Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

[rmc28]

(crossposted from my own blog)

This is a short novella: Amazon says 106 pages, I read it in less than an afternoon. It's dense and bittersweet and comes to a ... hopeful, if not necessarily a happy ending. Thanh is a princess of Binh Hải, returned two years ago from a childhood and early adulthood as a "guest" (hostage) in powerful, northern Ephteria. Now Ephteria has come to put pressure on her home country, and Thanh's former lover, the Princess Eldris, is in the negotiating party for personal as well as expansionary motives. Meanwhile Thanh is haunted by the dreams of the fire that destroyed the Ephterian palace during her stay, and small flames that burn impossibly in her presence.

Highly recommended.