White Tiger (Dark Heavens, #1)

Oct 04, 2011 Madame X rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: awful-do-not-read, paranormal-urban-fantasy

I had more problems with WHITE TIGER than I could possibly enumerate in a review. It’s not just bad…it’s kind of gross, with the most unappealing heroine I’ve come across in a while.

The novel takes place over a period of a couple of years. For the most part, we’re subjected to the surprisingly boring day-to-day goings on in the household of Mr. Chen, a god of the Chinese pantheon. For the first quarter of the novel or so, our heroine Emma crushes on Mr. Chen while demanding that she be privy to...more I had more problems with WHITE TIGER than I could possibly enumerate in a review. It’s not just bad…it’s kind of gross, with the most unappealing heroine I’ve come across in a while.

The novel takes place over a period of a couple of years. For the most part, we’re subjected to the surprisingly boring day-to-day goings on in the household of Mr. Chen, a god of the Chinese pantheon. For the first quarter of the novel or so, our heroine Emma crushes on Mr. Chen while demanding that she be privy to all his secrets. I’m not sure why it takes her so long, since Kylie Chan spoon-feeds us the information and the members of Mr. Chen’s household are total blabbermouths. Over and over again, someone will slip up and do something supernatural and Emma will demand to know what’s going on, only to be told that she’ll find out eventually, if she’s patient.

Once Emma knows about Mr. Chen’s true nature, she starts nagging him about starting a sexual relationship. And yes, I do mean nagging. Someone who knows Mr. Chen will warn Emma to back off, that she shouldn’t get her hopes up where he’s concerned, she’ll acknowledge the warning and promise to keep a safe distance, and then within pages she’ll make a pass at him. Her boss! At one point, Mr. Chen threatens to fire her if she throws herself at him again. I guess we’re supposed to believe they’ve got some sort of star-crossed tragic love affair going on, but I was embarrassed for Emma and didn’t feel the romance at all.

WHITE TIGER ought to be a sort of Jane Eyre story – and wouldn’t that have been cool? – but Kylie Chan is too busy bumping Emma up the social ladder to subject her to the kind of humiliations that Jane suffers. Emma gets a lot of praise for precious little, like when she overhears Mr. Chen in a meeting with his generals. She says, “Why are they giving you their armies? Are you expecting a war?” and Mr. Chen responds, “You are very perceptive.” …. Yeah, it must take a lot of insight to figure out what he needs an army for.

Or when Emma goes with Mr. Chen to a fancy charity function. One second she sneers at all the women after him for his wealth; the next she has an encounter with her old boss, who wants to maintain a relationship. Emma turns a cold shoulder and then we get this smug bit of internal monologue: “Kitty’s reaction to seeing me was amusing; she was clearly threatened by me. I shook my head. She was the one who’d given Mr. Chen my phone number in the first place. Didn’t she regret it now! I smiled with satisfaction.”

Emma denies it, but she’s a smug social climber. The novel focuses so much on all the perks of her life with Mr. Chen, trips abroad and visits to the Jockey Club and his yacht and such, while the battles are merely blips on the radar in between. The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. The plot gets lost in the endless repetitive scenes; once Emma and Mr. Chen acknowledge their feelings for one another, there must be at least twenty scenes that exist just so someone can bring up their romance and announce, “You two are idiots!”

All I can say is that I felt like a bit of an idiot for finishing this book. It wasn’t worth the time.
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Dec 16, 2012 Karissa rated it 2 of 5 stars

This is the first book in the Dark Heavens trilogy. This is a tough review for me to write because I am a bit torn about this book. I loved the idea and the Chinese mythology...but the writing is just sooooo bad. It’s almost like Chan has trouble with her English and didn’t have a decent editor.

Emma is a native Australian teaching English as a second language in Hong Kong, she also teaches private lessons after hours. John Chen, a client of hers, wants to hire her to be a full time nanny for his...more This is the first book in the Dark Heavens trilogy. This is a tough review for me to write because I am a bit torn about this book. I loved the idea and the Chinese mythology...but the writing is just sooooo bad. It’s almost like Chan has trouble with her English and didn’t have a decent editor.

Emma is a native Australian teaching English as a second language in Hong Kong, she also teaches private lessons after hours. John Chen, a client of hers, wants to hire her to be a full time nanny for his daughter Simone. For Emma it’s the chance of a lifetime, she loves teaching Simone and John is paying her really good money. Then Emma finds out that John isn’t exactly human and that her life may be in more danger than she ever dreamed.

Okay let’s start with what I loved about this book. I absolutely loved learning about the Chinese mythology; it was fascinating and super interesting. I loved the characters. Emma is spunky, yet nurturing, and just a neat character. John Chen is amazing; I love that he’s a God yet is so down to earth and love to spend time with his daughter. Simone adds a ton of laughter and fun to the story, she is four years old and an absolute delight to read about.

The gods that flit in and out of their lives are fun to read about. John’s predicament of not being able to take True Form until Simone is grown is an interesting one and lends a fascinating aspect to the story. The tension between John and Emma is delightful, and I was really rooting for them to work things out.

There are a ton of action scenes and lots of martial arts training both of which I enjoy reading about. I loved the exotic settings that the stories take place in as well.

So what’s wrong with this book? Well it is just absolutely horribly written. Hands down it is one of the most awkwardly written books I have ever read. The language and dialogue between characters is very uncomfortable and stilted throughout.

Chan repeats herself a lot which causes the story to move slowly. Chan also uses the same descriptors over and over and over again. Emma is constantly described as cold-hearted...which doesn’t really make sense and sounds awkward. John and Emma constantly say they are fools, people around then call them fools....I get it they are fools. These descriptors are just really awkward and uncomfortable to read. The English sounds very broken throughout and there are a lot of things technically wrong with this book...and by I lot I mean pretty much the whole book.

