K. Arsenault Rivera Books In Order

Publication Order of Their Bright Ascendency Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

K. Arsenault Rivera is a bestselling American author. She was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rice and moved to New York City with her family. When not managing her nutritional supplement store in Brooklyn, Rivera is an active participant in the RPG community from which she drew her inspiration in writing her first novel, The Tigers Daughter.

Rivera became a published author in 2012 when The Tiger’s Daughter, the first novel in Their Bright Ascendancy series was published.

The Tiger’s Daughter

The Tiger’s Daughter is the first book in Their Bright Ascendency series by K. Arsenault Rivera. It is evident that when you hear that a given author has written a story that takes place in a world that was inspired by continent or count, that your interest is peaked. You will be eager to know how the author is going to integrate the elements of fantasy while giving the clues that the story was inspired by a continent or even a country. For instance take an example of the Shadow and Bone trilogy authored by Leigh Bardugo that features distinct continents that have inspiration from China, Russia and some European countries and even a combination of Africa and America. Then there is also another good example of a novel by Rin Chupeco, The Bone Witch which has lots of inspiration from many countries more so from the East/Southeast Asian countries. Then there is the Dandelion Dynasty series authored by Ken Liu which received its inspiration from China. Several other fantasy narratives take inspirations from different countries because the authors have a fascination of these countries but also want to present unique cast of characters, and this all together creates a unique and extraordinary fantasy world.

However, as always, with each single inspiration, tons of research needs to be done. It is evident that you cannot write a novel where a particular country inspires it, and yet you know absolutely nothing about it. It requires patience and research to have a proper knowledge of the country that one is writing about. There are so many aspects of a country such as its people, religion, their culture, food, traditions and how the people act. It is a lot, but it is bet do some research before you sit and write something about a country in a fantasy story. For instance, Leigh did her detailed research her series, and it is evidently clear that Ken and Rin are of Asian descent and she had an insight of their culture and country when writing their novels.

K. Arsenault Rivera first novel The Tiger’s Fantasy is a Mongolian inspired fantasy novel. The book narrates the story of two young warriors who are on a journey to fight and save the world. Right from the start, you got a book inspired by Mongolia (with some little bit of China and Japan), two well-trained warriors who are both lesbians. This means that not only that K. Arsenault Rivera has created an excellent narrative, but she has also taken care of the LGBT rights.

In The Tigers Daughter, the Hokkaran empire has been able to conquer every kingdom within their reach. However, the rulers of this mighty kingdom fail to notice the imminent darkness arising within its people. Moreover, now within their borders, the walls begin to fall; their villages crumble to demons coming out of the forests. Far away on the silver steppes, the remaining tribes of the Qorin, a nomadic tribe protect their people after having made a treaty with the empires, resulting in the exchange of inheritance via the dynasties.

It is up to two brave young warriors brought up together across the border since their foreseen and prophesied births to save the entire world from the approaching demons. This is a tale of an infamous Qorin warrior named Barsalayaa Shefali, the spoiled warrior empress O-Shizuka and power that mighty power that can advance through time and space to save their world from the encroaching evil.

The first novel in Their Bright Ascendency series by K Arsenault Rivera is a brilliant read and a great start to this promising and exciting series. The primary focus of this entire narrative is the two lesbian couples. The love that exists between Shizuka and Shefali is so robust and reading the novel you can see that the two are destined to be together right from the time they were born. At first, Shizuka’s first reaction to her mate Shefali is not exactly romantic, but they somehow try and make up for it. The story does not deviate from the relationship that these two characters share despite the main plot going through distinct directions.

The author has done a brilliant job in detailing the settings in both its history and its present. Shefali and Shizuka come from the very different background. For instance, Shefali comes out from an outcast tribe known as Qorin while Shuzuka comes from royalty and she is destined to be the future empress. However, due to their mother’s bonds, the two girls end up spending their lives together.

The story about the story is entirely different but the relationship between the two is quite high, and they are to team up and fight the demons threatening to bring doomsday. There are also aspects of science fiction, high fantasy, and magic realism. The romance in this first installment is well crafted and presented, following the love between Shizuka and Shefali who had wrestled each other half to death as children but later become each other’s most trusted companions as they advanced in age. The plot is well and neatly crafted and will keep you hooked from the first page to the last. Furthermore there the author added some subplots to ensure that you as the reader get to know more about the characters, the setting and the initial cause of the demon invasion.

In the vastness of the steppes and the center of golden palaces, Arsenault River, the author of The Tiger’s Daughter placed two opposites attracted to each other like moths to the light. The characterization is brilliantly done. O-Shizuka also was known as Empress Yui is overly spoiled, confident, rampant of a royal but has a fierce protective sense of her people and above all her lover. Shefali, on the other hand, is shy and an observant warrior. There are diverse elements featured in the novel such as same-sex romance, different ethnicities which are kind of interesting and unique to the series.