Tiger, Tiger by Lynne Reid Banks
Release Date: November 7, 2005
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Rating: Essential
Two tiger cub brothers are town from the jungle and taken to Rome. The stronger cub is trained as a killer at the Coliseum. Emperor Caesar makes a gift of the smaller cub to his beautiful daughter, Aurelia. She adores her cub, Boots, and Julius, a young animal keeper, teaches her how to earn the tiger's trust. Boots is pampered while his brother, known as Brute, lives in a cold and dark cage, let out only to kill. Caesar trusts Julius to watch Aurelia and her prized pet. But when a prank backfires, Boots temporarily escapes and Julius must pay with his life. Thousands watch as Julius is sent unarmed into the arena to face the killer Brute. - Goodreads
This book was an absolute pleasure to read and overall I thought it was absolutely outstanding.
The book is about - as you may have guessed - two tiger cubs, who are captured by hunters and taken to Rome. Once in Rome they are separated, one (Boots) becomes a pet in the house of Caesar and the other (Brute) is caged underneath the Colosseum and trained to fight in the arena.
After a while, the story starts to focus more on Auriela - Caesar's daughter - and her cousin Marcus, who play a prank on Boots the tiger's trainer, Julius. They hide Boots and claim he has escaped. Their plan backfires when the tiger really does escape, and Julius must find him again or he will be put in the arena against the very animals he trains.
The books goes on, and we see the two tigers - now fully grown - reunited, one tame and the other a vicious beast.
The character development is brilliant, Aurelia turns out to be a very brave girl and the rest of the characters are just as engaging, much like the plot.
If you like animals and historical fiction then this book is for you - although it is guaranteed to make you cry!
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