Tiger Queen

by Annie Sullivan

"TIGER QUEEN is a gorgeous, lush YA fiction...Highly recommend for anyone looking for a beautifully crafted stand-alone book." (YA and Kids Book Central)

Two doors.

Two choices.

Life or death.

Kateri, an arrogant warrior princess, has to fight in the arena against her suitors to win her right to rule, and she is desperate to prove to her father that she is strong enough to take over his throne and rule the kingdom. But when she finds out her final opponent, she knows she cannot win. Kateri flees to the desert to train under the enemy she hates the most and the only one who might be able to give her a shot at winning. But what Kateri discovers in the desert twists her world-and her heart-upside down. There in the sand, away from the comforts of the palace, Kateri's perception of her father is challenged and she discovers the truth about his treatment of her people. When she returns to the kingdom, the fate of the one she loves lies behind two doors in the arena-one door leads to happiness, and the other door releases the tiger.

Secrets, suitors, thieves, and a fierce princess await readers in this YA fantasy re-telling.

Tiger Queen:

• Is a fantasy re-telling of Frank Stockton's famous short story, "The Lady, or the Tiger?"
• Features a slow-burn romance wrapped in fast-paced adventure
• Is set in a fantastical world wrought by fascism, classism, and climate crisis

• ISBN10: 0310768780
• ISBN13: 9780310768784
• Publish Date: 6 April 2020 (first published 10 September 2019)
• Publish Status: Postponed Indefinitely
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Imprint: Blink
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

You guys know that I can't resist a retelling! Tiger Queen, written by Annie Sullivan, retells Frank Stockton's The Lady or the Tiger?

Due to ancient law, Princess Kateri must battle in the arena to take up the mantle and rule like her family before her. As much as Kateri wants to rule, and more than that – protect her people, Kateri knows she cannot win.

So she makes a deal with the devil. It'd be more accurate to say that she's about to make a deal with somebody she never dreamed of working with, but the desert is the only one providing a solution to the predicament she's in.

"I would be the desert's justice, mightier than any tiger."

I went into Tiger Queen with such high hopes – the cover, the description, the promise! It's all there, and it was more than enough to get me really excited to see what Anne Sullivan had created here.

Maybe it wasn't entirely fair of me to have gotten too amped up, though, as ultimately, I did find myself to be more than a little disappointed. The feminist themes that I thought would be dominant here (titles like Tiger Queen and the promises of a woman doing what it takes to protect her people)... wasn't as strong as I had hoped.

I think what disappointed me the most is Kateri's sincere belief that she couldn't handle this situation independently. More than that, she didn't believe she could do it without breaking the rules that her people have come to rely on...which felt kind of problematic.

Overall, this was a decent read. Not what I hoped it would be, but still something capable of holding my attention.

Thanks to Blink and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Read more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[writehollydavis]

I absolutely loved this story based off "The Lady, or The Tiger?" and we even get an answer to that question! Annie's writing is so strong and I appreciated Kateri's voice, in saying how someone shot her a look more poisonous than a scorpion's sting, for example. Cion and the Desert boys were a joy to read and of course the romance aspect was much appreciated! I'm always a sucker for training montages so I greatly enjoyed seeing Kateri grow as a warrior. I loved all the twists and turns in the plot with her and Cion's backstory and am looking forward to more books by Annie!

[tweetybugshouse]

This story centers around Princess Kateri who lost her mother and younger brother to a gang called the Desert Boys. Their is a water shortage in Achra which is a desert kingdom. So water is a huge deal here. The crime for stealing water during this drought is to choose between two doors in the arena one holds a tiger the other your freedom. On top of all this Princess Kateri according to an ancient law must fight in the arena to prove that the dessert has chooses her to rule.

Their are lot of twists and turns to discover as the Princess goes from fighting to really discovering who is behind the drought that plagues her kingdom. She ends up more then once putting her life on the line for the desert boys that she ends up calling family. Their is some romance but it not the central part of this story and it really only comes into to play toward the end of the book.

Their are some scenes that could be triggering and emotional but i did not feel they were out of the place in this type of story where a kingdom is so hungry for water that the people will do almost anything to get it. I really enjoyed the world building and the training in the desert against the sand. It a very creative story and most of all it told all in one book. Make sure to check this book out in September of 2019.