‘Tiger’s Destiny’ Is a Fantastic Fourth (and Last?) Book in a Wonderful Series, Filled With Fire, Magic, and Love

It’s here, fellow fans. We’ve finally made it to the fourth book in Colleen Houck’s wonderful New York Times bestselling Tiger’s Curse series, Tiger’s Destiny. And like all the books before it, this book left me excited, wound-up, and breathless. However, unlike the others, the ending was a satisfying wrapping-up of a story that I’ve come to adore.

Kelsey’s been kidnapped by the villain, with seemingly no escape. Her two princes, Ren and Kishan, are nowhere to be seen. And strange occurrences happened as she was taken, mainly in the form of Mr. Kadam and Nalima disappearing seemingly into thin air.

Eventually she gets rescued, and they set off to break the final part of the tiger’s curse, which deals with the element of fire. While striving for the things needed to set her beloved princes free of their curse, Kelsey struggles internally with her mixed feelings towards both Kishan, the man she’s sworn to be with, and Ren, the man she really loves.

It’s hard picking a favorite book in a series of favorite books. But, having said that, Tiger’s Destiny might be tied with Tiger’s Curse as my favorite, albeit marginally (they’re all excellent). Why is this book so good? In a series about the four elements, it’s the fire book. Fire is about burning, and going deeper with that, cleansing. This happens figuratively (and literally too, sometimes) to all of the characters at one point or another. There’s a powerful scene where Kelsey is in the hold of a phoenix and is forced to examine her soul, and the emotional burning that happens while she is also physically burning is a pivotal point in the whole series. But these elements are present in the entire book, and looking back, the feeling I got from reading this particular novel was one of not only burning and cleansing, but the newness that comes with that. All I’ll say is there’s a lot of depth in this one, people.

I also love how we really do experience the true destinies of all the main characters by the end of this fourth book. It is aptly named, and these journeys help bring about the feeling of completeness of the series. Which leads me into the next point: is there going to be a fifth book? In the interview I did with Colleen (posting tomorrow) she said, as of now, no. There’s always been talk of a fifth book, but this series is tied in with the four elements, so I wondered how she’d keep it open for book five. I’m still wondering that, to some degree, because the end of Tiger’s Destiny really does wrap up the series in a way that feels wholesome and complete. Their stories aren’t done, and there are a few plot lines that could be explored for book five, but overall, this book finishes the tale of Kelsey and her two tiger princes, and I, for one, was a satisfied reader.

There are so many reasons I love this series: the Indiana Jones-style adventure, the curses, the villain, the magic, the growth of the main character over the four books, and of course, the hot Indian princes (and the delicious sexual tension that comes with them).  In the sea of YA fantasy books that I read, these stood out and made a name for themselves. I’d highly recommend them to fans of romantic YA along with adventure, because they will take you to a wonderful place of magic and love.

Tiger’s Destiny hit shelves on September 4th, 2012.