Disclaimer: I have not read, nor am I familiar with, “The Lady or the Tiger?”
If you are starving for a strong kick-ass female protagonist, Annie Sullivan provides one in Princess Kateri. Push comes to shove, Kateri takes action to protect her kingdom. Actions that seem counterintuitive and downright insane, even. But she trust her gut and in the end, even ends up finding out that what she thought was the truth, may very well be an illusion.
Thank you Blink and Edelweiss for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Tiger Queen is the story of a land running out of resources and the desperate attempt to ration them out in order to survive. Princess Kateri’s Kingdom and a band of outlaws called the Desert Boys are in a struggle for natural resources to survive. When the Desert Boys begin raiding water wells to bring back into the desert, Kateri’s Dad enacts his own brand of justice when catching those stealing from the wells.
Throughout this struggle Princess Kateri is continuously having to prove her right to reign over the desert by defeating potential suitors. However, her final suitor is the man who trained Kateri in her own skills as a fighter. Knowing his skill and the cruel way in which he will rule Kateri knows she must make an unfathomable choice.
To protect her kingdom, Kateri travels into the desert to find the only person she believes can help her defeat Rodric; her arch nemesis, Cion, leader of the Desert Boys. Sullivan’s creation of a tough as nails female protagonist barrels to the forefront at this point. However, it isn’t just for the sake of creating a strong female character.
This plot-point is a brilliant beat on making a decision to trust your gut. It demonstrates going against all reason and taking a huge chance with the the all to real possibility of ultimate self-sacrifice. It catapults the story forward with the chance of a character leaving under a cloud of doubt to return to vindication and with greater strength, should things work out. Should they work out…
Because… As Princess Kateri is with the Desert Boys she comes to realize not all is as it might seem. Now she must question all that she knows. Behind enemy lines, training for the fight of her life, she must start to unravel who is the actual enemy? And who can she trust, if anyone but herself?
Tiger Queen is an action packed ride with a deeply thought out landscape and characters that come together well. Each are uniquely their own, maintain their own voices and stay true to their own voices.
Bonus points because it is just nice to read a stand alone YA novel!
Huzzah, I completely agree with your review! I think Cion was my favorite, and I love that though we had this strong warrior princess, she still had so much to learn! I really enjoyed this book!!
Yes! I completely agree. I love strong character arcs like this one!!! 🙂
I love a good standalone and this cover looks lovely <3
We need more of them! And it is really good!
I wound up loving this!! I didn’t expect it to be so cultural! And the desert boys made it so much fun with the banter!
I did not write enough about them. I realized this after reading everyone else’s reviews. I should have included more about them in mine because I completely agree that they added a lot to the story
They really did, but at the same time I think the points you covered were important too and not seen in all the other reviews. So… I think that’s good!