Fantasy Novella Review: Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

 



Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard


Fireheart Tiger is the latest novella from one of my favorite authors, Aliette de Bodard, known best for her Xuya Universe stories and her Dominion of the Fallen series.  The hype for this novella has been honestly immense and it comes off a year in which de Bodard released two other novellas (Seven of Infinities, Of Dragons Feasts and Murders) in her other universes which I expect to get major award consideration.  This novella, unlike those, is not set in a pre-existing universe, instead set in a different fantasy world inspired by pre-colonial Vietnam/Southeast Asia which is facing the imminent encroachment of colonial powers.

And it's a hell of a novella, even if it's so short that I can't imagine anyone won't finish it in a single sitting.  de Bodard has already shown herself able to write stories featuring issues of love and consent better than perhaps any other SF/F writer out there today, and she does that again here, weaving a tale of love (a F-F-F love triangle) and abusive relationships in the background of this perilous pre-colonial setting.  My biggest complaint about this one is that I felt it could've used perhaps 4-5 more pages...and when that's my only complaint, well - this will get sure consideration for 2022 awards and is absolutely a tremendous read.  

More specifics after the jump: 

Plot Summary:  Princess Thanh of Bình Hải spent two years in Ephteria as a guest of the palace, sent there by her mother - the Empress - to learn about the powerful nation whose tendrils are stretching for their own nation.  But Thanh did not come back with useful knowledge - just memories of the flesh of a foreign princess and nightmares of a night when everything around her burnt down.  And ever since that fateful night, it seems that fires have followed Thanh, in both her dreams and in reality, as things go up in flames around her without explanation.  

Now, an Ephterian delegation has come back to Bình Hải seeking to exert their power over Thanh's nation's independence, and Thanh's mother has given her the chance to negotiate with the foreigners.  But the delegation includes Thanh's former love, Princess Eldris, who wants everything - Thanh's love and her nation - and Thanh will need to confront the fires around her if she is to make a choice for the future of both herself and her home.....

Thoughts:  Fireheart Tiger is at its heart a tale of two themes - colonialism and abusive relationships  Thanh is a third child whose mother has disregarded her as useless, even when Thanh knows far better than her mother, and she has always shrank under her mother's abuse - never physical, but always cutting in how her mother negates her own choices and authority.  And the same is true of Thanh's former and potential future love in Eldris - a woman of power and authority at the head of a colonial power, who might want Thanh now...but who would never consider Thanh or her people an equal.  Thanh and Eldris may have physical desires for one another, but how is such a relationship ever going to be healthy when one member of the relationship not only has significantly more power....but doesn't see the other as an equal, as a "civilized" person?  (It doesn't help that the "Civilized" Ephterian princess is the one who threatens violence and doesn't respect filial piety).  And this abusive behavior is mirrored in how the Ephterians treat Bình Hải, as a nation for them to slowly roll over.....

Thanh reaches this realization here through a third party's intervention, the third leg in the story's love triangle, a fire elemental named Giang. Thanh's potential relationship with Giang is just as tricky as her one with Eldris - Giang is a fire elemental who can burn down whole palaces, and while Thanh might have the power to call for an exorcist or other magic wielder who could get rid of her, that does still create a power imbalance - especially as Thanh's potential solution for the danger of encroaching colonization relies upon Giang's fire.  But Giang values Thanh as an equal, as a person who treats others kindly, and who would rescue a girl they didn't even know from a burning fire.  And that's the difference and what gives the relationship the potential to be healthy.  

I'm being very spoilerific in this review I think, and I don't want to say anymore to remove this novella's power and strength - so just read it.  If I had any complaints, I'd say I wished we got a few more pages of Thanh-Giang and Thanh-Eldris relationships to show the difference between them, but de Bodard does a tremendous job conveying so much in such a short package, and well this is another triumph to add to the many in her bibliography.