Listened to the audiobook with Ricordo Blei. Well-read.

Ahhh, Ogen van Tijgers: Torenhoog en Mijlenbreed’s weird little brother. I reread the one, so I couldn’t resist rereading the other, even though I when I started I already knew I probably wouldn’t like it as much, considering I hardly remembered anything of Ogen van Tijgers from when I read it in my childhood.

Robin tried to warn me, but Ogen van Tijgers was still weirder than expected.

Where Torenhoog en Mijlenbreed takes place on Venus, Ogen van Tijgers is set back home on Earth, in a highly ordered society controlled by an apparently benevolent but meddlesome world government. The book’s protagonist, Jock Martijn, is unhappy and subject to intrusive thoughts. He feels controlled and spied on, while unable to communicate his true feelings to the people that matter to him.

Dragt leaves the precise structure of society pleasantly out of focus. As a result, Ogen van Tijgers is not slowed down by unnecessary worldbuilding or explanation. On the other hand, that also means that the future society she describes is not developed to its full potential.

While that might still work as a backdrop, I was never really sucked into the story that Dragt tells in this world. I think part of the problem is that Jock Martijn’s struggle – wanting a relationship with his sister while dealing with his emergent ability to read people’s thoughts- isn’t particularly relatable, and also, given the ending, perhaps not really appropriate for children or perhaps even young adults. The more traditional plot elements of the story are not helped by the absence of a clear antagonist and the main characters’ very minor role in their resolution.

Another difficulty is that a lot of the action in the book is Jock Martijn’s internal struggle. And while I wouldn’t say the book is poorly paced on the basis of my reading, those pages spent bouncing around inside the main character’s brain aren’t exactly riveting content.

The resultant story feels a little messy and it is sometimes difficult to draw the lines between the different elements of the plot. A lot happens to Jock Martijn, but it is never clear why what happens to him really matters in the bigger picture.

Overall, I generally wouldn’t recommend this book. There are a lot of ideas with potential, but they end up drowning in the inner dialogue of a not-quite-relatable character with questionable motivation. I love Tonke Dragt, but Ogen van Tijgers is just not it. Sorry.