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Feline Wizards #1
The Book of Night with Moon
Rhiow seems a typical New York City cat: pampered by her Upper East Side owners, permitted in good weather to lounge on the apartment balcony, never allowed to run free. Or so the humans think. Rhiow is much more than she appears. With her teammates Saash and Urruah, she works with human wizards, protecting the world from dark forces and helping to maintain the network of magical transport gates that connect all parts of the world. The Book of Night with Moon is the gateway to an amazing, secret animal world. In it we learn much about cats: they have a complex language, society, and history; they can call on skills unknown to their owners; they live lives of challenge and danger that culminate, if they are lucky, in a "tenth life" that equates to the human heaven. That tenth life is the fate of one of Rhiow's team as they, plus the foundling Arhu, find themselves caught up in a danger that threatens not only the cats of the world, but humans as well.
390 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
66 people are currently reading
2837 people want to read
About the author
Diane Duane
167 books2,413 followersDiane Duane has been a writer of science fiction, fantasy, TV and film for more than forty years.
Besides the 1980's creation of the Young Wizards fantasy series for which she's best known, the "Middle Kingdoms" epic fantasy series, and numerous stand-alone fantasy or science fiction novels, her career has included extensive work in the Star Trek TM universe, and many scripts for live-action and animated TV series on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as work in comics and computer games. She has spent a fair amount of time on the New York Times Bestseller List, and has picked up various awards and award nominations here and there.
She lives in County Wicklow, in Ireland, with her husband of more than thirty years, the screenwriter and novelist Peter Morwood.
Her favorite color is blue, her favorite food is a weird kind of Swiss scrambled-potato dish called maluns, she was born in a Year of the Dragon, and her sign is "Runway 24 Left, Hold For Clearance."
(From her official website)
Besides the 1980's creation of the Young Wizards fantasy series for which she's best known, the "Middle Kingdoms" epic fantasy series, and numerous stand-alone fantasy or science fiction novels, her career has included extensive work in the Star Trek TM universe, and many scripts for live-action and animated TV series on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as work in comics and computer games. She has spent a fair amount of time on the New York Times Bestseller List, and has picked up various awards and award nominations here and there.
She lives in County Wicklow, in Ireland, with her husband of more than thirty years, the screenwriter and novelist Peter Morwood.
Her favorite color is blue, her favorite food is a weird kind of Swiss scrambled-potato dish called maluns, she was born in a Year of the Dragon, and her sign is "Runway 24 Left, Hold For Clearance."
(From her official website)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 171 reviews
February 7, 2017
Wizard cats that can see the forces of physics... I want to sit in a coffee shop just so someone will ask me what my book is about.
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July 28, 2011I love Duane's "Young Wizards", but had only heard of this companion book once. But regardless, knowing how successful Duane is in writing I had to snag this book when I saw it for sale at a used book store. Seriously, $3.50 is a steal. The entire cat culture described in this book is phenomenal; so detailed and yet also not entirely fiction. Yes, this is a fantasy novel, but everything is so plausible. If cat wizards did exist, they would behave exactly like this. And the word crafting! Duane has this wonderful ability to write about about magic in terms of science, blending the two together that I'm absolutely convinced most of this stuff could really happen. Comparing the infrastructure of portals to other worlds to plant physiology gives everything this advanced and mystical feeling that maybe, just maybe such things can actually be true. And the meshing of different stories from a variety of cultures is superbly done. It's impossible to read this book, or any others by her, with out stopping to think of how it relates to the world as you perceive it. Definitely something not only to re-read, but save for you kids.
The entire
The entire
August 12, 2025
Small and courageous wizards fight to slow the deadly encroachment of hatred and entropy.
Was not expecting this 90s fantasy about cats to be so timely.
Was not expecting this 90s fantasy about cats to be so timely.
April 27, 2016
This is a difficult one to rate, because on the one hand there's uneven pacing, randomly dropped plot threads , and enough technobabble to fill a season of sci-fi TV.
And then on the other hand there are feline wizards, who are the best representation of what's going on inside a cat's head I've ever met in fiction and who I just want to cuddle forever. Also Pavarotti gets eaten by a dinosaur, and I feel that's probably worth a star all on its own.
Recommended for: People who like cats.
And then on the other hand there are feline wizards, who are the best representation of what's going on inside a cat's head I've ever met in fiction and who I just want to cuddle forever. Also Pavarotti gets eaten by a dinosaur, and I feel that's probably worth a star all on its own.
