Tiger’s Promise by Colleen Houck | Book Review

(Tiger’s Saga #0.5)

Published: June 1st 2014

Synopsis:

Before the curse, there was a promise. A prequel to the bestselling Tiger’s Curse series, this much anticipated novella recalls the beginning of Ren and Kishan’s story. Before Kelsey there was a girl, raised by a villain, whose love for a hero changed the course of history.

Trapped under the thumb of her abusive and powerful father Lokesh, Yesubai struggles to keep her own magical abilities secret while evading his dark powers. When Lokesh promises Yesubai to the prince of a neighboring kingdom, she becomes the central pawn in his plot to destroy the ruling family and take power for himself. Yesubai is trapped by her father’s threats and desperate to protect the man she comes to love, but she knows that any decision she makes will have dire consequences. As dark forces gather around her, Yesubai must decide if she’s willing to reveal that somewhere deep within her she has the power to change everything.

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My rating:  5/5 (Outstanding)

Book Information

Publisher: CreateSpace

Genre(s): Young-adult Fantasy Romance

Page Count: 120

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 1499104987

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 Used for the Popsugar challenge: A book set in a different country

My reading for the Popsugar Reading Challenge has begun! So, one of the requirements for the challenge is ‘A book set in a different country’. The book, or more accurately, the novella I’ve chosen for this one is Tiger’s Promise by Colleen Houck. Thanks to the wonderful bloggers who answered my questions surrounding novellas and re-reads! I wasn’t sure whether novellas or re-reads count, but I am now assured they do. 🙂 

Tiger’s Promise is the prequel to the Tiger’s Saga, and I loved it as much as I did the actual series. Reading it the second time didn’t change the battle of emotions I felt, and as it really surpassed my expectations, I decided to rate it 5 stars. Tiger’s Promise written in the perspective of Yesubai, and although I wasn’t expecting to enjoy her as much since I had unfavorable preconceived notions of her, I actually appreciated her POV.

A quick summary

Tiger’s Promise is set in India, in the ancient time of royal kingdoms. Yesubai is trapped by her father, knowing he could kill her and the ones she cares about immediately without a second thought. As she comes to love the man and the family she’s supposed to betray, Yesubai is faced with the ultimate power to change everything.

The Review

Starting with the plot, or story line. Tiger’s Promise is an basically an elaboration on the story we’ve heard second-hand in the Tiger’s Saga. Right from the start we’re witness right away of what a cruel man Lokesh was to his own daughter. Hearing about it is one thing, but being with Yesubai as she has to face her father’s violence everyday and as she experienced everything was completely different. We got to see details that were omitted from the re-telling, like about how Yesubai felt, what exactly she did, and that’s what made the story-line amazing, since it added to the things we already knew, and introduced even more.

Next, the characters. I love, love, loved the characters!!! First of all, we have Kishan and Ren. I loved these two men in the Tiger’s Saga, so how could I not in Tiger’s Promise? I especially liked the more clear view of Kishan in this one. I love Kishan, and I was really sad for him, since Kelsey could’ve treated him better (although I agree with Ren and Kelsey). It was really nice to see him so wholly love someone like he did Yesubai, and have her love him back. I also really liked how we got to see the bits and parts of him before Kelsey and the whole tiger’s curse thing.

And then there’s also our protagonist, Yesubai. I didn’t think I’d like her that much, but in the end I really did. Her story was heart-breaking, and she was similar yet completely different from Kelsey, which ended up being what I liked most. She was more quiet, more reserved, and even though she was planning on betraying the princes, I didn’t hate her. I actually felt quite sympathetic, and I think Colleen Houck did an awesome job at creating her.

Lastly, the writing style. As always, I really enjoyed Colleen Houck’s writing, especially in this one since she managed to get me to like Yesubai in such a short period of time. Everything flowed smoothly, and all the scenes were descriptive enough for me to get a clear image in my head.

Recommendation

Overall, this book was a needed addition to the Tiger’s Saga written wonderfully. The re-telling of history was put in a more interesting light that made me have different perspective on how history really went down. I loved the characters, and appreciate how Colleen Houck managed to get me have sympathy for Yesubai in a short period of time. I’d recommend this to people who read the Tiger’s Curse saga. It doesn’t really matter, I don’t think, what order you read it, but I’d say to have read at least the first or the first two before reading this. You could also simply read this if you enjoy YA fantasy romance, but in that case I’d recommend you also start the Tiger’s Saga.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a book trailer for this, so I guess that’s it for this time!

Stay tuned for more Popsugar Reading Challenge news, and I hope you’ve decided to go eat this book for lunch today (or sometime soon)! 🙂

-A