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Book Review: Tiger's Curse, by Colleen Houck

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Book Review: Tiger's Curse, by Colleen Houck

Book's Description from amazon.com: The last thing teenager Kelsey Hayes thought she'd be doing over the summer was meeting Ren, a mysterious white tiger and cursed Indian prince! When she learns she alone can break the Tiger's curse, Kelsey's life is turned upside-down. The unlikely duo journeys halfway around the world to piece together an Indian prophecy, find a way to free the man trapped by a centuries-old spell, and discover the path to their true destiny.

The Review:

What a huge disappointment!

When I first read book's description on the backcover of Colleen Houck's Tiger's Curse, the first book of an adventure fantasy series which roofed itself both on the modern day India and the Hindu mythological world of curses, demons and deities; I was intrigued and wanted nothing more than to read the book. Adventure! Hindu mythology! Goddess Durga! What can possibly go wrong with all these supposedly epic setting?  

But oh boy, I'm so wrong! As it turned out, almost everything in Tiger's Curse leaves a bad taste in my mouth after I finished reading it.

Our problems begins with the 'heroine', Kelsey Hayes. One of the main reasons I dislike her is that she sounds like she's an airhead teenager for most of the time, and I don't find her to be interesting or likable. Since most of the book is narrated by her first person point of view, I also found that her brain is filled with nothing but "Oh he's so hot! Oh he's so good-looking! My heart is breathing fast! Is he really interested in me!? Oh no he can't really be interested because I'm not good enough!" and some other similar nonsense. All these remind me so strongly of Bella freaking Swan from Twilight.

Plus instead of showing her strength and strong will, for most of the time Kelsey plays her part as a useless damsel in distress who needs to be saved by the powerful male lead (namely Ren). God damn it! What really makes me angry is that according to the author, Kelsey is supposed to be Durga's Chosen One! And I don't believe for one second that Durga, a warrior Goddess, would favor a weakling such as her!

The cursed brothers, Ren(Dhiren) and Kishan play their parts as the eye-candies who drool over the 'heroine'. Ren, the male lead of the story, is one of those Too Good To Be True male leads. I don't have much to say about him because spending time to comment on such a paper-thinned character would be a wast of my time and effort.

We are also being introduced to Kishan, Ren's younger brother who was always viewed as the second best, who also once fell tragically in love with his older brother's bride-to-be in the past. With such a backstory and the conflict he had with Ren, Kishan could have become an interesting, three dimensional character, but sadly the author did NOTHING about his potentiality throughout the entire book. He does nothing but being The Bad Boy who flirts with the main girl, what a waste!

The first part of the book does little to build up Kelsey's character and her relationship with Ren--neither as a tiger nor a young man. Supposedly there's a bond between them but I JUST DON'T BELIEVE IT FOR A SECOND. The bond between them is supposed to be so special to the point that Kelsey becomes willing to entrust herself to a dangerous tiger and a mysterious Indian man (Mr. Kadam). But sadly there's no special event, no development to make the bonding actually happen. So how can I believe Kelsey, an untrained 18 years old girl, comes to know Ren-the-tiger FOR JUST TWO WEEKS, and then the next thing we know she's flying across half the glob to India with Ren, with the invitation from an Indian man whom she barely knows!? And her foster parents (who supposedly care about Kelsey) just said 'yes' to the whole thing? SERIOUSLY NOT REALISTIC.

Then when I looked Tiger's Curse up on amazon.com I saw that the author mentioned she likes Twilight. OH HELL! No wonder the romance in her story is just as badly written and ridiculous.

It also bothers me that it is never explained why Ren and his brother can live for 300-plus years after they were cursed. I mean, what's the point of cursing them when said curse actually gives them immortality and an ability to heal fast? Wouldn't it be too sweet a deal? Why would the baddio NOT curse them to live their lives as tigers and then grow old and die within a normal human's lifespan? Why would the baddio be so damn stupid?

Talking about the baddio, he has been nowhere in sight throughout the whole book after he cursed the brothers. He only showed up again VERY BRIEFLY in the end and he does absolutely NOTHING to shape the plot. As a villain, this man's presence is too thin within the story and he's not threatening in any sense.

Another thing which pisses me off to no end is that the Hindu Mythology in the book is so water-downed to the point of being silly and unrealistic. The mythology in the book is a very bleached, tamed,  simplified one it makes me feel like I'm reading "Hindu Myth For Kids", every aspect of sexuality, brutality and bloodshed in the Hindu mythology and religion is being totally wiped out and ignored by the author, from start to end. Plus there is zero mention about karma, reincarnation and caste, why, just why? Even Goddess Durga, the most powerful goddess in the myth is being reduced to a very tamed Disney style of a fairy godmother. This entire bastardization of the Hindu myth and deities makes me sick to my stomach!

Not to mention that the description on India doesn't look the slightest realistic to me. So Kelsey only hangs out with rich folks who live in perfect luxury and comfort when visiting India? There is not a single poor person or even a middle class one in sight? I know Ren is a prince, but still......Hello? Are you kidding me?

The Final Words:
As an adventure fantasy novel, the adventure parts of the story do nothing to engage me with neither the plot nor the characters. The danger which is faced by the main characters doesn't look real to me for even a second. On the romantic aspect, Tiger's Curse has nothing other than some Twilight level crap to offer. It's not a truly horrible book but I'm still very, very disappointed.
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pressf's avatar
Whoops, I made a major typo in my comment. |D
I meant to say "the amulet cursed them, which I find a little off" not "the amulet, which I find a little off"...My bad. |D