Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton

Title: Tyger Tyger
Author: Kersten Hamilton
Release Date: November 15th, 2010
Source: Book It Forward Tours
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Teagan Wylltson's best friend, Abby, dreams that horrifying creatures--goblins, shape-shifters, and beings of unearthly beauty but terrible cruelty--are hunting Teagan. Abby is always coming up with crazy stuff, though, so Teagan isn't worried. Her life isn't in danger. In fact, it's perfect. She's on track for a college scholarship. She has a great job. She's focused on school, work, and her future. No boys, no heartaches, no problems.


Until Finn Mac Cumhaill arrives. Finn's a bit on the unearthly beautiful side himself. He has a killer accent and a knee-weakening smile. And either he's crazy or he's been haunting Abby's dreams, because he's talking about goblins, too . . . and about being The Mac Cumhaill, born to fight all goblin-kind. Finn knows a thing or two about fighting. Which is a very good thing, because this time, Abby's right. The goblins are coming.

I'm really having trouble putting into words how much I loved this book. The only other goblin books that I've read are The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy by Clare B. Dunkle, which are very good, but very, very different. This book centers around Irish mythology, which is something that I wasn't familiar with before this book. This was a bit of a drawback, because most of the stories are told using a lot of Celtic words, and a lot of times I would stumble over pronunciation and kind of forget to pay attention to the story being told.

Teagan was a great narrator, she was easy to be in the head of and explained things well. Her friend Abby was hilarious, and I'm a bit disappointed that she wasn't in the book very much, as it was kind of set up for that then fell a bit flat. I have a new literary crush in Finn, the Mac Cumhaill (you'll get it when you read the book). He is such a great guy, but he's dangerous and fearless and looks like a young Brad Pitt for crying out loud! I was not expecting Teagan's little brother to be such a central part of the story, but I think that it's just one more reason why this book is so much different than others.

Hamilton did a pretty good job at introducing the reader to a whole world of new creatures, or familiar creatures that act differently than you've previously seen. Mag Mell, the goblin world, was described beautifully and was easy to picture. The pacing of the book was pretty good, though there was one part where a couple months were glossed over. I would have liked a better recap of those months, as something pretty dramatic happens and we don't see the fallout.

Basically, I loved this book but there were a few minor things that I wish were a bit different. A pronunciation guide would have been very helpful, but the words weren't too distracting.

Characters: 9/10
Writing: 10/10
Plot: 8/10
Originality: 10/10
Ending: 10/10
Overall: 47/50 A
Cover/Title Comments: Aside from being beautiful, the cover is completely relevant in more ways than one. The title is also relevant, though it's not immediately obvious.