Audiobook Review – Tiger’s Destiny (The Tiger’s Curse, Book 4) by Colleen Huock (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 15 hours and 22 minutes (464 pages)
Publisher: Audible Studios
Release Date: October 17, 2012
ASIN: B009SCNFMG
Stand Alone or Series: 4th book in the Tiger’s Curse series
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

This was a well done conclusion to this YA fantasy series. I know there is a fifth book planned for this series, called The Tiger’s Dream. However, since release is undetermined for that book and this book does an excellent job wrapping up the series…I am considering it the wrap-up/final book for this series. There is a lot of adventure and action and mythology in here which I loved. I was still frustrated by the whole love triangle; it makes the characters (who are otherwise pretty intelligent) come of as dumb and immature.

There is only one prophecy left in the Tiger’s Curse. To break the last portion of the curse Kelsey, Ren, and Kishan must travel to one of the islands in the Bay of Bengal to track down the Rope of Fire. With Lokesh is hot on their heels things are more dire than ever. Can Kelsey, Ren, and Kishan break the last part of the Tiger’s Curse before it’s too late?

I still have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this series. I love the adventure, travel, and mythology. I hate the love triangle and the inconsistency and vagueness around how the magic items work.

In this book there is more travel, excitement, and adventure as we get to travel to the Andaman Islands. All of our favorite characters are here. We meet even more mythical creatures and even get to travel through time to see the origins of the Goddess Durga.

While I really enjoy the setting and magic in this series I continue to be very frustrated about the whole love triangle thing. Kelsey is just being cruel to Kishan and has been for the last two books. With all the “energy” between her and Ren and the way they would both rather die than be apart from each other how can she keep stringing along Kishan? Then there is Kishan’s attitude; he loves all the pretty women and although he professes love for Kelsey he doesn’t shy from ogling others. It’s just silly. Still to prevent spoilers I won’t say who Kelsey ends up with…however I will say it is very predictable and pretty much a no brainer. Why the angst over it for these last couple books?

Anyway, I enjoyed the plot in this book a lot and loved how the final portion of the Tiger’s Curse was broken. The time travel added an interesting twist to everything and I enjoyed it. A lot happens in this book and the story takes some interesting twists and turns.

Things are absolutely and completely tied up in this book. There aren’t any loose ends at all; so I am not sure why a fifth book is planned for this series. On Huock’s blog she mentions that the release for book 5, The Tiger’s Dream, is undetermined because she is working on other projects. I also read that Book 5 is supposed to talk about Kelsey and her life after the curse (again omitting any Tiger names to prevent spoilers).

Overall a good conclusion to this YA fantasy series. I have loved the adventure, the travel, the magic, and the curse breaking in this series. I enjoyed the characters as well. I hated, hated, hated the love triangle. It felt so forced throughout and made the characters seem dumb…it just didn’t do the story or the characters justice at all. I also didn’t like how inconsistent the use of the magic items was; they don’t seem to follow any rhyme or reason. I don’t really plan on reading any more books by Huock, but I would recommend this series if you are looking for a good YA adventure fantasy and don’t mind corny love triangles.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Series Enders Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Mythology Reading Challenge
– 2015 Audiobook Challenge