Recommended for: People who like cats.
Read
March 12, 2018I read l'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time at a similar time that I read Duane's So You Want to Be a Wizard, and they kinda blurred together in my memory. Having now watched the new movie last night, and read this book today, I begin to see why. Both books/series have a very similar focus: on the necessity of responding to hatred and fear with love, with mercy, with refusing to be ground down by despair, not because it is easy, but because it is the only thing that keeps life worth living. And both books have a similar tendency towards dramatic moments with people shouting very emotionally in very large and deadly rooms. (Not super conducive to being filmed.) But I was always more interested in Duane's world, and in this book I finally put my finger on why.
In this world it is well known that you may not survive your confrontation with the forces of destruction (the Lone Power in this world, It in L'Engle's). I have always been aware that not everybody makes it home (family history of military service), and so with books that purport to deal with the absolute "is it worth getting up tomorrow" questions, but don't acknowledge that some people don't get to see what they work towards, those books could approach feeling accurate on a baseline level, but can never feel absolutely true. But here in this universe we know that part of the associated cost of standing against entropy, destruction, death, cruelty, is that some of us don't come home. We all know going in that some of us will die in pain and never know if our sacrifices did anything to help. And we still make the choice to go to the fight, to stare down despair, to do our best, because we have looked at the alternative and this is better/best/the only thing. So. This is a thing Bujold does too in the Chalion books, which I have not been able to tell people about because saying "a faithful servant of god died under torture and it healed something in me" does not sound like a sane thing to say. But yeah, a book that looks well into the dark and still comes out of it saying "we've got to be kind" is affirming at the soul level. Possibly because I don't read alluded to stuff very well, but I totally missed if l'engle covers the horrible cost of continuing to love? But I got it in Duane's work. So I glommed onto it more.
ALSO, I glommed onto Duane's work because there are semi-sentient trains, and dinosaurs attacking an opera, and excellent cat-chess played by posing, and tips on stealing pastrami.
In this world it is well known that you may not survive your confrontation with the forces of destruction (the Lone Power in this world, It in L'Engle's). I have always been aware that not everybody makes it home (family history of military service), and so with books that purport to deal with the absolute "is it worth getting up tomorrow" questions, but don't acknowledge that some people don't get to see what they work towards, those books could approach feeling accurate on a baseline level, but can never feel absolutely true. But here in this universe we know that part of the associated cost of standing against entropy, destruction, death, cruelty, is that some of us don't come home. We all know going in that some of us will die in pain and never know if our sacrifices did anything to help. And we still make the choice to go to the fight, to stare down despair, to do our best, because we have looked at the alternative and this is better/best/the only thing. So. This is a thing Bujold does too in the Chalion books, which I have not been able to tell people about because saying "a faithful servant of god died under torture and it healed something in me" does not sound like a sane thing to say. But yeah, a book that looks well into the dark and still comes out of it saying "we've got to be kind" is affirming at the soul level. Possibly because I don't read alluded to stuff very well, but I totally missed if l'engle covers the horrible cost of continuing to love? But I got it in Duane's work. So I glommed onto it more.
ALSO, I glommed onto Duane's work because there are semi-sentient trains, and dinosaurs attacking an opera, and excellent cat-chess played by posing, and tips on stealing pastrami.
January 15, 2009
Anyone who has cats will love this book. It is obvious the author has lived with and observed cats for a long time. She captures their attitude and social structure while weaving a story of magic and myth that is captivating. Even the small nuances of cat behavior become a part of their language. Her technical descriptions of the cats work add depth the story and I love how her characters interact with each other and with other species. I also found her references to mythology to be a refreshing presentation of well known tales. After reading this book I'll never look at my cats the same way again. Some days I swear they can walk on air and through walls.
January 20, 2017
Being owned by cats, it's always a reassuring pleasure to know that you aren't alone in this feline-run world. Diane Duane writes about felines from such an informed perspective - the book is told from the lead feline's POV - it's clear that she loves cats and is loved by cats in her home life. Only a cat "owner" would know to say, "Y'know the tuna wasn't all that bad" in a feline's attempt at an apology and be able to wring tears from her audience. Being read to via Audible was also a pleasure because I could hear Duane's words sing off her pages, from her deeply interwoven other world's terms culminating in the finale's spine-tingling poetic and dramatic stand-off. Took awhile to get there, in a pace so graceful and deliberate - like a cat's stalking walk - that you enjoy the journey... saunter through NYC, stop in for pastrami at the deli inside Grand Central, before waging a wizard war among The Three Tenors' famous performance in Central Park. Evocative, loving - of the city and its cats who never get enough sleep - Duane's first in her feline side series is a true treat.
