Red Tigress

By: Amelie Wen Zhao

Random House Children’s

Delacorte Press

Sci-Fi & Fantasy/Teen & YA

Publish Date 2 March 2021

#RedTigress#NetGalley

100 Book ReviewsProfessional Reader

I would like to first thank both NetGalley and Random House for allowing me to read and review this book. Sorry it took me so long to do so.

Good Reads Synopsis:

Ana Mikhailov is the only surviving member of the royal family of Cyrilia. She has no army, no title, and no allies, and now she must find a way to take back the throne or risk the brutal retribution of the empress. Morganya is determined to establish a new world order on the spilled blood of non-Affinites. Ana is certain that Morganya won’t stop until she kills them all.

Ana’s only chance at navigating the dangerous world of her homeland means partnering with Ramson Quicktongue again. But the cunning crime lord has schemes of his own. For Ana to find an army, they must cross the Whitewaves to the impenetrable stone forts of Bregon. Only, no one can be certain what they will find there.

A dark power has risen. Will revolution bring peace–or will it only paint the streets in more blood.

Book Review:

I wasn’t a fan of this book. I only gave it 3 stars. This is the second book in the Blood Heir Trilogy.

This book does place where it left off in the first book. Ana is the last surviving member of her royal family. There is a war going on and she doesn’t have an army, title or allies to help her. She has to figure out how to take back her throne. She doesn’t know the area very well and navigating is hard. She must rely on a crime lord to help her. This crime lord has his own agenda for helping her. Will she accomplish what she has set out to do? Will there be a war and if so will it work?

I am interested enough to read the third and final book. I need to know what happens and if the two will come together.

**Thank you Netgalley and publisher for giving me an electronic ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

A great continuation of the series! I am still in love with the magic system and the characters. I highly recommend the books to anyone that enjoys magic and strong females.

To be honest, I wasn't terribly thrilled with Blood Heir the first installment of the trilogy, but it had enough potential I needed to see where the series went. Plus, there were quite a few great reviews that made it seem like this sequel would be a better fit for me. I'm glad I decided to come back for Red Tigress because it takes the best part of its predecessor and turns them up while clearing up some of my issues with details of characterization and world-building. I can easily say that I preferred this to book one. There's a lot of great action and we get to see a good deal more of the world and meet some brand new characters.
Full review to come on YouTube.

I really liked this book and how she got over someone. I enjoyed the romance and the friendships. I liked she came to enjoy her family. I liked that she was able to get over a boy and move on with her life. Great story.

This was a much better book than Blood Heir. In this novel, the main character is stronger. It also had a stronger world-building! Thus, I recommend this for fans of Sarah Wolf!

I have been looking forward to getting back into the world of Ana and Ramson. I think this book was better than its predecessor, Blood Heir. Ana is still on the run, but she is finding her strength to fight back and take what is hers. Let's not forget the struggle for Affinite freedom. She has journey ahead of her and a world to save.

Sometimes, I hesitate to read a sequel because I loved the first novel so much that I don't want the second one to mess that up. And then the second is forever stuck in my head and I pine for the times when it was just me and the first novel in my head. Red Tigress didn't ruin Blood Heir for me, but it didn't make me love it less either. Blood Heir > Red Tigress. Red Tigress got super political and back stabby and there was less passion and romance.
All my favorite characters were back (some in different roles). Ana and Ransom start out together at the start of the novel, but through a series of unfortunate events, they are quickly drawn apart by fate again. I must admit that I love the push and pull of these two characters... they never can seem to decide if they want to love each other forever or use each other for the greater good/biggest gain to themselves. I also love that every single character in this series is flawed. Not a single one could be labelled the "good guy" and in a story of antiheroes, the villains have to be especially double crossing and convincing. If you're looking for a good "bad guy", this series has plenty of characters to pick from.
If you're looking for a happy ending, you won't find one here. Prepare for war...

*eARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, I also purchased a finished copy from Goldsboro Books*

While the release of the first book was shrouded in controversy, cancelled, and then released with an edited version, the release of Red Tigress was relatively quiet. Blood Heir ends with the death of Ana's brother, the traitor Empress rising to the throne, and Ana vowing to gain back her crown.

Red Tigress starts a few weeks after those events. The majority of the book takes place in Ramson's homeland, and features the ghosts of his past. It does work, but sometimes feels a little pointless to the overall plot of the series, which is (I assume), Ana becoming the Empress. The main villain is barely seen in these pages, and the only part that will really affect the third book is the ending. A rather sad ending, in my opinion.

