Aunt Tigress

Qin’s vivid and wildly imaginative debut centers on Tamara Lin, the descendant of semi-immortal tiger spirits from the high mountains of China. Her late father was a tiger, as is her strange, often cruel aunt. But Calgary, Alberta, isn’t a great place for her kind, so Tam works hard to seem as normal as possible. Though her aunt is plotting something big, Tam wants no part of it—she’s far more focused on impressing Janet, the beautiful redhead from her university botany class. But after monsters start following Tam and the sky turns red, she learns that her aunt has been flayed to death. Tam, now the last tiger, inherits a house full of stolen Indigenous magic, a fox revenant familiar, a demon lawyer’s bonded assistant, and a broken world that she’s obliged to put right. There’s a classic urban fantasy vibe to the plot, but the focus on Chinese and Indigenous magic feels fresh. The author taps deep into the immigrant experience, playing with the tensions that come from importing ancient traditions to a land and people that already have their own equally rich history. Qin is a writer to watch. (Mar.)