Fireheart Tiger

By Aliette de Bodard

Award-winning author Aliette de Bodard returns with Fireheart Tiger, a powerful romantic fantasy that reads like The Goblin Emperor meets Howl's Moving Castle in a pre-colonial Vietnamese-esque world.

A British Science Fiction Award winner! A finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Ignyte Awards!

A Most Anticipated Pick for Buzzfeed | Mary Sue | Nerd Daily | FanFi Addict

Fire burns bright and has a long memory….

Quiet, thoughtful princess Thanh was sent away as a hostage to the powerful faraway country of Ephteria as a child. Now she’s returned to her mother's imperial court, haunted not only by memories of her first romance, but by worrying magical echoes of a fire that devastated Ephteria’s royal palace.

Thanh's new role as a diplomat places her once again in the path of her first love, the powerful and magnetic Eldris of Ephteria, who knows exactly what she wants: romance from Thanh and much more from Thanh’s home. Eldris won't take no for an answer, on either front. But the fire that burned down one palace is tempting Thanh with the possibility of making her own dangerous decisions.

Can Thanh find the freedom to shape her country’s fate—and her own?


At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Feb 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781250793270

Aliette de Bodard

Aliette de Bodard writes speculative fiction: she has won three Nebula Awards, an Ignyte Award, a Locus Award and six British Science Fiction Association Awards. She is the author of A Fire Born of Exile, a sapphic Count of Monte Cristo in space (Gollancz/JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc., 2023), and of Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances (JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc, 2022 BSFA Award winner), a fantasy of manners and murders set in an alternate 19th Century Vietnamese court. She lives in Paris.

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They’re coming.

It’s early morning, the end of the Bi-Hour of the Cat—and Thanh has been awake for most of it, staring at the wall and trying to cobble together thoughts in the emptiness of her mind.

If she closes her eyes, she’ll see Yosolis again, smell the snow and ashes on the night the palace burned—when everyone was too busy evacuating the real princesses to give much thought to the dark-skinned one in the attic room, the guest from the South who had been little more than a glorified hostage.

Thanh was sixteen then; she’s eight years older now. It should mean eight years wiser, but instead she feels as hollow and as empty as she was at twelve, watching the shores of Ephteria loom into view for the first time, and thinking that alien and cold court would be her life, that the palace in the capital of Yosolis would be the gilded bars of her jail—and, worse, that Mother was the one who had made the choice for her, for the good of Bình Hải, her home country.

For her own good.

Thanh had returned to Bình Hải two years ago, a homecoming with fanfare and pomp that should have cemented her position near the apex of court. Instead . . . instead, she came back too soft, too pliant. Too thoughtful and discreet, Mother says.

A noise, as the door slides open. Ái Vân, her eldest handmaiden, her face carefully blank and composed. Your Highness? It’s time.

Thanh throws one last look at the papers on the bedside table. Reports from spies and magicians, assessments from advisers in the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War; everything chronicling the inexorable encroachment of Ephteria into their lives.

They’re coming.

A trade delegation; a friendly visit from Ephterian delegates. They can all hear the words that aren’t said, the truth of steel beneath the silver-tongued platitudes.

I’m coming, Thanh says.

Ái Vân has the grace to believe her, to turn and wait for Thanh in the corridor when she composes herself.

Ancestors, watch over me.

As Thanh turns towards the door, something glimmers on the papers: something like a reflection of the sun, and then it stretches and grows, a long, slow trail of orange light like a finger trailing across the topmost sheet—for a moment only—and she holds her breath until it burns in her throat. Not today. She can’t afford to have anything mysteriously catching fire in the bedroom. She can’t have to explain to Ái Vân why things keep turning to cinders around her, as if the fire that burnt Yosolis and still haunts her nightmares had chosen to follow her home, burning ridiculously small things—orchids in vases, the hairs of calligraphy brushes, the vermillion ink of seals, small scraps of paper on her desk, pinches of tea leaves, badges of rank on five-panel dresses . . .

