A review by vigil
Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

a cute yet underbaked novella. thanh was, to put it bluntly, a dislikable idiot and her plotlines were unconvincing in regards to the character that we see on the page. the other characters were there mostly, aside from the mother, who i couldn’t figure what the author wanted me to think about her. i’m assuming we’re supposed to feel bad and disagree with her mother calling her a stubborn selfish idiot who’s bad at her job but she IS a stubborn selfish idiot who’s bad at her job.

the
endgame romance
was awfully rushed and uninteresting (considering their backstory, it didn’t need to be) it but it saved me from the clutches of
eldris x thanh
so i can find it in my heart to forgive it. 

this book does fall prey to the narrative of “violence upon your abusers / colonizers makes you just as bad as they are! see how you can go too far!” which i feel as if every fiction book that is even vaguely about abuse or colonization takes this position and i’d dearly like for authors to cut that shit out. it is not nuanced, it is not revolutionary, it’s not even interesting. do something else. 
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