January 10, 2017
What an odd book, in an interesting way. The author elevates cats as a species to a position of power in the universe, although they operate outside the awareness of most humans. Add in the concept of wizards and magic, plus a few (million) dinosaurs, and the story gets complicated.
November 16, 2007
This book has been standing on my shelf for 8 years before I got around to reading it...! I love the idea of the book - cats as wizards, working together with human wizards, trying to save humankind, from heat disaster but more urgently from about a billion dinosaurs trying to enter this world and eat us all! My favourite part in the book is when Pavarotti gets eaten by a dinosaur - how many other book does that happen in???
I liked the whole parallel universe ideas, where wizards are able to travel to other worlds both past, present and future and I liked the idea how the cat myths are closely parallels to our myths - and to every other species in fact. And I liked that when the cats travel to 'old New York' (very old N.Y.!), they change size and becomes the size of their souls - that means, big cats! I think any cat owner knows that a cat is not just a tiny animal but has a much larger soul - and here they get a body to match it!
So several parts of this book, I really liked and the overall story was good too - however, I didn't feel like the execution of it all was as good as needed, that the story didn't unfold and become the page turner it has the potential for. That being said, however, I do consider getting the sequel - mostly because I liked the overall idea.
I liked the whole parallel universe ideas, where wizards are able to travel to other worlds both past, present and future and I liked the idea how the cat myths are closely parallels to our myths - and to every other species in fact. And I liked that when the cats travel to 'old New York' (very old N.Y.!), they change size and becomes the size of their souls - that means, big cats! I think any cat owner knows that a cat is not just a tiny animal but has a much larger soul - and here they get a body to match it!
So several parts of this book, I really liked and the overall story was good too - however, I didn't feel like the execution of it all was as good as needed, that the story didn't unfold and become the page turner it has the potential for. That being said, however, I do consider getting the sequel - mostly because I liked the overall idea.
November 7, 2022
In this spin-off from the Young Wizards series, we follow a group of cat wizards in the same world, meeting some of the same characters from So You Want to Be a Wizard. This book includes spoilers for Book 4 of the Young Wizards series, High Wizardry.
This book has much more adult content than the Young Wizards series. There were a lot of mentions about cats being in heat and tomcats competing for sexual favor. The cats overhear mice in the walls having sex, and at one point the cats stop outside a window like disgusting proverbial peeping toms and watch humans having sex.
There is also a lot more graphic violence in this book than in the Young Wizards series. There were disembowelments, drownings, and guts and blood and cannibalism. All very descriptively described.
I do not know what was going on with this book. It is not at all what I expected from this author.
The plot was slow. The writing was needlessly convoluted and overly mysterious about nothing. The ending left several unanswered questions that felt like plot holes. There is some deus ex machina with ridiculously convenient coincidences. This plot could have been condensed. It's just not at all the type of tightly-woven plot I expect from this author.
I was interested to learn about the cat culture. They have their own history, religion, social relationships, and language. The world-building was good, but I didn't connect with any of the cat characters.
There are a lot of cat language words that are used throughout the book, and I gave up trying to remember what all of them meant. Thankfully there is a glossary of cat words in the back of the book.
I probably will not continue reading this series. I love the Young Wizards series, but this spin-off is not my cup of tea.
This book has much more adult content than the Young Wizards series. There were a lot of mentions about cats being in heat and tomcats competing for sexual favor. The cats overhear mice in the walls having sex, and at one point the cats stop outside a window like disgusting proverbial peeping toms and watch humans having sex.
There is also a lot more graphic violence in this book than in the Young Wizards series. There were disembowelments, drownings, and guts and blood and cannibalism. All very descriptively described.
I do not know what was going on with this book. It is not at all what I expected from this author.
The plot was slow. The writing was needlessly convoluted and overly mysterious about nothing. The ending left several unanswered questions that felt like plot holes. There is some deus ex machina with ridiculously convenient coincidences. This plot could have been condensed. It's just not at all the type of tightly-woven plot I expect from this author.
I was interested to learn about the cat culture. They have their own history, religion, social relationships, and language. The world-building was good, but I didn't connect with any of the cat characters.
There are a lot of cat language words that are used throughout the book, and I gave up trying to remember what all of them meant. Thankfully there is a glossary of cat words in the back of the book.
