A chaotic and unpolished fantasy effort.
A pair of rival magicians fall for the same girl in Kouam’s debut YA fantasy novel.
Seventeen-year-old Hero may look human, but he’s not; he’s a supernatural being called a tiger magician. Unbeknownst to humans, all supernatural beings are intent on destroying humanity due to an atrocity that people committed against them over a century ago. After a civil war in the tiger realm, Hero and his rival, Prince, decide to renew their conflict with humans by crossing over into the human realm. Once there, Prince is almost struck by a car but is saved at the last minute by a human woman named Angel. Prince later tells Hero that Angel is special: She “has a smell that is different from the smell of the race of natural human beings.” Prince quickly develops romantic feelings for Angel while Hero starts a relationship with her friend Bella—although though there’s some apparent chemistry between Angel and Hero, as well. A love triangle ensues between Hero, Prince, and Angel, distracting both supernatural beings from their mission. It seems inevitable that, when Angel is threatened, one of the heroes will end up betraying his people. Although the book essentially feels likes a Twilight knockoff—there’s even a character named Bella—Kouam demonstrates a good deal of imagination in the mythology surrounding the supernatural beings. However, the book is seriously hampered by the quality of the prose, which can border on unreadable: “The supernatural beings were the creatures who had the phantoms called again ghosts, and their ghosts were the animals who they were, and the supernatural beings born with ten senses and with a lot of abilities, and their language was Latin.” Readers should be able to suss out the key facts, but it’s not an enjoyable task, and the picture that Kouam finally paints feels only half finished. The fictional world lacks detail and the characters lack depth, and the end result is a reading experience that’s disappointingly unmagical.
A chaotic and unpolished fantasy effort.Pub Date: May 23, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5320-7479-0
Page Count: 324
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
An unwieldy but emotionally intense fantasy.
In the Riew siblings’ debut, inspired by their Korean grandparents’ experiences during Japan’s early-20th-century colonization of Korea, a hunt is on for the last surviving tiger.
In the Tiger Colonies, this fantasy world’s version of occupied Korea, tigers have been nearly wiped out by the Dragon Empire. These oppressive rulers believe that tiger ki, or powers, strengthen the Tiger people, and therefore, the animals must be exterminated. Lee Seung, who’s from a poor Tiger family, works for the wealthy Chois, a Tiger family who collaborate with the Dragons. Choi Eunji might live in material comfort, but her home feels like “a cage” thanks to her parents’ high expectations and control of her every move. She offers to tutor Seung for the Adachi Training Academy’s entrance exam; graduates attain elite, powerful positions. In return he’ll help Eunji experience life outside her cloistered manor. Despite their class differences, both teens long for freedom, but Seung fails the exam, and their paths diverge. They reunite during a frantic search for the last tiger—but are their motivations aligned? Some plot developments feel contrived, and the introduction of real historical elements at times feels deliberately educational rather than naturally emerging from the story. Nevertheless, the story vividly highlights the plight of Koreans during a traumatic era.
An unwieldy but emotionally intense fantasy. (authors’ note, diary excerpts) (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9798217002047
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Kokila
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
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