This is a clever book. It is built around an artifact that belonged to Tipu Sultan (1750-99), the Indian Muslim ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore and that is known as Tipu’s Tiger - an automaton depicting a tiger attacking a European soldier, probably belonging to the East India Company. It is one of the artifacts that was obtained after the fourth Anglo-Mysore war when the victorious army plundered Tipu’s palace – hence the title Loot.

The main focus of the book however is not the Tiger itself but its imagined creators Abbas (a native of Mysore) and Muza de Leze (a French watchmaker and inventor appointed to the palace). It is the background story of the Tiger’s creation and journey - eventually ending in London’s V&A – that make this book a fascinating read. The way the story of the tiger is intrinsically linked to that of its creators provide the reader with rich and colourful insights into colonial history with all its underlying beliefs of superiority and cultural domination carried by the colonisers.

It is also Abba’s heart-warming story in which he follows his dreams and ambitions, taking him and the reader from southern India across the oceans to France and then to England and back to France in his pursuit of happiness.

The fabric of the story is so rich, with many different threads of narration that no short review could do it justice. It comes highly recommended.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Eighteenth century and seventeen year old Abbas, a woodcutter, is bought into another world: the palace court where he is assigned to help carve a genuine artefact, a tiger mauling an Englishman.

From this beginning Tania James crafts a true historical epic, one which crosses continents but never loses focus. She retains a tight control over the narrative, and it whips along beautifully. I enjoyed this one very much.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.

Abbas is a woodcarver who gets called to the sultan's court to make an automaton of a tiger. The English then take the tiger as loot. Abbas goes to Rouen, hoping to catch sight of his former master, then England where the tiger automaton has been taken.
This is a novel of the effect racism has on its victims, in this case the victims were Indians in the eighteenth century. It is highly readable and very moving.
The descriptions are often perfect, in my view, and the lead character, Abbas, is well drawn. A great story.

I would highly recommend this to fans of [book:Washington Black|39603810] as this seems to have a similar vibe even though the historical context is different: here an adventure set against the background of eighteenth century European colonial expansion in India.

The first section worked best for me as we see Abbas, a young and talented woodcarver, get swept up to the Sultan's court in Mysore where he helps to create the real (see it in the V&A) life-sized automaton of an Indian tiger ravaging an English soldier, complete with growls and an organ built into the body. The sultan's household, the luxurious palace, the presence of wives and eunuchs, the rituals of power all give this opening great presence.

But as the story develops, the imagery of the automaton gets rather lost: Abbas travels to Rouen and then England in search of the looted piece, falls in love (of course!) and meets some quirky characters.

James' writing is very readable and straddles the politics of empire with something more humorous - but I think for me this is too much of a plot-filled book where what happens next is what drives the momentum. My three-stars reflects this reader-book slight mismatch rather than being a comment on the quality of the writing or the story itself. I can see plenty of people loving this book.