No no no.

The light sinks to the slow, lazy glow of embers: it’s just sunlight coming through the closed shutters. Thanh exhales, and leaves the room—though she already knows that the fire will come back.

It always does.

* * *

In the throne room, Mother is waiting for her. She sits cross-legged on the dais, watching row upon row of assembled mandarins on either side of a richly woven carpet. In front of her is a simple low table with a teapot and three cups of tea. The familiar smell of the tea—cut grass and algae overlaying a sharp bitterness—prickles the back of Thanh’s throat as she moves, bowing to Mother and joining her on the dais, kneeling in front of the teacups.

Child, Mother says, inclining her head. I hope you’re ready.

Is she? Thanh tries to remember all she’s read, the names of the major Ephterian traders, how many ships came and what they sold: what Ephterians value, what they want—everything she’d picked up in Yosolis without meaning to. I don’t know, she says, finally. Mother’s glare stops her from elaborating. She knows what’s at stake: Bình Hải’s survival as a country. She knows, too, what Mother hopes: that her time in Ephteria helped her pick up insights and habits that will help build a rapport between the delegation and her.

But the only rapport Thanh built—the only insight she gained—is one of which Mother would not approve.

They’re here, Mother says.

Footsteps, from the small flight of stairs that lead up to the throne room. Shadows, crossing the threshold from the gardens into cool darkness. Mother’s face is impassive.

They walk in three abreast, looking left and right at the sea of assembled officials and their square caps, at the carvings on the stone pillars, the dragons and the turtles fighting each other for swords and spears, the eunuchs bowing to them as they head up the dais, the lanterns hung in the rafters, the elaborate confections of carved wood and cloth dancing in the wind. They bow to Mother, but it is small and perfunctory. Thanh knows there was an entire negotiation involved in how deep that bow would be, that they utterly refused to prostrate themselves as any representative of a foreign state would, and that for a moment it looked as though Bình Hải would declare war on Ephteria then and there.

And behind them . . .

She walks tall and proud, unbowed, but her gaze is fixed straight ahead

Reviews for Fireheart Tiger

[Muna · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

have no idea what I just read!

For a short book it took me ages to get into and to differentiate with the name and such. I mean it's written as a "Love Story with magic" but this is not it.

Soo much is happening in a short time and everything is rushed, u have the main character who was sent to a different country as a somewhat bargaining chip by her queen mother and when she came back to her own country after an incident and they want her to be meek and oh she is in loved with the princess of the country she was sent to "im fine with that"

My issue is that I feel there was so much potential but it's all in rush! Political scheme, love interest, you have a flame who calls u Big Sis and u call her Lil Sis and fall for each other but where is the angst or any building what so ever!!!!

[greeniezona · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

de Bodard is an author I'd been intending to read for a while. I decided to start with this one just because I found a used copy. I think this is not where I should have started.The premise was fascinating. There were world-building details that I was intrigued by, but it all felt a little underdeveloped for me -- especially the interpersonal relationships. I enjoyed reading most of it, but my lasting impression was underwhelming.I will try again with one of her better loved stories.

[glennis.leblanc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Princess Thanh has returned from being a hostage to the peace for her country and now is helping her mother, Empress Eldris negotiate a trade delegation from Yosolis headed by the princess she once had a relationship with. Her mother doesn’t know about the former relationship and they quickly start to pick up where they were before and look into a possible alliance. But Thanh is hiding a secret of what happened when she was a hostage and a fire that destroyed the palace of Eldris’ family. Small fires start around Thanh no matter what she does and this secret is about to change everything in her life. A nice tight story that has a good ending but plenty of room for more stories set in this same universe.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thanh is a younger princess, sent off years before as a hostage but returned after a catastrophic fire engulphed the palace she was living in, in Ephteria Now occasionally fire flares around her. Now the princess she was friends with there is in her country looking for a treaty and Thanh's heart.It;'s an interesting, short, magical romance with interesting twists.

