“Shizuka, my Shizuka. If Grandmother Sky is good, then this finds you sitting on your throne, eating far too many sweets, and complaining about all the meetings you must attend.
My apologies for the awful calligraphy. You know how difficult it is for me to write Hokkaran.”
This is the stirring, tantalizing opening of an epic tale spanning the lives of the infamous Qorin warrior Shefali Arsalayaa, and O-Shizuka, the feared Divine Empress of Hokkaro—and a love that can reach through time and space to save a land from a demonic invasion. We’re pleased to share the news that Tor Books will publish K. Arsenault Rivera’s debut novel, The Tiger’s Daughter—the first book in a planned trilogy of Mongolian-inspired epic fantasy.
Fated to meet by both prophecy and by the deep bond between their mothers—themselves the warrior heirs to rival thrones—Shefali and O-Shizuka grow up together between various courts and landscapes; they learn the harsh vivacity of the Qorin steppes as well as navigating the fraught political waters of the Hokkaran court, always together, and yet always at a remove. But as they reach adulthood, the two fearsome champions find themselves plagued by their own notoriety after defeating an influx of demons in a border village between their countries–and now it may be impossible to save themselves.
Editor Miriam Weinberg says:
I was stunned by this manuscript—the lush descriptions, the immediacy of voice, and the intensity of the love between the two protagonists. Honestly, I read this as a submission while visiting my family at Thanksgiving, and my sister thought I was actually having trouble breathing, as every so often I would just *gasp* and clutch my chest. Nope, just the brilliance of a truly powerful love story, set against a gorgeously original second-world fantastical landscape. It’s so unusual to find a voice so new, and so controlled, and so distinctive, particularly while also being able to recall some of my most beloved other works, from Jane Austen’s Persuasion to the anime Revolutionary Girl Utena. I had to have it—and I can’t WAIT for you to experience this amazing novel (the first in a series).
The Tiger’s Daughter is scheduled for October 2017.