I kept reading this book in hopes that Chan would find her stride at some point. She just never does...in fact the book got worse the longer I read it. I just loved the idea behind this story so much, I really wanted to love it.

I really really want someone who can actually write to write a book with this idea behind it. Maybe a great urban fantasy writer like Ilona Andrews, Jennifer Estep, or Kim Harrison can cut a deal with Chan and write this awesome story in a way such that it is actually readable.

Overall a pretty bad read. There are some great characters and ideas here; I wanted to love this book. I did enjoy the tension between John and Emma, the mythology, and the action scenes. However, the writing is some of the worst I have read this year. The language is broken, awkward, and stilted. Chan repeats herself over and over using the same adjectives over and over and they are awkward sounding adjectives. The pacing is slow because of Chan’s language and writing struggles.

Maybe future works by Chan will be better written. Chan has some great ideas, she just can’t quite seem to get them on paper in a way that’s readable. Not recommended. Instead check out other urban fantasy such as books by Ilona Andrews, Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, or Jennifer Estep.(less)

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Jan 02, 2009 Nu rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Noone

Recommended to Nu by: Lythias

Shelves: books, fantasy

Rather long and dull. Obviously a start to a long trilogy as it felt that a lot of story angles and plot lines were being set up but none were addressed or resolved in the first book.

Lacked a sense of immersion as I never felt that any of the characters were ever truly in any peril and anything that surprised me (read:that wasn't predictable) was only due to the fact that it didn't make sense and came completely from left field.

I feel that anything that needs a 20 page glossary to explain the te...more

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Dec 16, 2011 Maye rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is full of vigour and non-stop adventure that has earned itself a well - deserved place in the top charts. Emma, one of the feminist heroes with the most attitude that rivals Hermione Granger of the Harry Potter series, is my absolute favourite character in the book, short of Simone Chen. Action-packed to the right amount so as to not throw the reader of course nor succumb to boredom. Contains intriguing Chinese mythology that is a vital part of this book; without it, the book would be...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Jenn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy, gods, demons

Set primarily in Hong Kong, WHITE TIGER is steeped in Chinese mythology and martial arts. It's the first book in the Dark Heavens trilogy, a series of books that follows Emma Donahoe, an Aussie working in Hong Kong as a nanny for John Chen, a very rich businessman. Her days are filled taking care of John's daughter Simone but it doesn't take long for Emma to realize there's more to John, Simone, and their household than at first glance. There may also be more to Emma than any of them realized (i...more Set primarily in Hong Kong, WHITE TIGER is steeped in Chinese mythology and martial arts. It's the first book in the Dark Heavens trilogy, a series of books that follows Emma Donahoe, an Aussie working in Hong Kong as a nanny for John Chen, a very rich businessman. Her days are filled taking care of John's daughter Simone but it doesn't take long for Emma to realize there's more to John, Simone, and their household than at first glance. There may also be more to Emma than any of them realized (including Emma herself) and we get to accompany Emma as she learns all about the hidden world of Chinese shen (gods/spirits) and begins to practice wudang.

I would consider this book to be urban fantasy but it's not as fast-paced as what you typically see in the genre these days. Instead, things are slowly revealed, letting the reader learn about this world in a very digestible manner. As much as I love an edge-of-your-seat-thrill-ride, I really appreciated the more moderate pace of WHITE TIGER since there's a lot of mythology that I wasn't familiar with. The author delivers it in very manageable bits, and always just enough that you have to know more! Even now, having finished the book, I feel like there is so much more to learn about this incredible world.

If that's not enough, Emma is also an atypical UF heroine. She's an Aussie in Hong Kong, working as a teacher and tutor, who eventually becomes a full-time nanny, not the usual career path we see in the genre. She's also slightly overweight, has average looks, and doesn't have any powers, just a keen mind and a good heart. Watching her fall in love with Simone and her father was lovely. Watching her figure out what exactly goes on in John's life was awesome because Emma's just so on the ball. She may be a newbie in the world of magic and demons but she's quick to understand the implications, and brave enough to stand by John and Simone when it would be much easier to run.

And then there's John. He is a very cool character. Because WHITE TIGER is told through Emma's eyes, we get to know John as she does and he is excellent. He's got so much depth and tragedy. I loved it but I don't want to say too much so that you can have the same sense of discovery I did!

WHITE TIGER is full of wonderful characters, amazing world building, and the promise of even greater things to come. I really do hope I've convinced you to give WHITE TIGER a try. I've put the rest of the trilogy on my Christmas wish list so here's hoping they're under the tree later this month. If not, you'll find me at the bookstore in the "C" section on Boxing Day!

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Nov 29, 2012 Georgina Martin (Bookz and Bitz) rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed, to-go-to-tumblr, kindle-read

The cover sold the book to me, it looked like a Jet Li extravaganza!

The story is of Emma an australian teacher in Hong Kong who is persuaded to become a full time nanny for a very strange family. Then follows the revelations of why they are a bit odd (no spoilers though...) although it was obvious anyway, quite how she didn't know for so long I don't know!

The writing was a little odd, I actually went to look up to see if it was translated into english, as at times it did appear to be. The same...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Zaphoddent rated it 1 of 5 stars

Juvenile! I was waiting after every sentence for the main character to giggle, bat her eyelashes at the handsome boss, swoon at his return smile and just be oh so taken with his irresistibility. She did all that and more. All the females in the book seem obsessed with upward mobility by hanging on tight to the handsome well off male characters. There’s the usual “I don’t like her boyfriend cause he gives me this vibe” and sure enough chapters later turns out the guy is a cad. Shocking! The main...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Nicole Luiken rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: sfantasy

It took me ages to read this one. It started off well: exotic Hong Kong setting, original Chinese fantasy elements, cool magic, sympathetic main character (Emma, an Australian nanny) and then I started to notice something annoying. SPOILER WARNING.

