The Flutterby Room

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Review: Tiger's Quest

Tiger's Quest  - Colleen Houck

TIGER’S QUEST is the second book in Colleen Houck’s superb series THE TIGER SAGA. It tells the story of Kelsey an average teen who comes across two Indian princes who have been cursed to spend their lives as tigers. In TIGER’S CURSE (review) Kelsey and Ren embark on a quest to break the curse, and along the way come across Ren’s brother Kishan. In TIGER‘S QUEST, which continues not long after the end of the first book, Kelsey undertakes the second quest with Kishan.

 

TIGER’S QUEST takes us back to where it all started, Oregon. After the events of TIGER’S CURSE Kelsey is trying to fit back into her normal life, and forget about Ren and her feelings for him. I really enjoyed reading Kelsey trying to fit back into her old life, even if things weren’t quite the same as before – the events of TIGER’S CURSE had changed her. But what I really liked about this section of TIGER’S QUEST is that when Ren does make an appearance, Kelsey doesn’t just fall straight back into Ren’s arms – instead, she makes him work for her heart. I thought that this was a really brilliant move on Houck’s part. Too often in YA – and to be fair, romance fiction as a whole – the heroine falls back into the hero’s arms with very little work on his part. Although Ren’s presence haunts all of the book, it is Kelsey and Kishan who embark on the second quest – so most of the book is focused on them completing this task.

 

As with the first book in the series, TIGER’S QUEST is narrated by Kelsey – so we only ever know what she knows. Kelsey, Ren, and Kishan make for some interesting characters – and Houck never forgets that Ren and Kishan come from a different time, so a lot of modern things (like dating) have to be explained to them. I think Houck handles this aspect of the book really well; she explains enough to remind you that they aren’t from this time, without it being too excessive.

 

The plot of the book is quite a complicated one, and I will confess that at times I found it both dull and overwhelming. Houck presents the reader with a lot of information from the revelation of the second prophecy. There are mentions of Shangri-la, Noah’s ark, and Norse mythology just to name a few topics that are brushed upon. I’m not sure Houck could have dealt with the information in a better manner, but I felt it was a lot to grasp. That being said, a lot of it was interesting both in terms of the topics themselves and how Houck used them in the plot of the novel.

 

Overall, I think TIGER’S QUESTION is a reasonable second novel and a decent addition to THE TIGER’S SAGA. I am interested to see how things will proceed in the third book in the series. If you are a fan of paranormal romance and are looking for something a little different then you should check this series out.

 

First published on The Flutterby Room.

Source: http://theflutterbyroom.com/2014/04/17/review-tigers-quest