Ana is growing as a person, coming to terms with her power and how she wants to rule. She has the chance to see how Affinites are treated in a different country, how government can run on a system of checks and balances, and I think this will let her grow into a stronger person.

4/5 stars

I received this book from netgalley for an honest review. This book gives me game of thrones vibes. It was very action packed and kept me interested. I was hoping for there to be more romance with Ana and Ransom though.

Like its predecessor, Red Tigress moves along at a fast pace. Before I realized it, I was already halfway through the book. Along with the pace, I also particularly enjoyed the descriptive detail and the ending battle. Zhao's writing is evocative, and I savored a lot of the imagery. I especially loved the descriptions of Linn taking flight and Ramson's dip in the pool. The final conflict is detailed, a real nail-biter as the main characters fight for their lives. The ending of the book is a different story. I am not a fan of how the book concluded, and it's made me eager to read the final book with the hope that the ending will be better.

Ana remains ruled by her emotions, impulsive and only recalling the consequences after. This is why Ramson is crucial. He is her opposite, thinking and planning before making a move. He gives her structure and stability. Other than being the true heir to the throne and having a desire to help her people, there isn't much to demonstrate Ana's ability to rule. She needs to undergo a fair amount of growth before she can prove herself fit to rule. I hope the next book provides character development in this area.  

Red Tigress was a slightly better than average read but I couldn't help question many of the things the characters did or did not do. The final conflict is a highlight of the novel. I look forward to reading the final book.

A solid follow up to Blood Heir, expanding on the world and the intrigue. Loved seeing new kingdoms and the new POV we got in this followup!

This is the long awaited sequel to Blood Heir and I could not be more excited to dive back into the world. Red Tigress has the cold feeling of peril and high stakes that the first book had and I enjoyed getting to spend more time in the world and seeing how the characters continued to develop. It was great to see how each of the characters, especially Ana, become more fleshed out especially as a character drive reader it helped me to sympathize and root for their journey.

A decent follow-up. I’d have liked more action in the story though.

I also missed the banter from the first book. It definitely adds to the characters and the story.

I think it still sets up for the next book nicely.

Thank you to Netgalley for this wonderful ARC!

Ana and her friends escape to the Kingdom of Bregon, where Ramson was born, seeking an ally to help defeat Morganya's forces and regain her own kingdom. The writing in this book is amazing! I love how the author made me fall in love with this world and all of the characters. I was very excited to learn more about new characters and side characters in this book. I am thrilled about Ana's growth in this book of the series and am excited to see the rest of her journey.

I'm behind on my reading due to personal reasons but I went to finally go read this and couldn't find it on my kindle and it has been archived.

I have brought a physical copy of the book and will update my review once I've read it!

Sorry!

Giving it 5 stars because I know I'm going to love it.

I absolutely loved Blood Heir but this was the perfect sequel to it. Blood heir did an amazing job setting up a background story but in terms of plot development it kinda fell flat until the end. Red Tigress picked up in the areas of plot development and had more in depth character analysis with all the characters. It was an easy read but very detailed and engaging. Cannot wait for the next installment!

Omg buy it already. Zhao is a new insta-buy author for me. This sequel was so amazing, and the growth from Ana, Ramson, and Linn alone is stellar. I can't believe I have to wait another year for the third book! It's so good.

What a fantastic book! I loved the first book and was thrilled to receive an advanced copy of the sequel. I dont want to give too much away due to spoilers and this being the second book, but I thought the plot and characters were extremely well done. Amelie is becoming one of my favorite authors! I can't wait to continue reading books by her.

I absolutely loved this book!! It was everything I wanted in a sequel and I loved being back in this incredible world!! Red Tigress took place a few weeks after the end of Blood Heir and Morgana's tyrannical reign is destroying the country Ana loves and will do anything to protect. This book was packed full of action and a ton of political scheming and manipulation!! I loved every minute of it!! Watching Ana step fully into her abilities and becoming more of the Queen we all want her to be was inspiring and we cannot forget the devilishly handsome Ransom who had his own set of troubles to overcome in this book. I cannot wait to see where the next book takes these two and how their journey will end!!

While I was a fan of Blood Heir, Red Tigress is a very strong follow up. The writing is much tighter and the recap of book 1 (of which I recall very little) was extremely well done. Good character development…I especially appreciated learning more about some of Blood Heir’s minor characters. Nice setup for the next book.