The same conversation would repeat. For the first 90 pages Emma would ask various people what her employer (John) did for a living. No one would tell her. "Later, Emma." No additional clues, no forward progress. By the time the truth was revealed both...more

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May 26, 2012 John Cleland rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who enjoys eastern mysticism and modern fantasy

Recommended to John by: just stumbled on it at B&N

Enjoyable read. Eastern myth & mysticism. Book one of this trilogy centers around a young Australian teacher, Emma Donahoe, hired as a nanny by a wealthy Hong Kong businessman, John Chen, to look after his 4 year-old daughter. John Chen is actually the celestial Dark Emperor of the North Wind, who is locked in an immortal battle with the forces of evil (Demons from Hell).

This is simple good versus evil with a hefty influence from romance novels (not my favorite part). It's a good story nicel...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Stacy rated it 2 of 5 stars

(possible spoilers ahead!)
I originally saw the cover, which was what attracted me to the book. Chinese mythology? Awesome!
Unfortunately for me, the book was too drawn out with too many characters that came and went and made me feel like they were meaningless when their names sounded far more important.
I couldn't bring myself to like Emma I can't believe that anyone can just accept that their boss is a Chinese God in an instant. She seems to be unafraid of absolutely anything and I just couldn'...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Courtney rated it 2 of 5 stars

I picked this book up because the title caught my attention. "White Tiger? One of the four guardians? Sweet!" Alright, my thought process wasn't exactly like that, but the gist is there. So I see that. There were also two other books out on the shelves, each with a name similar to the first. Hm. A series. Could be interesting.

Well, then I start reading. Let's get into that.

Emma Donahoe is an Australian living in Hong Kong. She finds herself in the employ of Mr. John Chen, a wealthy man who needs...more

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Oct 01, 2011 Bookmom rated it 3 of 5 stars

This urban fantasy is filled with Chinese mythology, gods, demons, magic and ordinary humans, including Emma, an Australian in Hong Kong who after working as a kindergarten teacher and private tutor for four years, accepts the job as full time nanny to four-year old Simone. Emma eventually comes to learn that Simone’s father, John Cheng, is actually Xuan Wu, god of the Northern Heavens and creator of all martial arts. Drained of energy in his human form, he’s only got a few years left to teach h...more This urban fantasy is filled with Chinese mythology, gods, demons, magic and ordinary humans, including Emma, an Australian in Hong Kong who after working as a kindergarten teacher and private tutor for four years, accepts the job as full time nanny to four-year old Simone. Emma eventually comes to learn that Simone’s father, John Cheng, is actually Xuan Wu, god of the Northern Heavens and creator of all martial arts. Drained of energy in his human form, he’s only got a few years left to teach his daughter what he can so that she can survive. And knowing he’s weak, members of the household are often under attack from demons.

Emma learns martial arts and how to work with energy in order to keep Simone safe, finding out that she’s actually gifted, as if she’d known this stuff before. She easily becomes one of John’s best students ever. She and John find themselves in love but can’t do a thing about it as he could easily drain her energy just by touching her. And when he returns to his True Form, a combination turtle/serpent, he doesn’t know how many years he’d have to be in that form to gain enough energy to come back to her.

This is a difficult book to review. The story itself is intriguing and has plenty of fight scenes. There’s also interaction with other gods and I enjoyed these aspects of the book. But I couldn’t connect with Emma and it’s difficult for me to feel empathy for a character without that connection. There were times when she’d either suddenly become upset or start laughing, yet there was no feel for her emotions leading up to that, so her sudden response is startling. Much of the story feels somewhat choppy as a lot is crammed into this rather large book.

And yet we don’t know much about Emma or her background. Why did she come to Hong Kong to begin with? We do get a scene where we meet her parents, sister and her sister’s family, but other than them questioning her about her situation, we learn nothing.

I can say that overall I enjoyed the book, but I doubt that I would go ahead and read the rest of the series.

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Sep 25, 2011 Kyle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites, fantasy

This book, and the rest of it's series, is amazing. People have been complaining about the fact that there is too much information being presented straight away, but as I did before I read this book, not everyone has knowledge of Chinese Mythology. I most certainly didn't know a thing, but now that I have read the book, I'm seriously interested in Chinese Mythology. Also, all the information that Kylie gives you pretty much adds up to your total understanding of the story. Without some of the in...more This book, and the rest of it's series, is amazing. People have been complaining about the fact that there is too much information being presented straight away, but as I did before I read this book, not everyone has knowledge of Chinese Mythology. I most certainly didn't know a thing, but now that I have read the book, I'm seriously interested in Chinese Mythology. Also, all the information that Kylie gives you pretty much adds up to your total understanding of the story. Without some of the information I would've be completely lost to what was happening and so would've a lot of people. I love this book, it's so interesting and mysterious at the beginning. To have a solid boring story about the same thing with no twist or surprise, it just makes it boring. People are complaining that the characters are too unrealistic and things that happen are just too far from reality for them. That's the point of a fiction book people! I commented below on someone else's review saying the same thing but I will do it for you again. Fiction books are meant to be unrealistic. If every art form on the planet was based completely on what was possible in reality, then we would be bored, and we would be boring. What's the thing that separates countries besides borders? Cultures. And a lot of these cultures are based on Myths and Gods. A lot of people think that God's existed and that's fair enough, but those cultures would be nothing without these 'unrealistic' gods. That's why they're called myths. Not Non-Fiction Stories. And Fiction books would not be anything without unrealistic characters, events and feel. It's the reason they're called Fiction books, not Non-Fiction. I believe this book is truly fantastic, and so is the rest of the series. The martial arts action is awesome, and the tension between the good guys and the demons is amazing. The storyline is incredible and elaborate, which expands into the rest of the series. I can't get enough of this series and will be reading it again in time for the release of the third trilogy. (less)