I probably will not continue reading this series. I love the Young Wizards series, but this spin-off is not my cup of tea.
May 30, 2011
I realise that this makes me very late to the table, but I hadn't read this book until just a few days ago. I enjoyed the Young Wizards books when I was a teenager, but somehow never ran into this one - though I had heard of it.
A friend heard about this grievous error and gave us a second-hand copy for Christmas, which was excellent.
I thought it was very cool. A tale of wizards, who happen to be cats, saving the world from the forces of entropy.
I think The Book of Night With Moon is aimed at more mature readers than the early Young Wizards books because of some of the complexity of language used, but not by a great deal.
One thing I should note is that I am definitely a cat person, so books like this are bound to appeal to me - providing that they feel like actual cats, and generally that was successful here. I certainly plan to explain the idiosyncratic things that cats do - batting at nothing on walls, for example - as magic designed to keep the world going to any small children I wind up having, or otherwise spending time around.
If you're not a cat person, perhaps this book won't work as well? That's one of those unknowns it's hard to speculate about from Inside the Zone.
The cat creation-myth ties into the cyclical mythology of the rest of the Wizards series, and I found elements of how everything unfolds to be a delightful surprise.
It does start slowly, but not unreasonably so. The only issue I had with the book was that a lot of the strife faced in the early sections of the book is down to - essentially - a mystical teenager with an attitude problem who won't listen.
It's an archetype that's done well here, but one I'm less patient with at the moment - probably due its proximity to other stuff I've read over the last while than anything of Diane Duane's doing.
(Fortunately, he wasn't the protagonist - although if he was the protagonist, I trust that Diane Duane would have done something interesting with the concept.)
Anyway, as noted, I had fun. It feels very much like a good fit for the Cat: a little game about little heroes RPG, so anyone who enjoyed Book of Night With Moon will probably enjoy it, and vice versa. The other bonus is that I had no idea there were more books in the feline-wizards series, so I'll have to try checking them out.
The characters are good and have good voices, the authorial tone is fun, and the story is by turns funny, touching, sad, and epic.
A friend heard about this grievous error and gave us a second-hand copy for Christmas, which was excellent.
I thought it was very cool. A tale of wizards, who happen to be cats, saving the world from the forces of entropy.
I think The Book of Night With Moon is aimed at more mature readers than the early Young Wizards books because of some of the complexity of language used, but not by a great deal.
One thing I should note is that I am definitely a cat person, so books like this are bound to appeal to me - providing that they feel like actual cats, and generally that was successful here. I certainly plan to explain the idiosyncratic things that cats do - batting at nothing on walls, for example - as magic designed to keep the world going to any small children I wind up having, or otherwise spending time around.
If you're not a cat person, perhaps this book won't work as well? That's one of those unknowns it's hard to speculate about from Inside the Zone.
The cat creation-myth ties into the cyclical mythology of the rest of the Wizards series, and I found elements of how everything unfolds to be a delightful surprise.
It does start slowly, but not unreasonably so. The only issue I had with the book was that a lot of the strife faced in the early sections of the book is down to - essentially - a mystical teenager with an attitude problem who won't listen.
It's an archetype that's done well here, but one I'm less patient with at the moment - probably due its proximity to other stuff I've read over the last while than anything of Diane Duane's doing.
(Fortunately, he wasn't the protagonist - although if he was the protagonist, I trust that Diane Duane would have done something interesting with the concept.)
Anyway, as noted, I had fun. It feels very much like a good fit for the Cat: a little game about little heroes RPG, so anyone who enjoyed Book of Night With Moon will probably enjoy it, and vice versa. The other bonus is that I had no idea there were more books in the feline-wizards series, so I'll have to try checking them out.
The characters are good and have good voices, the authorial tone is fun, and the story is by turns funny, touching, sad, and epic.
March 27, 2017
Throughout the Young Wizards books we hear about cat wizards. They are the only ones with the correct sort of vision to work the world gates at Grand Central Station. They have their own culture and their own ideas about wizardry and humanity. Obviously a book about that culture is enticing, but in execution, I found it hard to immerse myself in the story. Too much of this book is about explaining that culture. Words are repeated in the cat language. Puns in the cat language are explained after all of the cats grin to one another about them. I don't know if a non-cat or a younger cat as the point of view character would have helped, but the explanations feel forced when we're looking at the world with Rhiow, an experienced wizard.