[lavaturtle · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There are some interesting characters and story elements here, and I like the idea of the protagonist, but the story itself didn't really grab me. It seemed like the one interesting thing that had happened (the palace fire) was all backstory, and there was just some vague court intrigue to sort out for the front-story until the very ending. It felt like I was supposed to care about the geopolitics of it all, but it was all more abstract than really relevant to the protagonist.

[fred_mouse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beautifully written, fabulous characterisation, detailed world building. Lots of things I love, but it is also tense epic fantasy politics, and really it doesn't matter the quality of anything, I just don't love the sub-genre. So, lots of great scenes, and the plot holds together fabulously, but there were moments where I wasn't sure I was going to finish the book in one sitting. As well as the politics, there are darker aspects of a family relationship (our protagonist, Princess Thanh, has a difficult relationship with their mother, the Empress), manipulating 'romantic' relationships, and what is possibly best described as hostage negotiation. content warnings: fire (building destroyed); early stages of an abusive relationship

[ladycato · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a current finalist for the Nebula Award in the novella category. Aliette de Bodard is a fantastic writer, and this is a beautifully done tale about politics, romance, and magic, set within a world inspired by pre-colonial Vietnam. Princess Thanh is desperate to earn the approval of her cold mother by proving herself as a diplomat--but her efforts are complicated by the way things mysteriously catch fire around her and by the arrival of first-love Princess Eldris, who threatens to dominate Thanh's heart and her country. The dynamics are interesting and I enjoyed the complications caused by the spontaneous fire problem. I won't spoil the revelations there, but that subplot is incredibly good. I was frustrated by Thanh's immaturity for much of the story, though. There's a definite vibe of teenager-learning-about-relationships-the-hard-way, and that kind of thing bugged me even when I was a teenager. If that trope also bothers you, please, keep on reading--Thanh grows a lot in the course of events! The ending satisfied me all-around.

[anniemod · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thanh had been a hostage most of her life - despite being born a princess (well, actually because of it), she does not get to grow up with her family but ends up in the capital of Ephteria, the most powerful country in the region. When we meet her in this story she is already back home, trying to find a place in the court of her mother (and mostly failing). Until a delegation show up from Ephteria - led by their own princess - which also happens to be Thanh's ex-lover. In a lot of ways, this is a romance novella - you have the two young lovers, you have the people blocking their way and there is a big secret in the past that is about to change everyone's life. But there is also a fire elemental and there is a world which we barely get a glimpse of - enough to make it fascinating but not enough to drown the story into irrelevant details. But under the romance story, there is the story of a young woman finding her voice and making choices - despite the advice of everyone around her. The fact that somewhere in there she also finds what her heart really wants is a bonus.The world is based on old Vietnam (maybe with some additions from other countries from the region) and is refreshingly different from the almost usual medieval settings of similar worlds. But that is expected when you see the name of Aliette de Bodard - almost everything I had read by her had been set in a world based on an Asian country. And the style is her own - lyrical and enticing.

[kittycunningh-815148 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Brief love story. Eh.

[jjbooklvr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another good choice for Fantasy fans looking to break out of the stale European setting. Also, for fans tired of just male/female romances. We meet Thanh who is torn between duty to her family, her country, and her heart. Will she make the right decision? I liked the touch of the supernatural as well. This is a novella so you can easily finish it in one or two sittings.

[quondame · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In a southeast Asian like kingdom a princes once hostage to an encroaching northern empire is plagued by fire and memories of the burning palace and the young servant she helped escape from the flames. There is a certain charm here, but the character of Thanh had neither western nor eastern strengths to my mind and was unappealing in this mishmash.