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Aug 06, 2011 Rhonda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wow I have never heard anything about the mythology of China. Just a little bits here and there. It was confusing for me to get it straight but sounds like others do to or they mean different things in different regions and different names. I enjoyed reading about them.
Emma is a kindergarden teacher in Hong Kong from down under. Emma has one private student she teaches english to Simone. Simone father is Mr. Chen a rich powerful man. The owner of the school Miss Kwok wants Emma to spy on Mr. Che...more Wow I have never heard anything about the mythology of China. Just a little bits here and there. It was confusing for me to get it straight but sounds like others do to or they mean different things in different regions and different names. I enjoyed reading about them.
Emma is a kindergarden teacher in Hong Kong from down under. Emma has one private student she teaches english to Simone. Simone father is Mr. Chen a rich powerful man. The owner of the school Miss Kwok wants Emma to spy on Mr. Chen. Emma resigns and is offered full time nannie position, which is a livein job for 5000 US dollars a month. Emma wants to know what his work is and is it legal. She is told that it is and after you have been here awhile he will tell her.
Simone is a 4 yr old girl, who is charming and loving. Who is excited to have Emma full time nannie. Emma has different lessons she is learning,piano, violin,horseback riding, english, martial arts and demon fighting.
Leo is called a black Lion he is over 6 foot a big black body gaurd. He will protect Simone with his life he feels quilty he could not save Simone mother life.
Mr. Chen you learn about him the whole book a little at a time. He is a shen. He is a general lived on the mountain thats not on this plain. Till he got Married and stayed humane to take care and protect Simone. He is part turtle and snake. He is dark Lord. Because he cant go to the mountain he is getting weaker and weaker thinks he has two more years left before he will have to leave this plain and has no idea how long it will be before he is strong enough to come back to earth. He is god of martial arts infact he invented most of them.
Emma fits right in as the nannie but it is driving her crazy not to know who or what John does. Who are the badguys. Why are they trying to kidnap Simmone. About 6 months after she is fulltime she learns the main secrets. She asks to learn martial arts to help protect Simone and herself. She is falling in love with John but can never be with him without killing herself.
The story draws you into the world of Chinese gods. They come and visit John and to be trained by him. It feels real and natural how the story unfolds it goes in great detail of life everyday and training of martial arts and demon fighting. It has a lot of love between the characters, family bonds, friends bonds and even romantic love. It has a lot of demon fighting and killing. Rich lifestyle, full of mythology of China.
Its a nice size book of 528 pages. Their are two more books in this series cant wait to read them. Would recommend this book. I was given this ebook in exchange of honest review.(less)

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Apr 12, 2011 Alison rated it 4 of 5 stars

White Tiger is a delightfully original story, not only blending east and west, but also blending fantasy and romance in ways I’ve never truly encountered before; Kylie Chan shows how perfectly it really can be done.

Although at times the dialogue seemed a little stilted, rather than being distracting it actually fit in with the story and location, giving credence to the language flow, dialogue and accent of Chinese speaking English. Of course, as the story progressed this became less and less not...more White Tiger is a delightfully original story, not only blending east and west, but also blending fantasy and romance in ways I’ve never truly encountered before; Kylie Chan shows how perfectly it really can be done.

Although at times the dialogue seemed a little stilted, rather than being distracting it actually fit in with the story and location, giving credence to the language flow, dialogue and accent of Chinese speaking English. Of course, as the story progressed this became less and less noticeable.

My introduction to Kylie Chan was actually through “Earth to Hell’, which forms part one of the “Journey to Wudang Trilogy’, but is also book four of this series, Dark Heavens. But as much as I enjoyed the writing style of that book, I found myself out of my depth trying to catch up on the plot and lacking in understanding around Chinese mythology, which meant I knew I was missing a lot of the understory. I am so delighted I went back and started with book one, White Tiger, as it beautifully introduces Chinese mythology, as well as properly introducing the characters.

Although this is usually promoted as Fantasy (or Urban Fantasy), one of the things that brought the characters to life was the romantic tension between nanny, Emma Donahoe, and her employer, John Chen; and it is a romantic tension beautifully written, rather than an attempt at a purely sexual tension.

The story is written in quite a forthright manner, but our Emma is a very forthright sort of woman, so the writing style really emphases her personality the whole way through the book. This is balanced by the almost staid nature of Mr Chen, the cuteness of his adorable daughter Simone, and the subtle humour brought into the mix by American bodyguard Leo.

There are quite a few sub plots going on, with Emma’s friends, with temple politics, demon in-fighting, but they’re all delivered as subtle background information, that acts as a teaser to the main plot. One major bonus is that despite the rather large number of characters that get introduced, there isn’t any confusion in trying to work out who’s who, which is often a problem in fantasy’s of this length.

If you’re after a fantasy that has a unique story, delightful characters, a bit of kick-butt action and a new mythology from the Greek/Norse styles we’ve seen in a lot of fantasy’s in the last few years, White Tiger is the perfect place to start; the series is only going to get better.
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Dec 02, 2009 Becky rated it 1 of 5 stars

I bought this book believing it would be a gripping, fast paced, action packed story with martial arts, Chinese culture and mythology.

Basically, it's not.