Fans of the Young Wizards will like the depth that this book gives that series, as well as the cameos from Kit, Nita, and other familiar characters. For other readers, this book offers dinosaurs in the subways tunnels under New York City, a cat's eye view, and scientific magic. I recommend it if you enjoy very intense world building and fantasy languages.
Fans of the Young Wizards will like the depth that this book gives that series, as well as the cameos from Kit, Nita, and other familiar characters. For other readers, this book offers dinosaurs in the subways tunnels under New York City, a cat's eye view, and scientific magic. I recommend it if you enjoy very intense world building and fantasy languages.
May 31, 2018
This is an amusing book, but it also has more depth to it than you'd expect from a book about cat wizards. It discusses silly things like how cats can seem to appear out of thin air, but also more serious things like entropy and choice and why even fights that seem hopeless are worth fighting.
That is actually what I like the most about this whole greater world... the Young Wizards series as well as the Feline Wizards series. It is a set of fun stories that tell deeper truths; YA novels that continue to carry meaning for adults.
Be warned, though, this one does have some sadder moments, especially for cat owners. It's mostly silly and happy and uplifting, but... well. For any story to have real depth, it must also have some sacrifice.
That is actually what I like the most about this whole greater world... the Young Wizards series as well as the Feline Wizards series. It is a set of fun stories that tell deeper truths; YA novels that continue to carry meaning for adults.
Be warned, though, this one does have some sadder moments, especially for cat owners. It's mostly silly and happy and uplifting, but... well. For any story to have real depth, it must also have some sacrifice.
Read
October 30, 2014I've never been the sort to believe that any vertebrate acts on 'instinct'. Frankly, I've had doubts about quite a few INvertebrates, as well. The characters of the cats in this book are well developed; subtle and complex.
I liked the scenes in the NYPL, which don't get mentioned much in reviews. I also liked the descriptions of cat politics/games. I liked the descriptions of the worldgates, which are often rather sketchily defined in other books in this series. And, since I hate opera, I have to say that I also liked that Pavarotti got eaten by a dinosaur--though I'd rather he'd lost his voice or summat o'that.
I STRONGLY disliked the dinosaur themes. I found the whole underground segment poorly developed and depressing. I don't believe in any such world, and I find it yet another manifestation of the 'swamp monsters don't need motivation' tendency.
That said, there were some parts of the underground segments I DID like (such as the saurian wizard). So I'll have to slog through the awful parts to get to the good bits, I suppose. Not willingly, but voluntarily.
This is a bit off-sequence in the main series, and it's hard to work out quite where it fits in. Not surprising, I suppose--in a book that deals with creatures that meddle in time.
I hadn't remembered this book's demonization of rats. I STRONGLY disapprove of this sort of thing. It's not just that rats, left to themselves, are shy, nonagressive, fastidiously clean creatures. That's true, though in cities they're too often driven out into piles of trash in search of food, or forced into overcrowded dens, or forced out of hiding by human activities (such as demolition/construction). It's not just that rats are quite intelligent, and that (far from being 'unique'), rats have virtually identical morphology with all other vertebrates (a classic example of this identity is that giraffes have the same number of vertebrae in their necks as humans--just bigger). If this identity weren't the case, the use of rats for dissection in anatomy classes would be precisely useless. For the rats' sake, one might hope that they WERE unique, so that they wouldn't lose so many of their numbers to laboratories. They also wouldn't be an indirect source for poisoning of other animals (including humans), because they wouldn't be vulnerable to the same poisons.
But my major objection to the demonization of rats is that it's implicitly argued that it's all right to slaughter rats wholesale, because they don't really count as living things. If fleeing rats turn to try to disable pursuit, surely wizards of whatever species can come up with nonlethal ways of protecting themselves. The 'Ailurin' wizards aren't even killing for food--they make it plain that they don't regard the rats as edible. They also don't inquire (at least at first) why creatures with the same neurons as they (and not much differently structured) HAVE been driven out of hiding.
If 'shoot first, and ask questions after' is set up as the model for righteous behavior, pray excuse me from class. The same applies to pigeons, btw, though they're not as actively demonized.
I find the description of the dinosaurian society totally unrealistic. It really doesn't help to set it in a alternate universe. The physical laws involved don't seem to be substantially different, with the exception of the catenaries. There are a lot of implausible points.
