Disappointing given the reviews and the Booker shortlisting. A well-executed but conventional nautical tale that, per the book description, combined Dickens and Melville. A London-born street urchin runs into a tiger on a street, gets connected with the owner of an exotic menagerie business, and then sets off on a sea voyage to track down what appears to be a komodo dragon. The bulk of the book is occupied by the sea voyage with all of the conventional renditions of a young, inexperienced an at sea, whale hunting, stopping at islands, and ultimately a shipwreck. Some of the scenes are unusually powerful (one in particular that I don't want to spoil) but none of them are particularly unique. And the characters are not especially interesting either, except maybe the few main characters.