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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Read by the author.
Lightly suspensful, slightly mystical, likeable characters and intriguing chemistry between Shin and Louise. And I don't believe I have ever arm chair traveled to this part of the world before. Distracting entertaining read for quarantine.
Lightly suspensful, slightly mystical, likeable characters and intriguing chemistry between Shin and Louise. And I don't believe I have ever arm chair traveled to this part of the world before. Distracting entertaining read for quarantine.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
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:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
I’m definitely a sucker for a good cover and the paperback design of this book is gorgeous and possibly my (only?) favourite part about the book......
The night tiger was an ‘ok’ read and in honesty I’d probably give it at least 3 and 1/2 stars.
Starting with the best bits first, I really enjoyed the context of the story. Learning more about the Malaysian culture and Chinese folklore, as this isn’t something I’m all too familiar with. Especially the impact of the British colony on Malaysia and its people in the 1930’s
However like many other reviews I’ve read through, I was slightly thrown off by the inclusion of the romance. Personally, I just felt it was unnecessary and lowered the tone of the book too much for me. Coming across as more like a YA story in my opinion.
I also think the inclusion of the love story distracted away from the much more interesting elements of the plot too and some of the other characters, such as Ren and Yi that I would’ve liked to have been explored more.
The night tiger was an ‘ok’ read and in honesty I’d probably give it at least 3 and 1/2 stars.
Starting with the best bits first, I really enjoyed the context of the story. Learning more about the Malaysian culture and Chinese folklore, as this isn’t something I’m all too familiar with. Especially the impact of the British colony on Malaysia and its people in the 1930’s
However like many other reviews I’ve read through, I was slightly thrown off by the inclusion of the romance. Personally, I just felt it was unnecessary and lowered the tone of the book too much for me. Coming across as more like a YA story in my opinion.
I also think the inclusion of the love story distracted away from the much more interesting elements of the plot too and some of the other characters, such as Ren and Yi that I would’ve liked to have been explored more.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Not sure about the rating. Parts of it would've deserved five stars while other parts seemed underrealized or unsatisfactory. In the end, I decided to rate it compared to [b:The Ghost Bride|16248223|The Ghost Bride|Yangsze Choo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1356671808l/16248223._SX50_.jpg|22277074], the author's other book, to which I gave four stars (my review here). I think I liked this one slightly better because it felt less meant for young people and more for adults (or maybe I've read it at a moment when I was better prepared to appreciate it).
About this book: At the core, it is a mystery that perfectly blends with Malaysian folklore to create that wonderful feeling that comes with magical realism. The mystery starts around a missing finger and moves on to weretigers and suspicious murders. The book is written in a dual POV, one in first person following Ji Lin, a young woman that just passed the border of adulthood, and the other in third person, mostly following Ren, a boy of eleven, but moving to other characters from time to time. There's also a romantic subplot involved.
What I liked:
- The descriptions - I love a book with good descriptions, and this one has them. Visuals and smells, all blend to create a picture of 1930s Malaya. I believe descriptions are the author's strongest suit.
- The folklore, and the way it blended so well with the action.
- The romance, but this changed close to the end when the male hero turned slightly abusive.
- The way the book kept my curiosity although I knew so little about what the mystery actually was. Or maybe exactly because of that, my curiosity stayed awake.
What I didn't like:
- Not everything came to a satisfactory conclusion.
- There were little things, small connections that seemed to have been abandoned till the end. The author has a blog post about all the plot that didn't make it into the novel, so I understand that, but she didn't remove some entirely.
- Some of the action scenes could've been better, and I would've liked if the part in third person would've moved less from character to character.
On the whole, there were more things I liked about this book than those I disliked. Although far from perfect, I can't deny that I enjoyed it a lot, and I kept returning to it. I'm not in a moment in my life when every book grabs my attention, but this one managed to do so. For fans of mystery and magical realism, I think they would enjoy it, too.
About this book: At the core, it is a mystery that perfectly blends with Malaysian folklore to create that wonderful feeling that comes with magical realism. The mystery starts around a missing finger and moves on to weretigers and suspicious murders. The book is written in a dual POV, one in first person following Ji Lin, a young woman that just passed the border of adulthood, and the other in third person, mostly following Ren, a boy of eleven, but moving to other characters from time to time. There's also a romantic subplot involved.
What I liked:
- The descriptions - I love a book with good descriptions, and this one has them. Visuals and smells, all blend to create a picture of 1930s Malaya. I believe descriptions are the author's strongest suit.
- The folklore, and the way it blended so well with the action.
- The romance, but this changed close to the end when the male hero turned slightly abusive.
Spoiler
He confessed that he had chased all the other suitors away before the heroine even knew about them and kept pressing her to sleep with him. She found it romantic, but I, less so- The way the book kept my curiosity although I knew so little about what the mystery actually was. Or maybe exactly because of that, my curiosity stayed awake.
What I didn't like:
- Not everything came to a satisfactory conclusion.
- There were little things, small connections that seemed to have been abandoned till the end. The author has a blog post about all the plot that didn't make it into the novel, so I understand that, but she didn't remove some entirely.
- Some of the action scenes could've been better, and I would've liked if the part in third person would've moved less from character to character.
On the whole, there were more things I liked about this book than those I disliked. Although far from perfect, I can't deny that I enjoyed it a lot, and I kept returning to it. I'm not in a moment in my life when every book grabs my attention, but this one managed to do so. For fans of mystery and magical realism, I think they would enjoy it, too.
I loved this book. It was just the right amount of creepy & folklore. I loved the characters. Lots of superstition and suspense. Looking forward to whatever else this author writes.
Another huantingly beautiful read from Choo. If you were a fan of the unique combination of Chinese history, lore, and dark fantasty, this is for you.