Red Tigress by Amelie Wen Zhao - OPTIONAL

 

Red Tigress (Blood Heir, #2) by Amelie Wen Zhao, 434 pages. Delacorte Press, 2021. $19. Content: Language: PG-13 (36 swears); Mature Content: PG; Violence: R

BUYING ADVISORY: HS – OPTIONAL  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Ana has lost her crown, her kingdom and has been separated from her love-interest, Ramson.  Her kingdom has fallen to wicked Morganya, who is murdering innocent people and trying to raise an army of Affinites (magic-wielders).  After struggling against her enemy, Ana is reunited with Ramson, and they decide to try and gain their own army by going to Bregon (where Ramson is from) and working together with the young king of that kingdom.  Ana and Ransom arrive to find that Ramon’s Bregon has it’s own wicked rulers who are using the king as a puppet and finding an alliance will be harder than they imagined.  

I loved the first book in this series, Blood Heir, so I was excited to read more, but this story felt like a bridge, without any of its own excitement-it was long and slow.  I love Ana’s strength and Ransom Quicktongue is my favorite character, but neither of their characters grow much and the plot was drawn out.  Hopefully the third book can redeem this series. The violence is disregard for human life and gruesome bloody deaths.  

Reviewer, C. Peterson