Book Review - Tiger's Curse

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

Title: Tiger's Curse: Tiger Saga Book 1
Author: Colleen Houck
Genre: Fiction / Fantasy
Series: Tiger Saga

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Kelsey gets a temporary job working at the Circus; part of her job is to help take care of the white tiger. They form a bond. When the white tiger is purchased by a group in India, to return him to his home land, she is offered a chance to go along as a care-keeper for the tiger. Approval gained from family and paperwork done, she finds herself in India, amongst a people who are strange to her and speak a different language. Then the surprises start. It turns out that the white tiger is actually a prince ... who has been cursed. This story tells part of the adventures of what happens in the attempts to turn the tiger back into a two-legger.

Pros: There is a lot of research which went into the 'how it is to live' in India. The foods, the topography, the interactions of different castes -- all of this feels accurate (as well as I can tell without having lived there myself). It's a good story line and the characters are fine and fun to visualize and imagine.

Cons: It feels like the author is trying a bit hard to throw in aspects of writing from books like Twilight and other 'popular' series. I'm not sure that I quite believe in Kelsey and her situation and how she acts and reacts to different occurrences. It just seems a bit 'precious'.

I did read the first book all the way through, though, and found it very much fun and exciting. There are more books of the series and, while I tried the second one, Tiger's Quest: Tiger Saga book 2 and didn't finish it (ended up skimming it and then going to the end to see how it ends and just put it aside .... to return to the library ... for now) that doesn't mean that some time in the future I won't give it and the series another go at it and this time love it.