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A review by laurenbookishtwins
The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala
3.0
I received an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you kindly to Katherine Tegan Books for my review copy.
The Tiger at Midnight follows Esha and Kunal, two people on different sides of a conflict. Esha is a legendary rebel known as the Viper, who lost everything after the royal coup. Kunal is a soldier who was raised by his Uncle, the ruthless General Hotha. When Esha’s and Kunal’s paths cross on one fateful night, the two find themselves in a cat-and-mouse chase. As the bond that holds their land together begins to break down, the two must decide where their loyalties lie.
I knew very little about this book before I went in other than it was a fantasy largely inspired by Indian history and Hindu mythology, so it’s safe to say that I was very excited. The Tiger at Midnight is a good debut but I’m very conflicted because it had some fantastic elements, but also some that I found to be rather lacking.
I’ll start with the things I liked about The Tiger at Midnight. Firstly, I really enjoyed the world-building, and that was probably the most stand-out thing, besides the characters, of the entire novel. The world was so beautifully crafted and lushly detailed, and there is still so much to be explored in the later books.
The characters were also wonderfully developed. I loved both Esha and Kunal, and I especially loved their interactions, the cat-and-mouse chase, and the budding romance between the two (enemies-to-lovers, by the way, which is one of my favourite romance tropes E V E R).
I think my main problem with this was that it was largely character focused in the sense that the plot moved around them, and they did very little in order to progress it. They were very…passive. The plot itself could have also have been a bit more polished and developed too, but I do look forward to seeing where it goes in the sequel. There was also quite a bit of info-dumping at the beginning which left the story feeling very disjointed, but it picked up in the second half of the novel and it was easy reading from there.
Overall, The Tiger at Midnight is a solid debut and a solid fantasy with a beautifully crafted world and wonderfully developed characters and romance, there were just some elements that were a bit lacking for me.
The Tiger at Midnight follows Esha and Kunal, two people on different sides of a conflict. Esha is a legendary rebel known as the Viper, who lost everything after the royal coup. Kunal is a soldier who was raised by his Uncle, the ruthless General Hotha. When Esha’s and Kunal’s paths cross on one fateful night, the two find themselves in a cat-and-mouse chase. As the bond that holds their land together begins to break down, the two must decide where their loyalties lie.
I knew very little about this book before I went in other than it was a fantasy largely inspired by Indian history and Hindu mythology, so it’s safe to say that I was very excited. The Tiger at Midnight is a good debut but I’m very conflicted because it had some fantastic elements, but also some that I found to be rather lacking.
I’ll start with the things I liked about The Tiger at Midnight. Firstly, I really enjoyed the world-building, and that was probably the most stand-out thing, besides the characters, of the entire novel. The world was so beautifully crafted and lushly detailed, and there is still so much to be explored in the later books.
The characters were also wonderfully developed. I loved both Esha and Kunal, and I especially loved their interactions, the cat-and-mouse chase, and the budding romance between the two (enemies-to-lovers, by the way, which is one of my favourite romance tropes E V E R).
I think my main problem with this was that it was largely character focused in the sense that the plot moved around them, and they did very little in order to progress it. They were very…passive. The plot itself could have also have been a bit more polished and developed too, but I do look forward to seeing where it goes in the sequel. There was also quite a bit of info-dumping at the beginning which left the story feeling very disjointed, but it picked up in the second half of the novel and it was easy reading from there.
Overall, The Tiger at Midnight is a solid debut and a solid fantasy with a beautifully crafted world and wonderfully developed characters and romance, there were just some elements that were a bit lacking for me.