It's someone who has experienced chinese culture, and wanted to write a book about it. However, they cannot write a story and it has ended up reading more like a non fiction book.
The actual story is completely ridiculous; The development of the plot and the characters were stupid to the point where I was actually laughing at it. The protagon...more I bought this book believing it would be a gripping, fast paced, action packed story with martial arts, Chinese culture and mythology.

Basically, it's not.

It's someone who has experienced chinese culture, and wanted to write a book about it. However, they cannot write a story and it has ended up reading more like a non fiction book.
The actual story is completely ridiculous; The development of the plot and the characters were stupid to the point where I was actually laughing at it. The protagonist of the story is an Australian nanny who is reckless and completely divorced from reality, moving in with a man she barely knew, who was dangerous and armed with lethal weapons.

It would not happen in real life, a vulnerable woman living alone in Hong Kong would not be so stupid. I did like her Australian-isms but her personality was so 2-dimensional. There was nothing to her, she was as shallow as a puddle so it was just absurd that the Chinese God she worked for would fall in love with her! The fact that she could also take the most frightening and other-worldly situations in her stride made her even more distant from reality and unrelatable. She even managed to have hidden martial art talents which just made me laugh more. I was giggling when I read one part and said out loud "Oh come on! Is she going to turn out to be a God too!?" Next few passages, they explored that idea!

The God himself is static, 2-dimensional and talks like an encyclopedia. The dialogue between the characters is almost like the author is trying to stuff in as much information as possible, which makes it completely unnatural. The only real characters I liked were the bodyguard Leo, whose backstory is never truely explored (Which REALLY annoyed me), and the child, only because she had the potential to be something alot better.

I literally had to force myself to finish this book, purely because I wanted to see if there was any salvagable part of the story that I could enjoy. Turns out there wasn't.

Basically, Kylie Chan is not a storyteller, but someone who has a profound knowledge of Chinese culture and would do so much better with non fiction writing. I almost want to read the next books just to see where the child's story will go, but I wouldn't waste my money.(less)

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Mar 06, 2013 Dan Leduke rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: terrible-books-i-have-read

This is one of those books that while I read it I didn't think much about it and just mindlessly drove through. On reflection, I realized I had just read through Twilight: Chinese Mythology Edition.

Stop me when this sounds familiar:
1) Otherwise unremarkable girl (read: Mary Sue) encounters attractive guy
2) Guy has mysterious but poorly concealed supernatural tendencies
3) They fall in love for no clearly defined reason
4) Once they do, they can't be together physically because supernatural powers...more This is one of those books that while I read it I didn't think much about it and just mindlessly drove through. On reflection, I realized I had just read through Twilight: Chinese Mythology Edition.

Stop me when this sounds familiar:
1) Otherwise unremarkable girl (read: Mary Sue) encounters attractive guy
2) Guy has mysterious but poorly concealed supernatural tendencies
3) They fall in love for no clearly defined reason
4) Once they do, they can't be together physically because supernatural powers would harm her

It goes on and on, really. The only plus side to this comparison is at least they're in a fairly unusual (for a western written PNR book) of China.

Emma as a character is annoying. She runs in circles for the first half of the book because she can't be told about the really really obvious fact that Mr Chen is a Chinese deity. Then when she finally is told she pretty much instantly integrates with that world, picks up martial and magical arts with pretty much no effort (which is, for me, where she REALLY starts running into Mary Sue territory) somehow becomes irresistible to the millennia old Chinese immortal and the envy of all the other women in the book, and magically acquires a masters degree by virtue of "oh, I was totally doing that the whole time in addition to everything else despite it never being mentioned prior to this moment."

The writing isn't great, but I wouldn't call it terrible either, it managed to keep me turning pages through it at least. I would rate it two stars, but the lying cover and blurb annoy me to no end. Seriously, here's a bit of the cover blurb: "fantasy aficionados and die-hard action lovers alike will no doubt be expecting something exceptional and Australian author Kylie Chan delivers big time!"

B. S. So very much. I'm willing to admit this is probably okay PNR for the Twilight pablum eating crowd, but it is not of interest to anyone who would call themselves either an aficionado of fantasy or a die-hard action fan. I picked this up expecting a martial arts adventure and got a damn romance with precious few martial arts moments, and they largely consisted of Mary Sue to the rescue!(less)

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Feb 10, 2013 zjakkelien rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, urban

I happen to be the kind of person who likes slow books. I enjoy descriptions of daily life, and I don't need the action exploding around me. My feelings about White tiger are a bit ambiguous though. The book is slow, albeit for a definition of slow that includes fights with demons, but in some respects it felt too slow even for me, where the aforementioned fights with demons became too repetitive. So how come, even though I think the book was too slow, I still like it? I thought the love affair...more

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Aug 31, 2011 Christina (A Reader of Fictions) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley, dropped-series-graveyard

Well, I haven't read an adult fantasy romance in a while. This one was pretty interesting and, by and large, I enjoyed it, but I do feel compelled to mention that this is more about the fantasy and less about the romance (in the harlequin, sexy fabio on the cover sense). If you are in this for sexy scenes, you will be woefully disappointed. They have to happen sometime, but not yet.

The plot of this novel was largely setup, with little actually resolved, although there is a definite narrative arc...more

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Aug 18, 2011 Pam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Emma is an Australian in Hong Kong. She’s been working as an English teacher at a local Kindergarten as well as taking on private clients. One of these clients is Simone the four year old daughter of a very wealthy Hong Kong businessman. When Emma quits her kindergarten job, Mr. Chen, Simone’s Dad, hires her as Simone’s full-time, live-in, nanny.

