Fireheart Tiger

December 7, 2020
De Bodard (Seven of Infinities) crafts a high-stakes lesbian love triangle in this tightly plotted fantasy novella. The land of Ephteria sends guns and silver to Bình Hải in exchange for a series of increasingly bold demands: first exclusive merchant rights, then a princess to be kept as a guest-captive in Ephteria, and now extraterritoriality and a military presence in Bình Hải’s capital. Princess Thanh of Bình Hải is not a warrior or a politician like her sisters, but she was the one chosen to live in Ephteria and has since become romantically involved with the Ephterian Princess Eldris. She also has literal firepower thanks to her relationship with Giang, a fire elemental whose home, a tiger-shaped pendant, was stolen by the Ephterians, and who burns down Ephteria’s palace in an attempt to gain her freedom. Now Thanh and Giang are back in Bình Hải navigating Thanh’s family’s court. But when a noble blackmails Thanh over her affair with Eldris, Thanh faces a bitter choice: give up everything she has for a life with Eldris in Ephteria, or remain with Giang in a home where she’s treated as a pawn? The answer convincingly combines sex, politics, and betrayal. This is an ideal pick for fantasy fans longing for non-European settings. Agent: John Berlyne, Zeno Literary.

Starred review from December 1, 2020

At age 12, B�nh Hai princess Thanh was sent by her mother and Empress to Ephteria as hostage. Now 24, Thanh has been back in her home country for two years, but she is still haunted by a mysterious fire that destroyed the Eptherian palace, a fire that seems to have followed her. While given a position in the court, Thanh knows her mother believes her to be silent and meek, a weakness that cannot interfere with negotiations with Ephteria now. Part of Thanh's quietness stems from her past affair with Princess Eldris, who has come to B�nh Hai as part of the delegation. As Eldris makes clear she wants Thanh back, along with other concessions, Thanh must decide if she will follow her first love, or a future flame. A fascinating story filled with strong female characters and lush prose, the relationships woven around Thanh evolve into themes of reclaiming the self and recognizing that love can hide the truth about people. VERDICT Nebula and Locus Award winner de Bodard (The House of Sundering Flames) crafts a story of love, power, and what burns within. Highly recommended.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 8, 2021
Thanh was once the least-valuable princess visiting Ephteria--more a hostage than a foster--and now, eight years later, she is sitting with her mother at the negotiating table. The impulsive Princess Eldris makes Thanh a tempting offer: marriage. The cost, Thanh realizes, is far too high, no matter how good the offer seems on the surface, and she is tempted by the promises of the fire--not, as it turns out, a mere conflagration--that has followed her from the palace in Ephteria's capital. Thanh, a dutiful daughter and a canny negotiator, has the chance to seize a better fate for herself, and to do her country a great service in the process. De Bodard (Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight, 2019), as she so often does, packs the world-building and emotional punch of an epic into a shockingly slim novella. This touching romance with the delicate negotiations of a small country's survival against an imperial adversary would be a lovely place to start with de Bodard's work, and fans will find more of what they've come to love about her stories.

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