Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck

3/5 Stars

Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck
Publisher: Sterling
Publication Date: January 11, 2011

Review:

I gave myself a little breather and waited almost a month to write this review. The ending clouded my mind and irked me so much that I was tempted to write one of those scathing reviews that everyone seems to enjoy reading but gets nothing out of. Instead here I am taking a deep breath and approaching this in a calm collected fashion.

Tiger’s Curse follows the main character Kelsey who after losing her parents is living with a very nice foster family, Kelsey somehow lucks into working for a circus over the summer taking care of the Tiger. At first Kelsey is a little apprehensive but soon forms a very close bond with the Tiger. This was actually my favorite part of the story. Not the relationship with the Tiger, the working at a Circus part. I kind of have a secret (or not so secret now) obsession with circuses and I’m glad they are making more of an appearance in YA. But sadly Kelsey’s time at the circus comes to an end when the Tiger is sold to Mr. Kadam. Thus begins Kelsey’s adventures through India and a giant quest to lift the curse that Ren, the Tiger/Man is under.

I feel like India should have been my favorite part of the story, the descriptions were rich and interesting. I enjoyed feeling like I was in a different part of the world. I also love that Ren and Kelsey have to go through an epic quest to figure this whole curse thing out and that involves a lot of Indian religious mythology. But alas, it was not. I actually felt like the story dragged on at certain parts and sped through others. Then half way through the epic adventure that is supposed to bring our main characters together Kelsey turns in to a completely different person!! I person I could not stand reading about, I have never just started detesting a main character in the middle of a novel, this is a first for me. One second Kelsey is mature, smart, interesting, basically everything I look for in a solid lead and the next she is annoying, acting too young for how old she actually is, and is just plain dumb! Needless to say after this shift took place I was completely distracted from reading and couldn’t wait to be done (not a feeling you want to have when reading a book).

Overall Tiger’s Curse was a pretty good read. Had Kelsey not changed so much in the last 100 pages I gladly would have continued the series straight away, I was enjoying the relationship between her and Ren and even liked the addition of Kishan, Ren’s brother. I think eventually I will continue this series but I’m going to give myself a break for a while and see if I can stop being mad at Kelsey before I try. 

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