Well, supernatural shapeshifting guys are pretty hot, but are they the new vampire? I can’t help but hope so. I don’t know how anyone could think a dead guy is hotter than a guy who can turn into a wolf or a tiger, but whatever, to each his own. At least one author has answered our prayers that for once, the heroine would please choose the shapeshifter over the undead. Albeit, quite unexpectedly, with her cursed characters, who turn out to be be hexed by an Indian witch who forces them to change into tigers, eee! I find tigers to be pretty sexy actually, –the first Disney character I ever wanted to marry was Shere Khan, –the blogger below apparently doesn’t get it, –because Khan seemed to have that arrogant cynical edge to him that I was already beginning to appreciate at eight years old.
Are these weretigers soft-spoken, sissy types, or are they for real? A review by MTV’s Sabrina Rojas Weiss is unmerciful, but fair:
“The first in Colleen’s “Tiger Saga,” which was pretty popular when she self-published it last year before its official print version came out last week, “Curse” follows Kelsey Hayes, a 17-year-old orphan who lands a two-week temp gig at a traveling circus in her Oregon hometown. (Sign me up with that temp agency!) In addition to running the concessions stand, one of her duties is to feed the white tiger (naturally). She feels sorry for the majestic Dhiren as she watches him go from his small cage to his mundane tricks in the ring, so she begins to visit him at night and read him “Romeo and Juliet” (!).
A few more leaps of logic later, and Kelsey is on a private plane with an older Indian man named Mr. Kadam, on their way to take Ren (as she’s nicknamed the tiger) to a wildlife preserve in India. Except it turns out he’s not a tiger at all but an Indian prince who was placed under a curse more than 300 years ago by his fiancée’s power-hungry father. He is only a (super-drool-worthy) man for 24 minutes out of the day, and for some reason, Kelsey is the only person who can help him lift the curse. Here, at last, is where things get cooking.
The writing isn’t masterful, and every once in a while, Kelsey’s naivete is irritating. But the way Colleen weaves Indian culture, Hinduism and her own made-up fairy tale into an action-packed love story is captivating. The author herself aptly calls the saga “Twilight” meets “Indiana Jones.” And the characters, who have both met with tragedy long before the story begins (Kelsey’s parents die in a crash; Ren is betrayed by his brother Kishan before both are turned into tigers), aren’t your cookie-cutter hero and heroine. They’re fighting inter-species, interracial and inter-century barriers, but they also have a few normal tiffs and cute conversations that make them identifiable.”
You know, although the whole, cynical tone the reviewer takes, makes some sense, I can’t help but really want to slap people who shit all over fiction because “it doesn’t make sense.” Um, –this is a guy who’s been turned into a tiger. You can buy that, but not naivete, or some other ‘logical leaps’? Please, if you don’t like fiction, and prefer instead to read dictionaries and phone books, stick to your realm of expertise. I personally, am ready for a fresh supe-romance, and look forward to something that doesn’t sparkle, so much as it rips out your heart out and eats it. Or just reads well, with lots of kissing and magic.
I saw this book in the bookstore today, and it sounds really good! I’ve never read a book about a weretiger before, but one of the main characters in the later Sookie Stackhouse books, Quinn, shapeshifts into a tiger! Maybe he’ll be on True Blood eventually… :)
I haven’t read the book but I think the reviewer has a valid point, writing about a shapeshifter is none thing, writing “unrealistic” is another thing. Supernatural or not, there are rules in a fictional world as well and simply saying “it’s fiction” is the same as saying “everything is allowed”. And when you go by that you might just as well let the hero gain a magical flute that summons a horde of unicorns. An author doesn’t have to reveal everything but than he/she should be careful.
As for the title of the article, I don’t think that they will “take it over” or are “the new vampire”, at least not in western fiction. Tigeshifters are nothing new in western fiction but I think due to the very obvious signs of danger (unlike with the hidden ones in many vampires) they will never truelly become this “archetype” of the forbidden lover. And the whole beast against human thing is mostly covered by werewolves and since tigers don’t have this strong of a greeny and mystical attitude labelled on them like (in contrast to wolves) the interest in them is probably not sufficient.
Sounds like a good read. I wish I were some sort of Werebeast.