For example, the MAJORITY of dinosaurian species were herbivorous. There were not only more species of herbivorous dinosaurs, there were more individuals per species. How did it work out that the carnivores were the only survivors? On Earth, it was not so. The close relatives (and often, direct descendants) of the dinosaurs which survived were emphatically NOT the 'toughest'. Rather, they were (almost without exception) the SMALLEST. This is not just a matter of 'survival of the luckiest'. The 'lucky' in this case, were the ones small enough to have short generation times, to have large numbers, to need less food, and to be likely to encounter a (perhaps barely) adequate food supply during their lifetimes. This applies to saurians as well as mammals.
On another front, where are the cave-dwellers? Caves on Earth are almost never lifeless. Even caves that have been isolated from the surface for a long time (as these have not) are inhabited by plants, animals,fungi, bacteria, etc--some drift in from the surface, others spend their entire life-cycles in caves. Why not here? How did it happen that the dinosaurians were forced into a cannibalistic diet?
This is not sustainable, by the way. It's a bootstrapping system, and in almost every iteration, vital materials (minerals, etc) will be lost. If there's no input from outside, the system is almost certain to break down within a few generations. Furthermore, the eating of the flesh of one's own species facilitates the spread of diseases, since the flesh of one of one's own species is more likely to harbor microorganisms which are dangerous than the flesh of other species. Also, how exactly are they able to produce so many offspring to be enough to feed the survivors even starvation rations? Where are the materials coming from? You can't make proteins from rocks (well, not without a lot of intermediate steps). The process would bottom out even MORE rapidly in such circumstances.
As for the propaganda fantasies behind their totalitarian society, even the simplest thought should be able to penetrate the silly idea that, once freed from the need for food, warmth, and air, they have to go elsewhere. Why bother? What do they gain by conquering other worlds? For what use? They wouldn't need food, air, or warmth anymore--what ELSE would they be trying to take from those they're told 'misuse' it? The saurian wizard Ith accuses mammals of acting too hastily. Likely. But if the saurians are (quite legitimately) deliberative and contemplative, what motive would make them change this? A nursed grudge against people whose fault it is not? Is this strong enough motive to overcome a perfectly reasonable sluggishness? And I don't think cold would be likely to sting the people into action. More likely it would make them MORE torpid.
The lash of fear is a more reasonable basis for why the saurians are accepting this absurd program. With the constant threat that they'll become food if they fail to comply, the saurians MIGHT be cowed into obedience. This may be one of the main reasons why they were denied other food. It makes more sense (in a perverse sort of way) than the other suggestions. But it's still not sustainable. One of the reasons the plans must take place now (rather than in a few more generations) may be that the system is breaking down--not only on the supply side, but also in that fear is not a dependable motivator. After a time, it loses its potency. Either the fearful become completely passive (in a form of learned helplessness), and can't be motivated to do ANYTHING, or they begin to resist and rebel. They begin to question and overcome their fears, if for no other reason than from a 'might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb' basis. If you only have one threat, it loses its value rapidly. If someone rebels and is killed, that individual can no longer be motivated to do ANYTHING. If the rebel is NOT killed, the threat loses its credibility. 'Setting examples' is effective only if people take the example seriously. If they believe there's no way to escape death, they might quite reasonably choose to die now, rather than do something they desperately don't want to.
Draconian societies are no more orderly or conformist than ones that are relatively free. There WILL be rebels and resistance. It's just a matter of when, who, and why. The case of Ith is a good example--but it's more or less chance when the fatal break occurs.
That's one of the main quarrels I have with this series: the denial of chance. If everything is directed, it's a very badly run system indeed. If you deny coincidence any validity, you deny people freedom to make their own decisions. There's a Handelsman cartoon in which Moses asks "Lord, who hardened Pharaoh's heart?" "I did." says God. "Then why didn't you just soften it again?" "More fun this way", says God. I don't have much use for deities that get their kicks this way. I'd much rather have things be random and meaningless. Then I don't HAVE to blame the gods for their callousness and sadism, and yet still find a way to worship them.
I liked the scenes in the NYPL, which don't get mentioned much in reviews. I also liked the descriptions of cat politics/games. I liked the descriptions of the worldgates, which are often rather sketchily defined in other books in this series. And, since I hate opera, I have to say that I also liked that Pavarotti got eaten by a dinosaur--though I'd rather he'd lost his voice or summat o'that.
I STRONGLY disliked the dinosaur themes. I found the whole underground segment poorly developed and depressing. I don't believe in any such world, and I find it yet another manifestation of the 'swamp monsters don't need motivation' tendency.
