Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Tiger Queen by Annie Sullivan

2 reviews

sassmistress's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

A YA fantasy novel with no magic? It's a first for me, but it reads exactly like a traditional fantasy novel in a creatively-crafted desert world. The world building is thorough and imaginative, the action fast-paced, and the character arc nicely wrapped up with a bow at the end. If your YA is into good-vs-tyrant, mustache-twirling antagonists, and a Robin Hood style sub-plot, this book is for them. 

As an adult who's a fan of fantasy, I have to qualify this by saying it's not masterpiece level. It sometimes feels as though the world-building details are crammed in too obviously, and the plot is completely predictable if you're familiar with fantasy tropes. You'll see multiple "twists" coming a mile away. Characters are a bit low-dimensional. I even found one homophone misspelling in my used copy; I hope that's been fixed in later prints! 

All that to say, I almost quit early, but actually really enjoyed it once it got rolling. It's an exciting adventure with a lot of imagininative details!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Child death, and Death of parent

Minor: Murder, Sexual content, Misogyny, and Blood

Content-wise, the first thing I would note is the romance plotline. It's tame as such things go, but if your YA is not ready for gateway romance, this is it. Feeling the heat off his body as they lay together under the stars, pressing his muscles against her during fight training sequences, the trope where one tackles the other after goofing around and they have a "moment" before separating, noticing eyes and moving hair, an almost-kiss interrupted, and

two passionate kisses at the end. One of which the main character allows while she mistakenly thinks "his heart belongs to another".

Otherwise, it's mostly what you expect from a YA fantasy. There's violence, evil threats, sword fighting, and deaths by violence, venomous animals, and poverty. The main character starts the book full of rage, but later finds her eyes opened to the suffering around her, finds comfort and love in the found family of a "lost boys" type group, and reconnects with memories of her compassionate (departed) mother.

Saves the kingdom from her murderous father and his evil advisor, yadda yadda.

christygsp's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Great read! It was exciting, the character arcs felt realistic and seamless as they went through the plot, and the world was well defined. 
I thought Kateri was strong and independent but not too stuck in that mindset that she didn’t appreciate the help around her and realise when her false ideas needed to be adjusted - a fabulous balance. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Sexual harassment