Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton

Saturday, June 19, 2010

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.


Love love loved all the mythology and ancient stories that were integrated into this novel - things I've never read about before, and this was a really vibrant reimagining of all this Irish lore. It was fantastic. I think in terms of the storyline, it was brilliant. Some characters were wonderful, others seemed a little two-dimensional (though I believe this is the start of the series, so hopefully they'll all have an opportunity to be further developed - Abby seemed as if she didn't serve much of a purpose other than comic relief).

There was a point in the book where we skipped ahead several months between chapters, and missed a fairly major events. I get the feeling that the decision to skim over this part was intentional, but I really would have loved for Teagan to really digest what had happened, or react to the event at all. Everything seemed to be glossed over and forgotten about within a few chapters, which seemed unusual. I also didn't really understand her motivation towards the end of the novel, either, and why she said and did the things she did. Apart from those two instances, I really liked her as a character.

Apart from that, I thought it was thrilling and fantastic - I haven't read any books featuring goblins (I don't think), but this made them incredibly scary. I'd recommend this book to YA fantasy fans twelve and up.

Released November 15th 2010 by Clarion Books

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