That said, there were some parts of the underground segments I DID like (such as the saurian wizard). So I'll have to slog through the awful parts to get to the good bits, I suppose. Not willingly, but voluntarily.
This is a bit off-sequence in the main series, and it's hard to work out quite where it fits in. Not surprising, I suppose--in a book that deals with creatures that meddle in time.
I hadn't remembered this book's demonization of rats. I STRONGLY disapprove of this sort of thing. It's not just that rats, left to themselves, are shy, nonagressive, fastidiously clean creatures. That's true, though in cities they're too often driven out into piles of trash in search of food, or forced into overcrowded dens, or forced out of hiding by human activities (such as demolition/construction). It's not just that rats are quite intelligent, and that (far from being 'unique'), rats have virtually identical morphology with all other vertebrates (a classic example of this identity is that giraffes have the same number of vertebrae in their necks as humans--just bigger). If this identity weren't the case, the use of rats for dissection in anatomy classes would be precisely useless. For the rats' sake, one might hope that they WERE unique, so that they wouldn't lose so many of their numbers to laboratories. They also wouldn't be an indirect source for poisoning of other animals (including humans), because they wouldn't be vulnerable to the same poisons.
But my major objection to the demonization of rats is that it's implicitly argued that it's all right to slaughter rats wholesale, because they don't really count as living things. If fleeing rats turn to try to disable pursuit, surely wizards of whatever species can come up with nonlethal ways of protecting themselves. The 'Ailurin' wizards aren't even killing for food--they make it plain that they don't regard the rats as edible. They also don't inquire (at least at first) why creatures with the same neurons as they (and not much differently structured) HAVE been driven out of hiding.
If 'shoot first, and ask questions after' is set up as the model for righteous behavior, pray excuse me from class. The same applies to pigeons, btw, though they're not as actively demonized.
I find the description of the dinosaurian society totally unrealistic. It really doesn't help to set it in a alternate universe. The physical laws involved don't seem to be substantially different, with the exception of the catenaries. There are a lot of implausible points.
For example, the MAJORITY of dinosaurian species were herbivorous. There were not only more species of herbivorous dinosaurs, there were more individuals per species. How did it work out that the carnivores were the only survivors? On Earth, it was not so. The close relatives (and often, direct descendants) of the dinosaurs which survived were emphatically NOT the 'toughest'. Rather, they were (almost without exception) the SMALLEST. This is not just a matter of 'survival of the luckiest'. The 'lucky' in this case, were the ones small enough to have short generation times, to have large numbers, to need less food, and to be likely to encounter a (perhaps barely) adequate food supply during their lifetimes. This applies to saurians as well as mammals.
On another front, where are the cave-dwellers? Caves on Earth are almost never lifeless. Even caves that have been isolated from the surface for a long time (as these have not) are inhabited by plants, animals,fungi, bacteria, etc--some drift in from the surface, others spend their entire life-cycles in caves. Why not here? How did it happen that the dinosaurians were forced into a cannibalistic diet?
This is not sustainable, by the way. It's a bootstrapping system, and in almost every iteration, vital materials (minerals, etc) will be lost. If there's no input from outside, the system is almost certain to break down within a few generations. Furthermore, the eating of the flesh of one's own species facilitates the spread of diseases, since the flesh of one of one's own species is more likely to harbor microorganisms which are dangerous than the flesh of other species. Also, how exactly are they able to produce so many offspring to be enough to feed the survivors even starvation rations? Where are the materials coming from? You can't make proteins from rocks (well, not without a lot of intermediate steps). The process would bottom out even MORE rapidly in such circumstances.
As for the propaganda fantasies behind their totalitarian society, even the simplest thought should be able to penetrate the silly idea that, once freed from the need for food, warmth, and air, they have to go elsewhere. Why bother? What do they gain by conquering other worlds? For what use? They wouldn't need food, air, or warmth anymore--what ELSE would they be trying to take from those they're told 'misuse' it? The saurian wizard Ith accuses mammals of acting too hastily. Likely. But if the saurians are (quite legitimately) deliberative and contemplative, what motive would make them change this? A nursed grudge against people whose fault it is not? Is this strong enough motive to overcome a perfectly reasonable sluggishness? And I don't think cold would be likely to sting the people into action. More likely it would make them MORE torpid.
