Tiger Lily [Kindle Edition]

K. Bird Lincoln (Author)

Book Description

"A beautifully-written genderbending tale of rebellious girls, shifting disguises, and forbidden magic, set against the vivid backdrop of ancient Japan."
--Tina Connolly, author of Ironskin

Lily isn't supposed to hunt game in the Daimyo's woods. It isn't her place to talk to nobility, and she definitely isn't supposed to sing forbidden Jindo songs.

But Lily was born in the year of the Tiger, and can't ever be like other village girls. In the woods snaring rabbits one day, she finds instead the Daimyo's son, Ashikaga, wounded. When the Pretender Emperor's men arrive to kill Ashikaga, Lily, desperate, sings a forbidden song.

The song wakes a powerful spirit - as well as Ashikaga's interest. The prickly lord has hidden secrets of his own and a burning desire to prove himself to his father. He will stop at nothing
to defeat his father's greatest enemy.

All Lily wants to do is take care of her sisters. But the Pretender-Emperor's forces are drawing near, and now the Daimyo's son knows she communes with Jindo gods. Lily's heart is leading her down a dangerous path. She may have to defy her father, Ashikaga, and even the spirits themselves in order to defeat the Pretender-Emperor's magic and keep safe all that she loves.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This novel captivated me and, almost without realizing, I was hooked in the story, surrounded by beautiful descriptions of ancient Japan, its landscapes, traditions and intimate feelings of the characters...worth reading no doubt!"

--Itsusi from Amazon.es

From the Author

Tiger Lily is based on characters from three short stories previously published online:
"Another Tiger Woman" SpaceWays Weekly (Reader's Choice Award for March, 2000)
"Wilting Lily and the Yurei" Foxfire Magazine January, 2001
"Exposure at Dejima" Healing Waves Anthology September, 2011 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 355 KB
• Print Length: 277 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: K. Bird Lincoln (April 26, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007Y7094O
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #343,764 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #55 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Myths & Legends > Asian

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Two lives intertwining in a fantastical medieval Japan setting July 1, 2012

By lauragrrl

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I enjoyed this book set in a somewhat fantastical medieval Japan. The main character, Lily, is a peasant girl born in the year of the Tiger - strong, stubborn, and not very marriageable (which really doesn't concern her too much). Her mother, before disappearing, followed the old Jindo ways, which Lily observes out of custom, even though they are now forbidden. And Lily's observance of said ways ends up setting a whole bunch of things in motion when the Daimyo's son finds her singing Jindo songs (songs which also just so happen to affect some dangerous fox magic that is threatening him).

I thought the author did a great job of setting the story in Japan - a sprinkling of Japanese words when translation just wouldn't be as strong, calling upon Japanese fairy tales about foxes, the description of clothes and planting rice and tatami mats and the Great House and Jindo shrines, and her use of metaphors (for example, comparing slow speech to trying to talk after eating mochi). As someone who has read and loved many a tale of the presence and power of goddesses and gods in mostly European traditions, I also really loved the depiction of experiencing the power of Japanese kami (the sense of the cold river, the heavy stones, the firey mountain) - a thrilling ride, as it were.

I appreciated the realistic depiction of Lily's understanding of the world (it was true to that of a young peasant woman who had never been in the Great House and had never had any romantic interest in anyone and so just does not get what is happening now), and how different the life of the nobles were by contrast. In addition, this book celebrates women in non-traditional roles, some of them quite unexpected, which I really enjoyed.

The plot line of the story has two main themes, IMHO. It is both about a war (with some of the tragedies that come of war, though nothing explicit) and about two young people drawn together. While sometimes the development of the romance felt a bit slow and frustrating to me, it was also true to who the characters were and the time frame the story was set in. Plus, each character had secrets which led to a compelling tension as their relationship drew closer. I found myself wanting to know what happened with them next.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Moving story June 21, 2012

By Wading Through Electronic Ink

Format:Kindle Edition

The Plot

Lily was born as a girl in the year of the tiger, so she knows that she is unmarriageable and will never be someone her family can be proud of. But she also has a secret power, left to her by her tiger mother. When she sings songs of the old Shinto ways, she is visited by the kami nature spirits and can perform feats of magic that are forbidden by the emperor's mandate. One day while she is out in the woods, she discovers the young lord Ashikaga, who has been injured in battle. Using her powers and her wits, Lily is able to save Ashikaga from his would-be captors, but in the process he learns of her powers. Will he use them to help his cause, or will he betray her to the merciless monks?

The Good

I found myself getting very emotionally involved with the characters in Tiger Lily. Lily's level of shame about her entire existence was very poignant, and I liked how she related to the different members of her family and how she always felt inadequate to them. (This led me to be disappointed two-thirds of the way through the novel when she went off to war, and we didn't hear any more from her family. Perhaps next book.)

The conflicts also brought up interesting philosophical perspectives. Lily was everything that her society didn't want her to be - a tiger girl with the ability to perform Shinto magic. Yet she never desired more from her life than to do what was best for her family. Her feelings for Ashikaga were complicated by the fact that he actively sought to endorse the emperor's edict of Buddhism, but he was willing to use her powers to do this. Instead of making the characters seem hypocritical, these contradictory actions made them seem real and multi-faceted. The whole book was really quite moving.

