Tiger's Destiny

By Colleen Houck

Read: October 2012 
Published: September 4, 2012 by Splinter
Source: Library book
Category: YA - Fantasy
Series: Book 4 in the Tiger Saga

With three of the goddess Durga's quests behind them, only one prophecy now stands in the way of Kelsey, Ren, and Kishan breaking the tiger's curse. But the trio's greatest challenge awaits them: A life-endangering pursuit in search of Durga's final gift, the Rope of Fire, on the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal.  It's a race against time--and the evil sorcerer Lokesh--in this eagerly anticipated fourth volume in the bestsellingTiger's Curse series, which pits good against evil, tests the bonds of love and loyalty, and finally reveals the tigers' true destinies once and for all. (From Goodreads)

Tiger's Destiny is Book 4 in the Tiger Saga, which began with Tiger's Curse. This review will contain SPOILERS for the other books in the series. Also, I'm not going to spend time outlining the characters and plot of this story, but Kelsey, Ren and Kishan, as well as all the other regulars are back again.

I want to apologize in advance for the fact that this is going to sound more like a rant than a review. But I just couldn't take it anymore.

I did not like this book. And it all comes down to the fact that I LOATHED the heroine Kelsey. She's never been my favorite, but in this book she reaches a new low. I repeatedly had violent thoughts about her, and kept sending my friend texts saying things like  "I want to punch her in the face." Of course it is all my fault, because this is a series that I clearly should have abandoned long ago. It's also one that on further reflection, I'm embarrassed to have rated previous book so highly. Because Kelsey's behavior hasn't really changed since the first book, and I should not have been surprised at how she acts in the fourth book of her series. Also it has a LOVE TRIANGLE OF DOOM. The kind that gives triangles a bad name. And you all know how I feel about those to begin with. 

Let me back up a minute and talk about what I did like about this book and the series as a whole. I love when it is clear that a series was written as a unit, and the closer you read it, the better you can see the individual threads from each book weaving together. This is that kind of series. Small details and bigger elements have come around, and I love seeing that happen.  But maybe that's a problem with these books as well. Because the characters' actions have been so closely structured and choreographed through the series, I think there's no longer any emotional truth in them. I don't mean that there isn't any emotional drama in these books, because there's a lot of that. It's that the series has been so calculated and tightly woven that nothing about how the characters act towards each other seems real or believable anymore. 

Another aspect of this series that I've enjoyed is the mythology from different cultures. It is clear that Ms. Houck does a ton of research when writing her stories. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in the drama of Kelsey and her horrid love triangle that I couldn't concentrate on the rest of the story or the different mythology. This is unfortunate, because there are some good (and also sad) things that happen outside of Kelsey's drama. 

Kelsey is one of the most selfish, self centered heroines that I have ever encountered. In this book we finally learn some of the reasons for her previous behavior towards Ren and Kishan. Most notably Kelsey finally owns up to why she's chosen one of them over the other, when clearly she in love with the one she didn't pick. Though Kelsey's reasoning made sense, I could not sympathize with her, because of how much her behavior has hurt those around her. And she NEVER apologizes. She continually blows off the feelings of the brothers. Honestly, I was pretty convinced through the majority of this book that she has a mental disorder that prevents her from being able to understand anyone else's feelings but her own.

It is no secret that I detest love triangles, and this is one of the worst that I have endured. I understand that when there is a triangle, one person is going to be heart broken eventually. However, it's the way that Kelsey "chooses" but still holds onto both brothers that upset me. She picks one, but can't let go of the other. Granted he doesn't want to let her go either, but she is always all over him as well. And I will reiterate, that she chose the WRONG brother. I don't mean that she didn't pick the one that I like better, I mean that she didn't pick the one that she loves more.

Guys, I have known since book one who Kelsey loves the most and that has never changed. So it is painful to watch her with the other guy. ESPECIALLY, when the right one is free and available and waiting for her. I just couldn't handle it emotionally. I guess I can't put this all on Kelsey, because Ren and Kishan both enabled her. Kelsey doesn't want to give up either of them, and she leads them on for books. AND THEY LET HER. I wish they had called her out on her behavior. I honestly was hoping that the guys would give up and get over her, because I have no idea why EVERYONE keeps falling for her.

I think what I was most upset with Kelsey about in this book is that she completely disregards BOTH Ren and Kishan’s feelings. One tells her how much she's hurting him by choosing the other one. Instead of listening, she blows him off and is completely uncaring about his feelings. Then the one she picks senses her indecision and repeatedly asks if she wants to take a step back, but she says "no, I want to move forward." Essentially, she's hurting them both of them that way. 

Even though I was satisfied with the direction that this story finally took, I was never happy with Kelsey's behavior. I never thought that she was truly sorry for how she acted, nor did she ever realize the pain her selfish behavior caused Ren and Kishan. I wanted to see that anguish in her. And because I didn't get that, I still felt uncomfortable and unsatisfied in the end. There just weren't enough repercussions for how she acted. I also felt like the ending was rushed. After an entire book of turmoil, the way it all tied itself together went too fast for me. 

This is not even the end of the series. There is apparently a fifth book called Tiger's Dream. I have no idea what it is going to be about, but I'm determined not to read it.  

Cliffhanger Scale: Low
Love Triangle Scale: HORRIBLE
Rating: 1 stars