Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tyger Tyger (Goblin Wars #1) by Kersten Hamilton
Release Date: November 15, 2010
Publisher: Clarion Books
Genre: Fantasy, Goblins
Age Group: Young Adult, 12+
Pages: 322
Source: NetGalley
Blurb (taken from Goodreads)
Teagan Wylltson’s best friend, Abby, dreams that horrifying creatures–goblins, shape-shifters, and beings of unearthly beauty but terrible cruelty–are hunting Teagan. Abby is always coming up with crazy stuff, though, so Teagan isn’t worried. Her life isn’t in danger. In fact, it’s perfect. She’s on track for a college scholarship. She has a great job. She’s focused on school, work, and her future. No boys, no heartaches, no problems.
Until Finn Mac Cumhaill arrives. Finn’s a bit on the unearthly beautiful side himself. He has a killer accent and a knee-weakening smile. And either he’s crazy or he’s been haunting Abby’s dreams, because he’s talking about goblins, too . . . and about being The Mac Cumhaill, born to fight all goblin-kind. Finn knows a thing or two about fighting. Which is a very good thing, because this time, Abby’s right. The goblins are coming.
The Quickie Review
Tyger Tyger is an intriguing fantasy read with a novel concept, well for me anyway I’ve never read anything with goblins before. Kersten Hamilton crafts a world that is both beautiful and dark, whist flawlessly weaving traditional Celtic lore throughout the story. Kersten is a masterful storyteller who managed to take her story in directions I was not expecting at all. If you’re looking for an action packed fantasy novel then this book is definitely for you.
The Full Blown Review
Teagan has what seems like the perfect life, a loving family, a caring if not a tad nutty best friend and a great after school job, however things change when Finn comes into her life. Teagan’s life is altered irrevocably, suddenly Teagan and her brother Aiden are thrust into a world they never even knew existed, a world Teagan thought was crafted in their mother’s imagination via her paintings and books, oh how wrong she was. Now Finn, a self confessed Goblin hunter, must take Teagan and Aiden into the goblins world to save a loved one where nothing is as what is seems and not everyone can be trusted.
At first I found Tyger Tyger to be a bit slow but I’m glad I persisted because the pace soon picked up and boy the action did not stop. The only real issue I had was when there was a fairly large time jump with no warning. Said jump was just after a pivotal moment for all the characters in the book, especially Teagan. I would have loved for Kersten to have elaborated more after the event so we could have gotten into Teagan’s head to see and understand how she and her family coped in the aftermath of the event instead of jumping ahead of time.
Let me just say the goblins in this book are scary evil creatures, they gave me the heebie-jeebies. Come to think of it a lot of the creatures Kersten created were scary or just plain weird. But don’t let that put you off, goblins aren’t the only mythical creatures that are in Tyger Tyger, and they’re not all evil.
All the characters were memorable, I admired Teagan’s strength and intelligence, and Aiden was so adorable, what a cutie! And then there’s Finn, I mean who doesn’t love an Irish rogue? I have to admit the blurb seemed to indicate to me that Abby, Teagan’s best friend, was a central character in the story but she wasn’t. From what we did see of Abby in the book she was hilarious, a great comic relief in parts and I would have liked to see more of her in the book. I particularly liked her and Finns barbs at each other, they were gold. I’m hoping that there will be more Abby in the coming books. As I’m a romantic at heart I would have also liked more on the developing romance between Finn and Teagan, but I’m sure this will be further developed in the next book.
Throughout the book Kersten weaved traditional Celtic lore into the story which I just loved. I was amazed at the detail Kersten went into and found myself rereading passages so I took it all in.
Kersten is a masterful storyteller who managed to take her story in directions I was not expecting at all, I had several ‘OMG’ moments, I don’t want to give too much away but one such moment involves Teagan and Aiden’s mothers’ lineage, that’s all I’m saying you’ll have to read the book if you want to find out!
After reading the ending of Tyger Tyger I can’t wait to read the next installment in the series, I mean what an ending!
The Good
* The Celtic lore weaved throughout the story, I love when authors include real folklore in their stories.
* The characters, Finn, Teagan and Aiden.
* Teagan, a female protagonist who is strong and intelligent, plus it helps she loves animals!
The Not So Good
* Jumping months ahead without any warning, I was like what’s going on here?
* Not enough romance! What can I say I love a good romance.
Rating
4 out of 5
Cover Notes
I love the cover, especially the colours used. Plus the cover relates to the book, once I finished the book I was like ‘oh, I get it!’
There’s Another Book?!?
Yes indeed there are another two books in the series. Kersten has said in previous interviews that there are currently three books in the series but she has left open the possibility for more.
Forests of the Night (Goblin Wars #2) – Fall 2011
Fearful Symmetry (Goblin Wars #3) – 2012
Goodies
Kris @ Voracious YAppetite has a great interview with Kersten up on her blog
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5 comments:
LOL, I love a good romance too, one of the best parts about reading a book :)
Loved your review. not sure goblins is my thing though, kinda struggling my way through the iron king at the moment, faeries obviously aren't my thing either...
I've got a thing for traditional Celtic lore. Looks like this could be one for the wish list. Thanks for the great review!
I adore Celtic lore too and am dying to read this. Gosh, I also hope that there's more romance in the sequel because, like you, I'm a huge sucker for a good ol' romance :) Lovely review!
Wow. I'm dying to read this. it sounds really, really good.
I agree with you - this book was a little slow to get going, but once it did, I read it quite quickly. Great review!
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