Upon moving into Mr. Chen’s home, Emma starts to discover strange goings on…Leo, Mr. Chen’s driver is actually more like a body guard, and Mr. Chen’s la...more Emma is an Australian in Hong Kong. She’s been working as an English teacher at a local Kindergarten as well as taking on private clients. One of these clients is Simone the four year old daughter of a very wealthy Hong Kong businessman. When Emma quits her kindergarten job, Mr. Chen, Simone’s Dad, hires her as Simone’s full-time, live-in, nanny.

Upon moving into Mr. Chen’s home, Emma starts to discover strange goings on…Leo, Mr. Chen’s driver is actually more like a body guard, and Mr. Chen’s late wife was murdered on Leo’s watch. Mr. Chen teaches martial arts and basically has a do-go and full complement of very sharp weapons in his home. Mr. Chen always takes a sword with him. His students are not allowed to speak to Emma under any circumstances or face the wrath of Mr. Chen. Emma knows something isn’t quite normal about Mr. Chen, but no one will answer her questions. Meanwhile Mr. Chen is realizing there is something a bit different about Emma, something he can’t quite explain. Gods and Goddesses, demons and kings, might and magic all come into play.

I found this book incredibly hard to put down…to the point where I got all of four hours of sleep last night. White Tiger is based on Chinese mythology, which I knew nothing about, and it totally drew me in. Maybe I am just a sucker for these modern re-telling of very old stories.

I loved the way Ms. Chan slowly reveals everything, and the frustration that it causes Emma. The stereotypical dance between the man trying to “protection” the woman, and the woman showing the man just what could have gone wrong in his protection scenario. The yin and yang of the situation, basically. I so enjoyed the characters! Simone at 4-5 is delightful and wise beyond her years, but then what do you expect from a child who is half God. Bai Hu gave fantastic comic relief in the most trying of circumstances. Leo, was the uber-man, and ironically gay. I loved the irony, and also was really impressed by the theme of family that runs through the story…how everyone in Mr. Chen’s household is loved as family and accepted for who they are, be it a 6’6” gay bodyguard, or a tame demon trying to gain humanity.

I did have some issues with the story. The dialog was a bit choppy and I didn’t understand the purpose of the storyline with April and Andy, it seemed totally pointless. There were a few times during the story where Emma offered something, and was met with abject horror, but this reader never understood what was so wrong with Emma’s offer. Case in point…I believe it was the first time Emma killed a demon with her chi, Mr. Chen was incredibly weak and Emma drew on her chi to offer it to Mr. Chen. Mr. Chen and Leo reacted with great disdain, but for the life of me I couldn’t understand why. Rereading the scene, then the whole chapter, still didn’t answer that question for me.

It seems, from other reviews, that people either love this book or they don’t. Put me in the loved it column. I will be waiting for the next book in this trilogy. I understand this was originally released in Australia some time ago? If so, I hope the publishers don’t make me wait too long for book 2.
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Jan 24, 2012 Nancy Lorenzen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lots of potential, greatly disappointing

This book is like popcorn. It's hard to stop eating even though you know it's not good for you, and at some point you'll realize that you should have stopped some time ago.

There's are some really interesting ideas in here, especially the idea of using Chinese mythology for urban fantasy instead of the usual vampire thing, but really, it's still cut and paste urban fantasy. We have a smart-ass first person viewpoint from a female main character who skates...more

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Mar 15, 2010 Lexie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-fantasy, review-blog, genre-romance, genre-mythology, books-owned

Ordinarily there's a couple of things in White Tiger that would make me get frustrated pretty quickly. Rapid fire information dump, multiple radical changes in a character's life in less than a dozen pages and abrupt transitions. What saves White Tiger however comes down to 2 important details: 1) I've been waiting for this series to have domestic publication in America for four years and 2) contextually a lot is explained because of the character's personality. I probably would have forgiven Ch...more Ordinarily there's a couple of things in White Tiger that would make me get frustrated pretty quickly. Rapid fire information dump, multiple radical changes in a character's life in less than a dozen pages and abrupt transitions. What saves White Tiger however comes down to 2 important details: 1) I've been waiting for this series to have domestic publication in America for four years and 2) contextually a lot is explained because of the character's personality. I probably would have forgiven Chan almost anything, which probably makes me sound like an unreliable reviewer, but I felt I should be honest about that.

What exactly made me want this series like burning? The premise for one--Chinese mythology, martial arts and kick ass heroine. Though Emma has a lot of rough edges to her characterization--inconsistent decision making, demanding attitude, lack of listening skills during very important moments--she has a very appealing personality to me. She loves kids and wants to do her best by them, she's loyal to her friends, she's inquisitive and understanding. She is also one of the few heroines I've come across who, though she states it at least 5 times in the beginning, doesn't bemoan her state of 'plainness'. Does she wish she was as sophisticated looking as her friends? Sometimes, but she's comfortable in her casual clothes and with who she is. Later, when given the chance, she improves herself through hardwork and a chance to "show off" that she could clean up well.

My total lack of studying in regards to Chinese Mythology and practices bites me in the butt throughout this novel. I have a very, very limited knowledge of Chinese Mythology and I feel that if I understood it a little better I would have gotten some of the more subtle jokes. This book made me want to learn more and expand my knowledge and that is always a delight.

The cast of characters is a little large, but with few exceptions they are easily distinguishable from each other. I took a particular liking to Bai Hui (the White Tiger) and Simone actually, and laughed whenever Bai Hui got up to his tricks. I had, actually still have, severe doubts about Emma's friend April and her "Auntie" Kitty Kwok (Emma's former employer). As for the end of this book it seemed to resolve itself in a perfectly mundane way, but the entire thing nagged at me. April was just a little too insistent about Emma talking "Auntie" Kitty and visiting Emma at Mr. Chen's place. Kitty for that matter was highly suspicious--unless I'm missing something and Emma was the Best Employee Ever, I couldn't understand why Kitty would practically harass Emma about returning to work for her almost a year after she resigned (for very legitimate reasons). Those suspicions may be resolved in one of the two future books in the trilogy, but until that its irksome.

