cornerofmadness

Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This YA I had high hopes for. I like Celtic mythology and right off the bat, the female lead, Teagan Wylltson appealed to me. She’s working at a research lab communicating with chimps via sign language. She is all about the science and doesn’t want boys distracting her from her plan, to get into one of the best vet schools in the country. She has a younger brother, Aidan, who loves to sing and a best friend who wants to be a fashion designer. Tea’s mom paints illustrations for fairy tales and her dad is a librarian.

Then in comes Mrs. Skinner, a social worker for child protective services, who brings them Finn Mac Cumhaill, Tea’s cousin (well sort of, there’s no shared blood). His parents, Irish Travelers (i.e. gypsies), are dead and he’s been living on his own since he was twelve. He’s nearly eighteen now and Skinner wants Tea’s parents to take him in. The only other relative he has is a Traveler grandmother. Finn is supposed to be rough and trouble but he doesn’t come across that way. Arrogant yes. He tells Tea he’s going to change her plan about boys (which irritated the living hell out of me).

In fact, he doesn’t. What he does do, is accidentally alert the cat-sidhe and other Goblin kind to Tea’s family with terrible results. He disappears and they try to get back to life but then the Goblins come for Tea’s father stealing him away to Mag Mell, the fae realm and she, Finn and Aidan have to get him back. With the help of their grandmother, some guardian angels and other odd characters, they head into Mag Mell. What they find there might change them forever.

I had high hopes. I had to lower them. I gave this three stars but it’s probably more like 2.5. It’s not bad and probably deserves the three stars. I didn’t quite connect with any of the characters. I liked Aidan’s abilities, for example, but he annoyed me (well young boys do have that affect). Tea never really seemed to consider Finn as a boyfriend until Abby says a few things and Grandma cracks out a line about Finn’s heart having Teagan’s name in it. So the whole romance felt flat. I didn’t buy for one minute either of them were in love. Attracted maybe. It felt rushed. For that matter the whole thing in Mag Mell felt rushed and gave the book an unbalanced feel.

Teagan also started getting a little dumb or at least selectively intelligent. She doesn’t listen to advice. She is too dedicated to her pity party at the end once she finds out who and what her mother really is, never appearing to comprehend the idea that what she becomes is a choice and she didn’t have to become evil. (not that she has but she seems to think it’s her fate). So she started losing points with me. Will I read the next one in the series? If the library gets it, maybe. It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve read all year but it fell short of its promise.


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