The Bad

My biggest issue with Tiger Lily was that sometimes it was hard to follow what was going on, especially at the beginning of the book. I think some of this was related to my lack of knowledge of feudal Japanese society, which was compounded by the fact that the author took a lot of liberties with history. (I was glad for the note at the end explaining this because I was confused by the existence of militant fundamentalist Buddhists.) But the whole functionality of the farm was weird, where the girls were only sometimes called to work in the rice fields but sometimes could hide and avoid it. The compensation for labor process was very unclear.

The other bits that were confusing were often about Lily's magic and/or the combat scenes. (They usually appeared together.) I didn't really get how the mechanics worked and how what Lily and Ashikaga were doing related to the main battle. They always seemed to have their own sub-battle going on.

The Romance

Early in the book, Lily meets the young lord Ashikaga in the woods and saves him from kitsune soldiers by using her forbidden Shinto magic. After that a sort of romance grows between them, though things between them move slowly and uncertainty because Lily is both a commoner and an unmarriageable tiger girl.

Then, about halfway through the novel, when you think they might work things out, another wrench is thrown into the relationship. I cannot tell you what it is, because that would be a horrible spoiler, but I can tell you it made me say out loud, "Well, I didn't see THAT coming!" and when I told my friend about it, he said "WTF? Well, at least you can't say you've read this book before." All I will say to you is that it raises the awkward level of Lily's relationships to unequaled heights.

Will I read more?

I'm undecided about this. On one level, the book really had me empathizing with the characters. But sometimes I had a hard time following what was going on. And sometimes the lack of historical accuracy made the reading a mite strange. I'm leaning toward the side of no on reading more, but if the author was like "Free copy if you review!" I'd probably be persuaded.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Need Tea Reviews July 14, 2012

By Krystle Yanagihara VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition

Wow, I have no idea where to start with this review. Since I was approached by the author for me to review her book, and that rarely happens to me, I believe I should give it a nice long, reflective review that this story deserves.

If it's not clear by now from the summary, this story is a historical fantasy set in Japan. Isn't that awesome? There just aren't enough books that explore the potential this rich world has. Admittedly, I am not all that familiar with the Muromachi period - the Heian and Meiji periods are where my knowledge most lies as it's what was covered mostly in my department for my major - but everything seems very solid. Her wealth of research shows and she takes careful measures to portray things respectfully and delicately.

The author's interpretation and reimagining of Ashikaga Yoshinori was quite interesting. I think another historical figure, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, better paralleled the sort of power struggles and partner interests the character in this book undergoes, but that's just me talking. I actually liked what she did here, adding in her own touches, while setting it against a backdrop of war against Buddhist beliefs and practices and her Shinto equivalent - Jindo - which is outlawed and spurned. During this time Buddhism is very prominent and has taken over Shinto as the dominant religion of choice but people were free to practice whatever religion they chose and weren't persecuted for it (something which takes place in the book) and the author makes it clear that she did this for fictional purposes. I always like it when an author is upfront about what liberties she took with certain aspects of history or culture, and I thought what she did here for the story made for an excellent subplot of underlying tension.

I don't think a commoner would address the son of a powerful daimyou, or a prince in line for the throne, simply by suffixing sama after their name. They are too high in rank/status for that and would rather address them by their position but this is a relatively minor thing. Something that might throw off people is that the main character's name, Lily, and a few others are in straight English, while others are in Japanese, but after a while you get used to it and it doesn't become so distracting.

I really liked Lily. She's such a strong resilient character who is also chained down by her guilt, society restrictions, and her insecurity. Lily is not afraid to speak up when she feels something is important to her but yet she is realistic in that she doesn't break all the etiquette rules from someone of her position. She is soft, meek, and quiet in the beginning but grows stronger in gradual waves throughout the course of the book.

If it's not clear by now, this is a lgbt romance. Yet, it's done so well, you can't help but commend the bold decision the author chose to make. I was totally rooting for the two characters and their chemistry just sizzled on the pages. It's a gradual process that includes a lot of self-worth, identity, and letting go of one's fear and hesitancy of rejection.

Even though this is a self-published book it's very clean, polished, and full of quality. There are no quirky and incorrect formatting problems here. The plot is tight and there is no filler to fatten up the page count. Her prose has wonderfully correct grammar and whatever errors they are it's almost insignificant. I really loved the descriptions here, they are so vivid and beautiful, and you will have no problem imagining what's transpiring in the story. I love the neat touch the author puts on including some traditional Japanese imagery into her prose. She also spices it up with a lot of Japanese words specific to the language which may confuse readers at first but I thought it helped enhance the flavor of the book. A glossary at the end may have been helpful for others though.

The only problems I could nitpick about the story is that for some of the action scenes, while there are lovely descriptions which do a great job of setting up the scene, they tend to overshadow what is actually taking place, dampening some of excitement and tension. I would have wanted a bit more internal character thoughts from Lily so we really get a sense of how she's feeling, but don't worry this doesn't hinder the reading experience at all. Another problem I had was of Flower, Lily's sister. I don't think we really get into the true reasoning behind the animosity she carries for her. Unless this is explained somewhere and I missed it but it feels like she's antagonistic to her sister for no true reason. Another very small thing I want to point out is that it's a torii gate, not tori.

This is a really excellent story and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you liked Ash by Malinda Lo, or wanted to find books of a similar feel to it than this is definitely something you'd like. Plus it's got Japanese characters! Is that not a win or what?! What are you waiting for! It won't hurt to give this a try!