Reviews

Tyger by SF Said

joenglish's review

adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

mrsbettysbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

clairevlinney's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

benljones2's review

adventurous inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

paracyclops's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I don't normally read children's books, so I struggled a bit with the language in Tyger, but it was definitely worth sticking with. It may be quite simple in a lot of ways, but thematically this book is absolutely bursting with ideas, and more layered than a slice of opera cake. It's basically a pretty simple narrative of two kids finding themselves, in circumstances of racialised repression similar to those under which quite a lot of people live now and historically. It's set in an alternative C.21 London, in which the British Empire still exists, slavery is still legal, and people are still hanged at Tyburn. Within that setting, S.F. Said draws on William Blake's mythopoeia to tell a story of spiritual, political and creative self-realisation. At the same time, he slots his narrative into the psychogeographic tradition of Iain Sinclair, Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore et al, relating the dynamics of his story to the occult geography of London. Nobody knows where St. Oswald's Stone is in our world—it was last seen leaning up against the side of the recently completed Marble Arch, but in Said's, it's still there, making that junction of historic thoroughfares into a gate between worlds, under the arch of the Tyburn scaffold. For me, the story is sometimes mawkish and lacking in nuance, but then I guess that's because I'm not a kid, and I had enormous fun unpicking all the references.

solaevita's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

saraheholtom's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

robertfinlayreads's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

robwinslade's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

jrs_55's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5