THE TIGER'S DAUGHTER | K Arsenault Rivera

 

Where do I even begin with this one? What words can I write that will possibly compare with how wholly and utterly this book has consumed me?

I devoured this book in two sittings. The first sitting only ended because I desperately had to put it down so I could get myself a scant few hours of sleep. The second, I woke up early, sat myself down, book in hand, and did not surface for another four hours. I inhaled this book.

The Tiger's Daughter is a silk road fantasy like nothing else I have ever read before. It is so stunningly executed and so poetically written that my copy is stained with highlighter ink because of how many passages I couldn’t get out of my head. I mean, come on – O-Shizuka’s heart is stitched together with the hope that she’ll see Shefali again. Sometimes she needed to add a bit more thread. That was all. Or, But a person can only have one soul, and you are mine. I literally cannot stop thinking about the way these characters talk to and about each other.

The story begins with Empress Lui opening a letter, and contained within that letter is the most magnificent story – the story of herself, O-Shizuka, and her childhood friend, Barsalyya Shefali. It’s a story of empires rising and falling, of women warriors, of being raised in both the shadow and the glory of a mother’s battles, of gods and demons and divine mandates. Above all, it’s a story about love, and how that love can build and burn an empire and leave others quivering in its glorious wake.

It’s a slowly moving story, and readers get to see the lives of Shizuka and Shefali unfolding from birth through Shefali’s letter. We see the magnificence of the women who came before them and the women they become and it’s so, so satisfying. Reading this book was like gorging myself on a feast after only eating crumbs for my entire life.

I told myself I would buy only the first one, to see how I liked it, but now I find myself with my face pressed to the window waiting desperately for the delivery of the other two books in the series. I could buy them on my Kindle, of course, but the writing is so rich and stunning that I want to have them in print, so that I can highlight and underline all the beautiful passages.

I cannot recommend this book more highly. If you are looking for a glorious fantasy epic with a stunning sapphic love story woven into every fibre, you need to pick up The Tiger's Daughter. And – I haven’t read the second two books yet, but if they’re anything like the first, they will be breathtaking – don’t make my mistake. Just get the whole damn series, because you’re going to want to keep reading, and keep reading, and keep reading. If you loved She Who Became the Sun, prepare to meet your next favourite.

Five incredible, delectable stars.