The Tigers in the Tower by Julia Golding| Book Review

¡Hola, mi gente!

Late post today, but I hope you’re all safe and healthy. I’ve been struggling this last week; I think my body is telling me that I need a break. Finals are just around the corner and it seems as if everything is just chaotic right now, so it’s hard, but reading a little every few days has helped with the stress. That’s probably one of the reasons why today’s book became a much needed escape from reality, cases and everything in between.

THE TIGERS IN THE TOWER BY JULIA GOLDING

Genres: Middle grade, fantasy, adventure

Trigger Warnings: racism, xenophobia, bullying, children abuse, animal abuse

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“A Little Princess – with tigers! Orphan and outcast Sahira Clive is a brave and plucky heroine with a brightly burning heart. I was rooting for her all the way to the end of this thrilling – and thought-provoking – adventure.”Ally Sherrick, award-winning author of Black Powder

Sahira’s family are travelling to England to deliver two majestic Indian tigers to the menagerie in the tower of London.

But tragedy strikes and sickness steals Sahira’s parents from her on the journey. Left alone in London, Sarhira finds herself confined to a miserable and dangerous orphanage. Despite her heartache and the threats she faces, Sahira is determined to carry out her father’s last request – to protect God’s beautiful creatures: her tigers. To do so, Sahira must set out on an adventure and use all her powers of persuasion to engage the help of some new friends along the way.

Can the quest to find her tigers a safe home, lead Sahira to find her own place of hope and belonging in this strange and foreign land?

I’ve been watching a lot of Alfonso Cuarón’s work recently. One of my last classes before graduating was about cinema and literature and his work was the focus of one the biggest projects for the class. So when I read about this book that promised to be similar to A Little Princess, I was intrigued.

“Sahira knew only too well how they felt. Fitting in with this new London life felt a little like sloughing off her old ways, revealing a new and vulnerable skin.”

The Tigers in the Tower is the story of Sahira, a girl who loses her family when they embark on a journey that would take them to England. Alone in an unknown country, she decides to find a way to make her parent’s last wish come true: make sure Rama and Sita, the two Indian tigers traveling with them, are taken care of and looked after.

“I’ve travelled to place they’ve never been, faced down threats they can’t imagine. They haven’t met anyone like me before.“

In order to do so, Samira goes on a fantastical adventure around London, discovering friends and allies in the most unexpected places.

THINGS I LIKED

• Samira is an amazing character. She’s kind, smart, brave, and resilient. She didn’t have any doubts when it came to defending her identity, her hopes, and who she is. It doesn’t matter if the person reading it is a child, a teen, or an adult: the message of being true to yourself is one that resonates deep inside us, especially in a world that tries so much to erase our identities.

• Animals, animals, animals. It was obvious through the page that Samira loved animals with passion and knew how to take care of them. I loved the scenes with Rama and Sita a lot, and the way Golding described them was magical. I’ve always liked when stories have animal characters, so it was great to read about them.

• The writing style is easy to follow and fun to read.

• The Tigers in the Tower tackles a lot of social issues in a way that’s both respectful and serious. The book touches bullying, racism, xenophobia and abuse, but it never deals with these topics in a patronizing way. And, even more importantly, the story didn’t let our protagonist be only miserable. Even in the middle of the suffering, Samira could find people that cared for her and became her friends.

I can’t speak about the representation in the book, so I recommend checking Debjani’s review here. There are many other reviews you can read in the tour schedule, too!

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

• The pacing could become erratic at times. Some things took a few chapters when they could’ve been resolved faster, while in other occasions the scene was done in a few paragraphs and left me wanting just a tiny bit more of it.

• As much as I appreciated the overall message of the book, I think some of the racism and xenophobia deserved a little more nuance.

• The ending wasn’t my favorite, but I still enjoyed seeing Samira’s adventures come to a closure in this book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. It reminded me why I like middle grade and now I’m very excited about picking some books from my TBR that have been waiting for me for a long time.

Julia Golding is a multi-award winning writer for adults and young adults. She also writes under the pen names of Joss Stirling and Eve Edwards. Born in 1969, she grew up near Epping Forest. She studied English at Cambridge University, then joined the Foreign Office and worked in Poland, before returning to Oxford University to study for a doctorate in literature of the romantic period.  She worked for Oxfam, lobbying on conflict issues, before becoming a full-time writer. Over three-quarter of a million of her books have been sold worldwide in many language

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Stay safe. Drink water. Give yourself a break. Let’s recharge tomorrow and start the new week with strenght.

Besos,

Linda