The Last Tiger by Julia Riew & Brad Riew
Publisher Description: Inspired by true stories from the authors’ grandparents’ lives during one of the darkest periods in Korean history, The Last Tiger is a debut young adult fantasy novel about the power of love to give voice to a silenced people.
The gorgeous first edition hardcover features: a metallic foil cover, illustrated endpapers, custom designed edges, and stunning foil stamped case.
In a colonized land where tigers are being hunted to extinction and ancient magic stirs, two star-crossed teens—Lee Seung, a servant yearning for freedom, and Choi Eunji, a noble girl defying tradition—join forces to try and reshape their respective fates.
But their relationship evolves from begrudging accomplices to bitter adversaries as they soon find themselves on opposite sides of a battle over the last tiger, a symbol of their people’s lost freedom and key to the liberation of their country. As the ties between Seung and Eunji are complicated by their conflicting loyalties, tensions rise—especially when a charming princeling of the empire begins to rival for Eunji’s affection.
In this friends-to-enemies-to-lovers story of forbidden romance, antagonists turned allies, oppression and liberation, neither Seung nor Eunji can abandon their mission—or each other. And as they embark on separate quests to find the elusive creature, each must also find the power within themselves to make their own destiny.
My Thoughts: The copy I read was one of the fancy first editions and wow! The whole design is just stunning. The edges of the pages have lovely swirls in varying shades of blue. The cover itself is gorgeously shimmery and the tiger and dragon on the end papers take it to another level. The foil stamped case is pretty cool too. It is a golden rectangle that features three Korean words written from top to bottom. They’re words that come at the beginning of each section of the book and are 정 jeong, 는치 nunchi, and 한 han. These are words that are central to the book and don’t have a specific word to word equivalent in English. The authors explained the terms in the “Small Cubicle Concert” that I’ve included below but here is the specific portion of the video posted on instagram that deals with these words.
This is a beautiful tribute to the love between the grandparents of the authors. The concepts from their lived experiences like love, connection, persistence in the face of pain and heartbreak and more are all here in this tale that includes ancient magic and powerful creatures. The alternating perspectives really show us the vastly different ways that Lee Seung and Choi Eunji were experiencing the world. Gender and wealth are two of the key factors that are shaping the opportunities that each of them have and how they are seen by others. Readers go into this part of the book knowing that it is based in reality so in my case, that added another layer of emotion.
In addition to the love story, there are other parallels with reality in the historical echoes of the Japanese occupation of Korea, but it also easy to make connections to current day occupations in the world. This story shows some of the horrors that humans inflict on others. In addition it shows that in the midst of the horror, there are those who still continue to make choices that align with their core beliefs even when that is incredibly difficult.
The magical element is revealed in bits and pieces and I don’t want to spoil things, so I’ll just say that it was intriguing and the mystery of it added quite a bit of suspense.
There are a few other significant characters and I actually wanted a bit more time with them. We get a little background with them, but they were interesting enough that I was intrigued and would have liked to know more about them.
Recommendation: The story itself is as beautiful and impressive as the design and packaging. Get it now especially if a fantasy and history mashup sounds appealing. I’d also suggest it to anyone who enjoyed KPop Demon Hunters which had some of the same themes like love, connection and the strength of people working together in the face of oppression.
Publisher: Kokila
Pages: 395
Availability: On shelves now
Review copy: Loan from public library
Extras:
Read an excerpt here.
Books and Boba Q&A Podcast with Authors
5 Questions with the Authors at YALLWEST
Small Cubicle Concert with Authors