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Inspired by Korean history and mythology as well as the enduring love story of the authors’ grandparents,
In a world of ki powers, the Dragon Empire rules with dragon ki—the power of strength. The empire has invaded and occupied the Tiger Republic, claiming it as their own, and they are on the precipice of eradicating every tiger. On the night of a rare tiger–slaying ceremony, the lives of sixteen-year-olds Seung Lee and Eunji Choi become irrevocably linked when Seung, a servant for the wealthy Choi family, catches Eunji out without a chaperone.
Desperate for his secrecy, Eunji agrees to tutor Seung for the Adachi Training Academy exam, which could be his ticket out of a life of hardship. In between their study sessions, Seung introduces Eunji to a new world—one filled with fragrant street food, winding back roads, and the freedom she craves. Their final outing takes an unexpected turn when they encounter the last tiger and realize what they mean to one another.
Their lives diverge after the exam, however, with Seung following in his father''s footsteps as he''s thrust deep into the mines and Eunji set to marry the heralded son of a prominent Dragon family. Forced apart, they wrestle with their fates and find themselves seeking a way to change the future they feel trapped by. Their shared knowledge of the last tiger’s whereabouts set them off on separate missions to find the last tiger. Facing seemingly impossible odds, Seung and Eunji must embrace their power or risk losing their chance to save themselves and discover who they really are.
About the author
Julia Riew is a writer, librettist, and composer-lyricist best known for Shimcheong: A Folktale which is currently in development for the stage with Tony Award–winning director Diane Paulus and GLAAD Award–winning playwright Diana Son. In addition to the recipient of the 2022 Fred Ebb Award for Musical Theater Songwriting, Julia has been Playbill’s Featured Songwriter of the Month, a Woman to Watch on Broadway, a Princess Grace Award Honoraria recipient, the inaugural Harvardwood Artist Launch Fellowship winner, and the inaugural Musicians United for Social Equity (MUSE) Linda Twine Scholarship winner. Julia graduated magna cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University in 2022 with a BA in Theater, Dance, Media (TDM) and Music. IG: @juliariew (62K+) TikTok: @juliariew (137K+). More here: JuliaRiew.com
Brad Riew is an MFA candidate in fiction at New York University's creative writing program. He has studied creative writing under Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Safran Foer, Claudia Rankine, David Lipsky, Jennifer Clement, Amy Hempel, and others. Brad is co-author of 20 States on Wheels, a disability-friendly travel guide to the United States, which was featured in Lonely Planet. Brad graduated from Harvard College in 2018, where he won the Ecker Short Story Prize. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Summary
The gorgeous first edition hardcover features: a metallic foil cover, illustrated endpapers, custom designed edges, and stunning foil stamped case.
Inspired by true stories from the authors’ grandparents’ lives during one of the darkest periods in Korean history, The Last Tiger is a debut young adult fantasy novel about the power of love to give voice to a broken people.
In a colonized land where tigers are being hunted to extinction and ancient magic stirs, two star-crossed teens—Lee Seung, a servant yearning for freedom, and Choi Eunji, a noble girl defying tradition—join forces to try and reshape their respective fates.
But their relationship evolves from begrudging accomplices to bitter adversaries as they soon find themselves on opposite sides of a battle over the last tiger, a symbol of their people’s lost freedom and key to the liberation of their country. As the ties between Seung and Eunji are complicated by their conflicting loyalties, tensions rise—especially when a charming princeling of the empire begins to rival for Eunji's affection.
In this friends-to-enemies-to-lovers story of forbidden romance, antagonists turned allies, oppression and liberation, neither Seung nor Eunji can abandon their mission—or each other. And as they embark on separate quests to find the elusive creature, each must also find the power within themselves to make their own destiny.