I read an ARC of the title, so I can't say with proper authority, but the transitions were sometimes very abrupt and without any indication that it was a new stream of thought or action. When I'm able to compare the ARC with the finished copy I'll come back and revisit this complaint.

My only real complaint with Emma as a character, that I hope is different in the next book, Red Phoenix, is that Emma would make a firm decision, such as respecting Mr. Chen's wishes, and then in the same chapter push him and ignore his protests. She came off seeming very insincere and wishy-washy for this reason and made me want to smack her around a little. Though to be truthful Mr. Chen wasn't much better, but he at least realized he wasn't being very direct and clear.

Unfortunately I know, in a general way, what happens by the end of this trilogy because I read the blurb about the next trilogy for Dark Heaven (Journey to Wudang Book 1: Earth to Hell) and learned a couple of spoilers. I have some suspicions about the nature of who Emma is however and hope I am correct.(less)

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Feb 03, 2012 Jeffrey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, read-in-2012

There are some books that I have difficulty summarizing in one statement, books that aren't necessarily about anything in particular, but instead explore emotion or thought or being. This is not one of those books. In short: "Jane Eyre, the Hong Kong Action Movie" is a fun tale of an Australian woman, named Emma who is hired to become the governess for a mysterious Chinese widower's daughter.

Soon her life is put at risk as she becomes closely involved with the family's affairs and finds herself...more

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Aug 30, 2011 Kara-karina rated it 5 of 5 stars

How can I describe the sense of wonder I experienced when I finished this book? I can not. This was a wonderful, glorious journey, but this book is not for everyone.

I think that people who like me grew up on enormous amount of Hong Kong movies will love it. People who went to Asia and saw with their own eyes that alien for Westerners multi-layered culture will love it. For everyone else it's a gamble.

I spent 9 months in Asia, and still pretty much don't know anything of the culture and way of th...more

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Jul 06, 2011 David rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Set in Hong Kong, this book tells the story of Emma Donahoe, an Australian nanny, and her new employer, a very rich Hong Kong businessman. The blurb talks about the possible targeting of his daughter Simone by kidnappers and Emma's entry into a world of martial arts, magic and extreme danger.

Emma is a bossy young women who thinks that the world should revolve around her. In spite of the fact that she has absolutely no personal charm, the world seems to comply. Inexplicable really. She would have...more

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Feb 17, 2011 Starfire rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, urban-fantasy, martial-arts, mythology, 6-10, romance

OK, I can see why many of the reviewers below complained so bitterly about this book. It *does* read as though written by a fairly young author who's writing her very first novel; and especially towards the last third of the book, the Mary-Sueing with the main character (whom everyone loves and everyone is always praising, and who's just perfect at martial arts and energy work to the point that *I* wanted to slap the author upside the head) starts bordering on obnoxious.

And I also understand to...more OK, I can see why many of the reviewers below complained so bitterly about this book. It *does* read as though written by a fairly young author who's writing her very first novel; and especially towards the last third of the book, the Mary-Sueing with the main character (whom everyone loves and everyone is always praising, and who's just perfect at martial arts and energy work to the point that *I* wanted to slap the author upside the head) starts bordering on obnoxious.

And I also understand too the frustration of the reviewer who commented that the main characters never *really* seem to be in danger... the main threats of the book (demons) can't *actually* physically hurt the female protagonist or the child she's meant to be protecting - and when three of the other key characters are badly injured (or killed), they just end up healed or brought back to life again fairly easily, so there's just no tension there.

I think a big part of the reader disappointment the book has generated is that it's woefully miscategorised. It's billed as a martial-arts, mythological urban fantasy. It's not. It's actually primarily a romance (with a romantic A plot that's, let's be honest, no worse than many paranormal romances I've picked up in the past), with a little martial arts and a LOT of chinese mythology thrown in for good measure. And really, the romance was the only plot thread that had any tension attached to it.

This is a book where I really enjoyed the worldbuilding and the mythological background. It was different, interesting, and made me want to learn more about the mythology behind the story. And there are a whole load of very interesting characters in the story that just beg to be explored more deeply, that, had Ms Chan's storytelling skills had a little more sophisticated back when she wrote this, she could have done some awesome work with.

And yet, despite all the complaints above, some part of me did enjoy the book enough to suck down the first 400 pages of it in 24 hours. On a workday. I think maybe it was the potential I could see in it. I have a feeling that IF Ms Chan actually develops her skills as a writer, and her ability to characterise in 3D, this series could become amazing - to the point that I'm willing to at least try Book 2.

But yes, if had to describe this one, it would be "Mortal Kombat meets Labyrinth in downtown Hong Kong", and I'm giving it a mere 6/10 because of the issues mentioned above. Caveat Lector (and Orannia, I strongly suspect that between the Mary-Sueing and the way that the heroine becomes invincibly kick-ass towards the end that, no, this is NOT a you book).(less)

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Feb 19, 2013 Sarah rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

I really wanted to like this book. The concept is fascinating, and the world Kylie Chan has created is replete with depth, potential, and a wealth of interesting characters. But the writing is just so bloody awful! I made it about 3/4 of the way through and couldn't force myself to sludge through the rest of it. I normally don't have a problem with less-than-stellar writing, but between the endless repetitions, terrible pacing, huge assumptions of reader knowledge and awkward construction, I jus...more

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Dec 31, 2011 Tara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle-sale, fantasy, paranormal-romance

This review was originally posted here on my blog, Hey, Tara.

