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I really love this series. Really. It's inventive, unique, filled with awesome characters and environs. Year of the Tiger wraps up the story begun in Year of the Wolf. The Alvarez sisters are fighting their way through major drama and angst as they seek to save each other and the Spirit World.
I love that the main characters are POC (people of color) and that the landscape is doubly othered. There's Seoul (South Korea) and Spirit!Seoul. We get closer to the characters (Khyber and Raina being the most interesting), and we get to watch the characters get closer to each other. One of the things that I loved most was Citlalli's continuing evolution. There wasn't a lot in this book. This is definitely an action centered story, but the idea of the fracturing souls and how Citlalli deals with the ways she is changing is thematically intrinsic. This is a novel about duality and it pops up all over the place: good versus evil, were versus vampire, real world versus spirit world, and then the gray areas between all of those things. (That might be the most interesting thing about those kinds of opposing extremes, and Heffner is obviously interested in exploring the middle grounds.) Unfortunately, there are some technical/structural issues that distract and detract from what is a super promising concept.
Year of the Tiger lays out more of the stories mythology (how Eve ended up the way that it is). Not a traditional sequel, it works as a direct continuation of Year of the Wolf (a second installment of a Work in Progress). It's a single narrative that's been split, and I think that the overall story would have been better served if the books had been incorporated, pared down, tightened up and presented as one book. With Year of the Dragon, the third book in the series, still to come, it's possible that the trilogy would be better suited to two books. There's just a lot of unnecessary dross littering the narrative, which is impressive considering that Kindle clocks both books in at around 300+ pages each.
Year of the Tiger ambles in places, the beginning has some extraneous stuff and there are segments that could be better integrated into the novel. There's some handwaving on plot points that are dropped (Mami, Mr. Alvarez, and Daniella are mostly absent from this book and Una gets shoe horned into the story for no obvious reason - at least until the end and that might have more to do with the set-up of book 3). BUT, when the action starts, boy does it pick up. The ending is a whirlwind and it speeds along at break neck pace to an action packed ending. There's almost *too* much going on and the ending feels a little out of control.
Heffner ends the book with a new twist that sets us up for the third book. I don't think this is necessary. I prefer series that include books that have individual plots that tie into a larger overall narrative arc. That makes it difficult to enter this series from any place except the beginning. It is imperative for the reader to start with Year of the Wolf. That said, so much time has passed since I read Year of the Wolf, that there was alot I didn't remember that was referenced in Year of the Tiger. Reading them back to back will probably be something I do around Christmas when I'm revisiting my favorite reads. And despite my caveats, this *story* is one of my favorite reads. But, I can't divide the novels up as separate entities because really they're not.
Structure within the book was also problematic. The shifting first person POV's contributed to a lot of clutter and noise. The shift in structure from the first book to this book was a technical misstep that proved distracting and unnecessary. Too many different I's scattered through the book. Although, they were all distinct voices, I think that it was unnecessary.
So, although conceptually I love to give this four stars, the technical issues dragged it down for me. Still. I definitely recommend Year of the Tiger if you've already started Year of the Wolf. Again, a really creative and imaginative writer. Can't wait to read more from Ms. Heffner.
I love that the main characters are POC (people of color) and that the landscape is doubly othered. There's Seoul (South Korea) and Spirit!Seoul. We get closer to the characters (Khyber and Raina being the most interesting), and we get to watch the characters get closer to each other. One of the things that I loved most was Citlalli's continuing evolution. There wasn't a lot in this book. This is definitely an action centered story, but the idea of the fracturing souls and how Citlalli deals with the ways she is changing is thematically intrinsic. This is a novel about duality and it pops up all over the place: good versus evil, were versus vampire, real world versus spirit world, and then the gray areas between all of those things. (That might be the most interesting thing about those kinds of opposing extremes, and Heffner is obviously interested in exploring the middle grounds.) Unfortunately, there are some technical/structural issues that distract and detract from what is a super promising concept.
Year of the Tiger lays out more of the stories mythology (how Eve ended up the way that it is). Not a traditional sequel, it works as a direct continuation of Year of the Wolf (a second installment of a Work in Progress). It's a single narrative that's been split, and I think that the overall story would have been better served if the books had been incorporated, pared down, tightened up and presented as one book. With Year of the Dragon, the third book in the series, still to come, it's possible that the trilogy would be better suited to two books. There's just a lot of unnecessary dross littering the narrative, which is impressive considering that Kindle clocks both books in at around 300+ pages each.
Year of the Tiger ambles in places, the beginning has some extraneous stuff and there are segments that could be better integrated into the novel. There's some handwaving on plot points that are dropped (Mami, Mr. Alvarez, and Daniella are mostly absent from this book and Una gets shoe horned into the story for no obvious reason - at least until the end and that might have more to do with the set-up of book 3). BUT, when the action starts, boy does it pick up. The ending is a whirlwind and it speeds along at break neck pace to an action packed ending. There's almost *too* much going on and the ending feels a little out of control.
Heffner ends the book with a new twist that sets us up for the third book. I don't think this is necessary. I prefer series that include books that have individual plots that tie into a larger overall narrative arc. That makes it difficult to enter this series from any place except the beginning. It is imperative for the reader to start with Year of the Wolf. That said, so much time has passed since I read Year of the Wolf, that there was alot I didn't remember that was referenced in Year of the Tiger. Reading them back to back will probably be something I do around Christmas when I'm revisiting my favorite reads. And despite my caveats, this *story* is one of my favorite reads. But, I can't divide the novels up as separate entities because really they're not.
Structure within the book was also problematic. The shifting first person POV's contributed to a lot of clutter and noise. The shift in structure from the first book to this book was a technical misstep that proved distracting and unnecessary. Too many different I's scattered through the book. Although, they were all distinct voices, I think that it was unnecessary.
So, although conceptually I love to give this four stars, the technical issues dragged it down for me. Still. I definitely recommend Year of the Tiger if you've already started Year of the Wolf. Again, a really creative and imaginative writer. Can't wait to read more from Ms. Heffner.
