Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin


Tam Lin's, her grandmama was the Tiger Lord of the Mountain in China, and while her grandmama birthed many children, only her father and her Aunt Tigress survived. After her father dies in a car accident when Tam Lin is twelve Aunt Tigress takes over raising Tam Lin to be a tiger, but after her aunt uses her to poison the Thunderbird Tam Lin, opts to leave the supernatural portion of her life behind, especially since most people don't believe her anyway. That is until Janet Child introduces herself in class one afternoon. Janet is not only gorgeous, but she believes Tam Lin's stories of Tigers, Thunderbirds, and mischievous incubi. As soon as Tam Lin realizes she may have met the girl of her dreams, she receives some devastating news, though. Aunt Tigress is dead, and her death seems to have heralded the end of worlds. 

This was absolutely wonderful! Yu-Xuan Qin does an excellent job taking two separate mythologies and somehow blending them but still keeping them very distinct. All while throwing in a wonderful forged family between Janet, Tam, and Jack (yes, I know Im not giving away that part), but kind of a next level forged family when you discover Tam Lin's own family's past. Plus her familiars I can not forget about them, because they were wonderful. Who knew incubi could be adorable? 

What this really was at its heart, though, were conversations about grief, dealing with it, and toxic family members. And holy shit was Aunt Tigress toxic. She uses everyone around her for her own gain time and again, and at some point, she may have been a semi decent being, but honestly, I doubt it. She is such a prime example of how bitterness and jealousy turn to hate and rage. Honestly, it's one of my new favorite bad guys. 

My favorite part, though, is how well done these interconnected stories are. It's not just Tam Lin's story; it's Jack's, it's Janet's, it's Fox's, it's Mama's, it's Tiger's, it's Thunderbird's, and it's The Great Serpent's, hell it's more than that but I think you get my point. Yu-Xuan Qin somehow manages to juggle all of these threads (quite literally) to make a beautiful story of interconnectedness. 

I highly recommend this. It is so much more than I could possibly fit into one review that I'm not even going to try. It was simply breathtaking in its scope and incredibly well done for such an enormous undertaking. 

As always, thanks to NetGalley and DAW for the eArc!


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