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A review by timinbc
Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard
4.0
As always with AdeB, there's a lot in here, and it's beautifully crafted.
Lesbian romance, a fire elemental, clash of empires, court intrigue, ...
I enjoyed it, but I left feeling slightly disappointed, because there's so much more I needed to know.
Others mentioned Goblin Emperor and Howl's Moving Castle, great, but did you catch the third one? Giang is disappointed at one point, and fades away with a gentle, "As you wish" that tells us volumes about her status at the time.
Thanh seems rather quick to fall in love. Eldris comes across as faintly reptilian (hmm, name is anagram of "slider") and AdeB does a great job of hinting that Eldris isn't quite perfect. Mother is a cardboard stock character, but probably should be so it's OK, and Mom is quite pragmatic overall.
Thanh is also just on the edge of being that too-common-lately character who is all "oh, waily, wailiy, I don't know what to do here" and three seconds later adlibs a brilliant solution that all the big brains completely missed.
Giang - I need some backstory about fire elementals taking human form when they want to; that doesn't be be something commonly attributed to them. Will this plot thread end in tears too? Just how powerful a friend does Thanh now have, and does anyone else have one?
Is there a novel here?
Lesbian romance, a fire elemental, clash of empires, court intrigue, ...
I enjoyed it, but I left feeling slightly disappointed, because there's so much more I needed to know.
Others mentioned Goblin Emperor and Howl's Moving Castle, great, but did you catch the third one? Giang is disappointed at one point, and fades away with a gentle, "As you wish" that tells us volumes about her status at the time.
Thanh seems rather quick to fall in love. Eldris comes across as faintly reptilian (hmm, name is anagram of "slider") and AdeB does a great job of hinting that Eldris isn't quite perfect. Mother is a cardboard stock character, but probably should be so it's OK, and Mom is quite pragmatic overall.
Thanh is also just on the edge of being that too-common-lately character who is all "oh, waily, wailiy, I don't know what to do here" and three seconds later adlibs a brilliant solution that all the big brains completely missed.
Giang - I need some backstory about fire elementals taking human form when they want to; that doesn't be be something commonly attributed to them. Will this plot thread end in tears too? Just how powerful a friend does Thanh now have, and does anyone else have one?
Is there a novel here?