Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard Review
Fireheart Tiger is a one hundred page novella by Aliette de Bodard (can we just take a moment to appreciate what a pretty name that is?) published in 2021. It follows a princess named Thanh as she navigates the politics of a beautifully drawn, Vietnamese inspired world. Not as martially gifted or outwardly charismatic as her sisters, Thanh’s mother has given her the job of leading negotiations for her country and withstanding the encroaching threat of colonisation. There’s only one problem - her ex is one of the foreign diplomats and she wants Thanh back.
At its heart, Fireheart Tiger is a novel about abuse, especially emotional abuse, and we must watch as Thanh struggles to disentangle herself from the various figures attempting to manipulate her for their own gain. This is a theme that is beautifully and painfully realised on the page, and I found myself really connecting with Thanh in a way that I don’t often do with less well realised heroines.
Thanh isn’t snarky, or badass, or even exceptionally intelligent. Instead, she’s introspective and kind hearted in a way that many female protagonists aren’t allowed to be without some redeeming quality of badass proportions. She struggles to know her own heart at times, struggles to stand up for herself, and that’s a flaw that leaves her vulnerable to the designs of bad actors. This makes it all the more beautiful when she’s finally able to come into her own, casting aside the futures that others have written for her in order to be able to come up with her own.
The main problem with this work is that it didn’t feel like it really had enough room to breathe. I found the politics a little dull at times because I’m a little bit stupid and struggle with unfamiliar names of countries, especially when there’s a ton of them being thrown at me at once in the context of high level negotiations. I know that’s some people’s thing though, so if you like your fantasy with a side of meaningful politics you’ll probably really like this book.
Because of this early emphasis on the politics, I felt like I couldn’t really become attached to the characters until a quarter or so of the way through. With a novel as short and character driven as this, however, that’s a problem, and it took me several false starts before I could finally pick up and settle into this book. Once it does get going though, it doesn’t let up, and at times that felt like it was to its detriment as well. I would’ve loved a bit more of an exploration of the romance, as it was so complicated and interesting, reflecting Thanh’s character arc really well, but we just didn’t get that much of it. If anything, it felt like the most interesting things happened in the backstory, which would’ve been an interesting story to spend time with by itself.
Flawed as it was though, I did genuinely enjoy this book, and will probably enjoy re-reading it as it’s got a lot of nuance, complicated characters, interesting themes, and a cool world. I highly recommend this for anyone that could keep up with all the names in The Goblin Emperor (you, my friend, are a better reader than I!) or if you like slower, character driven works.
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