Disappointed

I loved Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time and had high hopes for The tiger and the Wolf. Sadly, I did not think this novel had the depth nor the imagination of the earlier book.

The novel seems heavily based on Native American lore. Tchaikovsky’s characters have the capacity to “step” from human to animal (totem) form and back. This ability drives the plot of The Tiger and the Wolf.

As the story unfolded, I sensed it was taking place at some time in the distant past, well before Europeans had contact with native Americans. The lines between the worlds of flesh, spirit, and magic are blurred which is also vital to the plot.

None of the above bothered me, although listening, it took me some time to sort out which character was which. Moreover, I was bothered by the narration. This book would have been much better in audio with two narrators, one male, the other female.

Kayla Garcia’s voice was consistently feminine, and at times juvenile. This didn’t work when she tried to voice male characters. They all sounded silly, like what they were: a high-voiced woman trying to sound like a man. Additionally, Ms. Garcia’s interpretation of the characters’ manner of speech sounds like an old Hollywood cliche of an “Indian” talking. (Think Tonto saying, How?, to the Lone Ranger).

As usual, the author deals with contemporary issues. In this novel it is the concept of being biracial (bi-species/totem) as well as the relationships between all of the species/tribes that creates conflict. Sadly, the good guys and bad guys were all one dimensional. Even the character “surprises”, there were a few, were easily foreseeable.

All in all, the story of Tiger and the Wolf was very predictable. Perhaps this is to set the scene for the subsequent books? The problem for me is that the fantasy genre can so easily become formulaic. What I loved most about Children of Time was that, although I could figure out where it was going, it was wonderfully imaginative. In it Tchaikovsky seamlessly wove his story with higher philosophical questions. This time The author borrows from Native American tradition but the plot is too simple, the characters are flat, and the conflict is trite.

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19 people found this helpful

Interesting Story with a Lack Luster Performance

What did you like best about The Tiger and the Wolf? What did you like least?

I have come to adore the way that Tchaikovsky creates his world. The way the characters "step" into their animal forms is described so wonderfully and the added bit of being able to incorporate bit of stone, metal or furs, into their animal form adds an interesting element to the character design.

If you’ve listened to books by Adrian Tchaikovsky before, how does this one compare?

Children of Time is certainly my favorite so far, followed by Guns of the Dawn. Tiger and the Wolf brings up a limping and whimpering third place.

How could the performance have been better?

Kyla Garcia doesn't do the source material any favors. Her performance is flat and nearly monotone throughout. Characters with distinct speech patterns are hardly embellished and simply sound boring. There is little difference between the characters otherwise, the adult men come in three flavors of stereotypical Indian (read:Native American) low, base, and high pitched voice. All with varying levels of "HOW PALE FACE" tones that are laughable. It becomes difficult to discern which character is speaking when more than 1 man is speaking. Further more the action with an equally flat gusto, in moments where you should be wide eyed and tense from the unfolding action Kyla leaves me bored and slightly annoyed.

Was The Tiger and the Wolf worth the listening time?

As a fan of Tchaikovsky I would say give it a try, however with Kyla narrating all three books I don't think I will be picking them up.

6 people found this helpful

Refreshing fantasy mythology

This book builds an society based on mythology of humans who can “step” into animals. Each breed of animal has its own society. It’s preindustrial with iron being a new metal. It’s refreshing world which seems to be a combination of several mythologies of native peoples. The geography seemed loosely based on our earth but there aren’t any recognizable landmarks. But the most of the animals are familiar.

The story is not new but how it evolves is at least to me. The main character USA young women who is half tiger and half wolf. It is a cruel world and her life is an example of how cruel it is.

The story was a little frustrating in how the bad guy gets his comeuppance. But it was still satisfying in the end. If I had not been stuck in traffic I might have enjoyed it more.

The narrator started out a little stiff and tentative but she smoothed out towards the middle. I felt she chose the right tone and speed for the story although others may and have disagreed. Her male voices were acceptable and I was able to recognize individual characters easily enough.

If you enjoy unusable mythology, you should enjoy this.

3 people found this helpful

Great Premise, Great Setup, Boring Execution

This series was painfully boring and after listening to all 3 books, it never got better. If you suffer from completionism, don't even start this.
Why it was boring: The plot is completely predictable trope with occasional ex machina magic to move the story along. There were some very well set rules around the magic at first, but most of the key scenes rely on ex magica that falls outside the established scope. The main character has a lot of Mary Sue qualities and her arc is boring with a climax that seems out of character and unearned (this happens in all 3 books).
Adrian's scifi is pretty good but I will be staying away from his fantasy.

3 people found this helpful

I was hoping for more

Adrian Tchaikovsky's 2015 novel Children of Time was one of the best sci-fi / fantasy novels I've ever read (and I've read a lot). I tried reading both this book and Guns of the Dawn in hopes of finding more work of that quality... sadly, both were merely mediocre. Perhaps I would give it a better score if I hadn't been hoping for more from this author.

2 people found this helpful

Slow start... fun finish!

Overall enjoyed the story... beginning felt very slow. Narrator was satisfactory... someone with better voices would have made the early drag more relatable.

1 person found this helpful

Best animal shifting book yet!

I absolutely adored this book and the rest of the series. The author put so much time into the lore, the culture of each tribe, and the worldbuilding. And it's the best execution of animal shifting I've encountered yet! I've read several animal shifter books that have to do with teenage love triangles and high school drama; this series brings the conflict out and broadens it while deepening the characters past "high school prom queen x geek that doesn't fit in" or "my boyfriend's mad because I can't communicate."

The narrator is decent, though some of the supporting characters have similar voices. She can only do so much as a high-voiced woman. But the main characters all have defined, recognizable voices.

Maybe it's because I didn't come from this author's other books, but this series easily became my favorite! Maniye isn't my favorite character, rather Broken Axe, and later Hesprec and Asmander were better characters, but Maniye was in no way a Mary Sue, which was refreshing by itself.

This series gets better with each book, as this book sets the stage for the conflicts in the next two. I will definitely be listening to these again!

Very simplified characters

Interesting world idea but the characters so very 1 dimensional and idiotic. Ppl are way more complex.

awesome

I really enjoyed the story. loved the tribalness of it. thank you for this book.

Long lead in before I cared

Typical of the Tchaikovsky books I’ve read, I was lost at first and didn’t care about the characters. But that seems to be his pace. Now I’m somewhat interested in the story’s continuation, except I don’t like the narrator. Her whiny treatment of some females is annoying as is her ultra treatment of some males.