Paul Park, The White Tyger

The White Tyger

Paul Park

Tor, Jan 2007, $25.95

ISBN: 0765315297

Massachusetts resident Miranda Popescu continues to be yanked in two directions since she was drawn into the German-occupied Romania, a world where she is a princess instead of a mall teen and alchemy is a working science. In Roumania, two factions skirmish over controlling the American as her Aunt Aegypta Schenck tries to keep her safe while the power hungry Baroness Ceaucescu and her ally evil alchemist Elector of Ratisbon.

Accompanying her from her old Berkshires world are Peter Gross, known in Roumania as Chevalier de Graz and the shape-shifter Lieutenant Prochenko, formerly a female named Andromeda. Meanwhile, Miranda just wants to return to being a normal New England teen even though she begins to understand the mage-like powers she possesses, like when she studies the souls of animals (Penguin Island aside). However, normalcy can never return for someone battling the likes of the wickedly astute Baroness Ceausescu, as Miranda soon learns when Miranda meets her biological mother as both are captives of their adversaries.

The third Roumania fantasy (see THE TOURMALINE and A PRINCESS OF ROUMANIA) is a fabulous entry in one of the better genre series. Miranda, her fellow "displaced" pals, her enemies, and her relatives make the worlds of the Berkshires and that of alternate Europe seem real as each key player feels genuine. The action never lets up as Miranda, Peter and Andromeda learn more about just who they are even while trying to survive a devious brilliant opponent.

Harriet Klausner