[marfisk_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You OverA complex narrative and strong characters are a big draw for me as a reader. I didn’t think this story had characters I could connect with at first (I was wrong), but the complexity is there from the moment story begins. The novella is about ties made in danger, love, and by blood as well as bonds of loyalty, history, and ancestors.Initially, I didn’t like the main character Thanh, Binh Hải princess and lead diplomat, for several reasons, her choices being the biggest one. Every time I thought she would regain my faith, she failed. But that’s not the whole story, nor will you hear it from me. I’ll say only she turned out to have more to her than I saw, nor were the circumstances around her actions straightforward.Eldris, a princess from the dominant country and Thanh’s former lover, is more straightforward in desire at least. She wants Thanh back and joined this diplomatic mission to negotiate trade concessions for that purpose. Thanh desperately wants Eldris’ love, but the complications it brings on every level make her fear losing control of the fire that sometimes creeps from her dreams to reality.Speaking of characters, I loved how secondary characters formed a critical part of the cast rather than acting as wallpaper. Thanh’s relationship with her mother, the respect due along with a lifetime of dismissal as the spare, inadequate princess, for example, is a factor in almost every decision Thanh makes. Her growth process occurs in opposition to her mother’s will. And yet, the queen doesn’t stand unchanged by events, a simple wall for Thanh to bounce off, but has the opportunity to grow as well.Nor were the characters the only strength in this story. The description helped bring each scene to life in a way I appreciate. It neither felt overdone nor sat on the side without relevance to the events unfolding before us. I had some difficulty with the choice of a third person present tense narration. It startled me several times, but I adjusted.The story is set in a world reminiscent of Vietnam split into countries with long histories and large vulnerabilities Eldris’ country seeks to exploit. The fire that burned down Eldris’ palace when Thanh was a diplomatic hostage there provides an element of magic because it has reappeared around Thanh since returning home, first in nightmares and then in unexplainable flames. Diplomacy is also a big part of the story, with Thanh as the tool of her mother’s will. She’s sent away, brought back, and commanded to use what she learned and connections she made to strengthen their negotiating position.Both the sense of what stretches behind this moment and Thanh’s unhappy position torn between the woman she loves and the mother she must respect bring a depth to this tale. These elements are interwoven so the romance impacts the diplomacy in multiple ways, while the threat of discovery weighs down both magic and relationships.With all this in the works, is there any question why the story pulled me in and kept me reading through to the end? I had doubts about motivations from the start, some of which proved warranted, and even when not, the story kept me guessing. I often hoped for one outcome but was unsurprised by another. There are many mysteries playing out, some of which add to the depth, while others are critical and therefore resolved by the end.The story becomes a game of manipulation. Of characters, but of the reader as well. I wasn’t always sure who to support. Every character did some wrong in my eyes, though a few more than others, making committing to anyone difficult. Each moment is a negotiation, whether part of the overt diplomacy or not. This is not a simple, “good vs. evil” type story, and as such, it speaks to the complexity of real life. Every decision has consequences, and the right choices are not always clear. Only this tale wraps that truth in a beautiful robe with magic, passion, and power as the fine embroidery.P.S. I received this Advanced Reader’s Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[tsana_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard is a standalone fantasy novella set in a matriarchal society inspired by pre-colonial Vietnam. It's quite short, and I was disappointed that I didn't get to spend more time in it's world.This was a fun and interesting read, with a reasonable dose of moderate peril. We have the princess Thanh, who is the spare royal child and now in a position to negotiate an alliance between her country and the country she was fostered/hostaged out to when she was younger. She still has not mentally recovered from a fire that she narrowly escaped while she was in the other (Western imperial analogue) country, not least because fire seems to follow her around in a magical way.The story focusses closely on Thanh and her relationships with her mother, the Queeen, with her friend/lover, the foreign princess, and with the mysterious servant girl with whom she escaped the near-fatal fire. Most of the challenges Thanh faces are social, and I don't want to say too much more and spoil this relatively short read.I enjoyed this novella a lot. I read it at a time when I wanted something fun and relaxing to read, and this book delivered. I recommend it to fans of asian-inspired fantasy and lesbian romance. If you feel that you would be troubled reading a book with literally zero men in it, this may not be the read for you.4.5 / 5 stars You can read more of my reviews on my blog.