It is not too heavy for newer fantasy fans and is more focused on the central couple. The world building is more gentle in nature and grows with the maturity of the girls as they grow up and are able to comprehend more. 

Spoilers below...

I mentioned in my Friday Reads for this book that around page 214 a scene occurred that had me confused. Shizuka is sick and dying from a fever. She is extremely ill and they fear that she will not make it through the night. This was important because you can see the worry that Shefali has and it ages their relationship from the childhood friendship. WHY WAS THIS A GOOD TIME FOR THEIR FIRST SEX SCENE?! I am certainly not against smut in books. But the placement of this scene makes no sense to me and I wish it had occurred at a different time in which one person is not near death and incapable of doing what was described.

Another issue I had was the nature of their relationship. Shefali is constantly being used by Shizuka and thrown into unnecessary situations. I wish that there had been more respect and less childish greed there.