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A review by ubecrinkle49
The Tiger's Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera
2.0
Like so many others, I wanted to like this book as well. It was an East-Asian, Lesbian Romance/Adventure! I didn't hate it, or I wouldn't have finished it, but honestly, it wasn't even good.
My main gripes with it were the laziness of the world building and elements of the romance.
The world felt too mixy-matchy. Hokkaro is a superficially Japanese-inspired empire, with Chinese trappings. My knowledge of Japanese and Chinese history is limited, but I know enough to see that some elements were simply super imposed onto each other. Which is lazy, and honestly fairly racist.
The lack of plot didn't bother me as much, but of course, that meant that this was really a love story and not an adventure story. The description on the back of the book was fairly misleading though, so I feel bad for people who thought this was gonna be an epic fantasy adventure, and instead got a fantasy romance LOL. Of course, I can see why this would disappoint some people. Unless the relationship is compelling enough, then there isn't much to really sink your teeth into.
The author doesn't really make clear WHY Shefali and Shizuka loved each other so fiercely, only that they did, and from such young age. I liked them together sometimes, but it also felt like there wasn't enough. Perhaps that's just personal taste though.
In any case, I feel like this was meant to be some transcendent love-story, almost like a fairytale or an old legend, but it didn't quite hit the mark.
My main gripes with it were the laziness of the world building and elements of the romance.
The world felt too mixy-matchy. Hokkaro is a superficially Japanese-inspired empire, with Chinese trappings. My knowledge of Japanese and Chinese history is limited, but I know enough to see that some elements were simply super imposed onto each other. Which is lazy, and honestly fairly racist.
The lack of plot didn't bother me as much, but of course, that meant that this was really a love story and not an adventure story. The description on the back of the book was fairly misleading though, so I feel bad for people who thought this was gonna be an epic fantasy adventure, and instead got a fantasy romance LOL. Of course, I can see why this would disappoint some people. Unless the relationship is compelling enough, then there isn't much to really sink your teeth into.
The author doesn't really make clear WHY Shefali and Shizuka loved each other so fiercely, only that they did, and from such young age. I liked them together sometimes, but it also felt like there wasn't enough. Perhaps that's just personal taste though.
In any case, I feel like this was meant to be some transcendent love-story, almost like a fairytale or an old legend, but it didn't quite hit the mark.