What drew me to this book was that it was based around Chinese mythology – a subject that I’ve always found somewhat interesting. I’d been looking at it for a while, and when it went into the Kindle sale, I downloaded it immediately!

The story centers around Emma Donahoe, an Australian living in Hong Kong who ends up becoming a full-time live-in nanny working for Mr. Chen and his delightful young daughter, Simone. However, things in t...more This review was originally posted here on my blog, Hey, Tara.

What drew me to this book was that it was based around Chinese mythology – a subject that I’ve always found somewhat interesting. I’d been looking at it for a while, and when it went into the Kindle sale, I downloaded it immediately!

The story centers around Emma Donahoe, an Australian living in Hong Kong who ends up becoming a full-time live-in nanny working for Mr. Chen and his delightful young daughter, Simone. However, things in the Chen household are not as normal as they first appear, and Emma ends up discovering that her new employer is the Chinese god of the Northern Heavens. Oh, and then there’s the minor fact that all the demons in hell are after him and Simone.

Basically, the first half of the book is about Emma getting used to her new situation, and her employers eccentricities and habits. And there’s a lot of passages featuring Emma asking obvious question after obvious question (Mr Chen’s household are awful at keeping their mouths closed) and then being told she’s very perceptive, even though it was really, really obvious. As you can probably tell, I was less than impressed with this.

There’s also the issue that a lot of the story seems to focus around Emma/Simone going somewhere, getting attacked by Demons (often disguised as normal Chinese humans) and having to be rescued by Leo the driver/bodyguard. It seemed to be a but of a formula devised to add action into an otherwise slightly dull plot, just taking the reader through the first few months/years of Emma’s employment, and her finding out that her employer is a god.

To be fair, the second half of the book was definitely better. Admittedly, Emma moves from asking questions to trying to initiate a relationship with Mr. Chen, and this can get tedious, especially as the guy very much appears not to be interested, though this does turn out not to be the case. However, if you look past all of that, the plot definitely picks up. The storyline starts moving on, and I enjoyed it a lot more.

It’s easy to tell that this one is the start of a series, as it’s building up to something bigger, and that’s okay, it’s just a very long book for that. I could have done with a lot less in the first half of the book, really. Emma turned into a pretty good protagonist, though I have to admit that at first I really wasn’t keen on her.

This has a nice element of paranormal romance, and was pretty different to most things I’ve previously read. I’d recommend it for people who like their fantasy a little bit different, are interested in Chinese Mythology or those who like a bit of action in their reads. I’ll definitely be picking up the next one, and hoping that the pacing is a little faster than this one!
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Feb 19, 2011 Tahlia Newland rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I loved this. Set in Hong Kong, it moves from a very normal situation deeper and deeper into the world of Taoist Gods and demons. Great stuff. It would make an awesome KUng Fu movie.

The heroine is gutsy and very Australian in her openness and directness and the other characters are all just plain gorgeous. Strong and oozing love and devotion to each other. That's a very powerful state of mind/heart. I finished this one and had to go out and get the next in the series straight away. I just couldn...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Noor Jahangir rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The first thing you notice about White Tiger is the size of the tome. It's 528 pages long and much of it seems like padding, although I'm sure the author would argue that it was needed to develop the characters more fully.
White Tiger is an urban fantasy that uses the rich mythology of China and it is the clear that the author has researched the subject in depth and has done her best to do it justice. Much of it is based in Hong Kong, and again the author's familiarity with the city shines throu...more The first thing you notice about White Tiger is the size of the tome. It's 528 pages long and much of it seems like padding, although I'm sure the author would argue that it was needed to develop the characters more fully.
White Tiger is an urban fantasy that uses the rich mythology of China and it is the clear that the author has researched the subject in depth and has done her best to do it justice. Much of it is based in Hong Kong, and again the author's familiarity with the city shines through, but often led me to wondering what the Cantonese and Mandarin words meant. There was a glossary at the back of the book, but having read it in ebook format, it is a pain to bookmark, then turn to the glossary page and then return to the page you're reading and then a few lines later to have to do it again. It is one of the advantages of physical books, but honestly, even then it would probably still be a pain.
White Tiger is the first book in a trilogy, with each of the books named after one of the four winds (Red Phoenix and Blue Dragon being the other two books in the trilogy). Bai Hu, the White Tiger makes a number of appearances (as do the in the book but he is hardly central to the plot, so it does seem like the choice of titles was simply for effect. The fourth wind, the Black Turtle however, does play a big part in the story.
The story revolves around Emma, an Aussie nanny who is working in Hong Kong, and has been employed by Ah Wu, the Dark Lord of the Northern Heavens and the North Wind (Black Turtle), to look after his human daughter, Simone. As the story progresses, Emma uncovers her employer's secret and enters further into a world full of Shen (Immortals) and learns that her charge has been targeted by demons and that a war between Heaven and Hell is being waged on Earth. She also discovers that she is helplessly in love with her enigmatic employer.
The USP of this book is definitely Chan's take on Chinese lore. However, her knowledge of Hong Kong and familiarity with the martial arts gives the book added flavour. The slow exposition of the unrequited love story on the other hand became just a little bit sickly towards the end, with not enough sexual sizzle to keep it interesting. My main bugbear with the book has to be the length. Too much time is wasted with Emma travelling around Hong Kong meeting friends for a gossip. Also, it seems ridiculous that the Dark Lord would allow Emma and his daughter to leave the protection of his home so many times despite them getting attacked by demons on almost every occasion.
If you are willing to look past the padding and that minor plot issue, this is a rather unique adventure through Chinese mythology and martial arts. I will most certainly consider reading the other's in the series. ****(less)

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White Tiger (Dark Heavens #1)

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