The lash of fear is a more reasonable basis for why the saurians are accepting this absurd program. With the constant threat that they'll become food if they fail to comply, the saurians MIGHT be cowed into obedience. This may be one of the main reasons why they were denied other food. It makes more sense (in a perverse sort of way) than the other suggestions. But it's still not sustainable. One of the reasons the plans must take place now (rather than in a few more generations) may be that the system is breaking down--not only on the supply side, but also in that fear is not a dependable motivator. After a time, it loses its potency. Either the fearful become completely passive (in a form of learned helplessness), and can't be motivated to do ANYTHING, or they begin to resist and rebel. They begin to question and overcome their fears, if for no other reason than from a 'might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb' basis. If you only have one threat, it loses its value rapidly. If someone rebels and is killed, that individual can no longer be motivated to do ANYTHING. If the rebel is NOT killed, the threat loses its credibility. 'Setting examples' is effective only if people take the example seriously. If they believe there's no way to escape death, they might quite reasonably choose to die now, rather than do something they desperately don't want to.
Draconian societies are no more orderly or conformist than ones that are relatively free. There WILL be rebels and resistance. It's just a matter of when, who, and why. The case of Ith is a good example--but it's more or less chance when the fatal break occurs.
That's one of the main quarrels I have with this series: the denial of chance. If everything is directed, it's a very badly run system indeed. If you deny coincidence any validity, you deny people freedom to make their own decisions. There's a Handelsman cartoon in which Moses asks "Lord, who hardened Pharaoh's heart?" "I did." says God. "Then why didn't you just soften it again?" "More fun this way", says God. I don't have much use for deities that get their kicks this way. I'd much rather have things be random and meaningless. Then I don't HAVE to blame the gods for their callousness and sadism, and yet still find a way to worship them.
April 3, 2021
I'm going to give this a light 4 stars. I like the idea of a book about cat wizards and its connection to the world of the Young Wizard series. It is super imaginative and does a good job at using magic to explain strange cat behavors.
I like the perspective of an older wizard helping a younger wizard get through probation. It taps into the differences between young and old, which wasn't really touched on in the Young Wizard series. This is arguably darker than anything in the Young Wizard series... Perhaps with the exception of books 5 and 6.
That being said, aside from the new perspectives, I kind of found the main conflict boring. I might eat my words, but I'm not really sure where the series plans to go from here. With how many books the Young Wizard series has this sort of feels like filler until the next big adventure with Nita and Kit. It's worth checking out for the fresh perspectives alone though.
I like the perspective of an older wizard helping a younger wizard get through probation. It taps into the differences between young and old, which wasn't really touched on in the Young Wizard series. This is arguably darker than anything in the Young Wizard series... Perhaps with the exception of books 5 and 6.
That being said, aside from the new perspectives, I kind of found the main conflict boring. I might eat my words, but I'm not really sure where the series plans to go from here. With how many books the Young Wizard series has this sort of feels like filler until the next big adventure with Nita and Kit. It's worth checking out for the fresh perspectives alone though.
August 22, 2023
This was decent--got me in the emotions a couple times--but it's unclear who the audience is. Definitely too complicated for kids, but it's about cat wizards? So it's also fantasy, but the stuff about the interdimensional gates was waaaaay too technical, bordering on sci fi. Also, did they resurrect Pavarotti or not? So many unanswered questions.
October 16, 2021
10/10 cat wizards fight dinosaurs in this one
April 10, 2023
Read this first book of Diane Duane's Feline Wizards Series for Reddit Fantasy's 2022 Bingo Square Non-Human Protagonist, qualifying for hard mode as the protagonist and all characters are non-humanoid animals. This was an easy choice, because of two words - Wizard Cats. How can any self respecting cat loving fantasy reader resist?
Cats are among many species with wizards who are tasked to protect the known universe from its arch enemy, Entropy. Iau, the Cat Goddess, gave magic to her minions along with a choice to either preserve life by not hunting as much as they could, or seek power which comes with destruction and death. Every species can choose (with their wizards weighing in) but must accept the consequences.
Protagonist Rhiow, a pet cat leads her team of Cat Wizards consisting of Saash the neurotic always itchy tortoiseshell with fire magic and Urruah a dumpster living foodie tomcat work to keep New York City's Grand Central Station worldgates running. A gate is going haywire, the team fixes it rescuing Arhu, a tom-kitten in the process. Their magic involves working with hyperstrings in the gate, which some humans might have seen and thus invented this game.
Arhu has apparently been given a choice, and he chose to be a wizard! His suffering is part of "The Ordeal" every aspirant must pass in order to become a wizard. Arhu is young, brash and doesn't know any better, so it takes a while for him to become a loyal, valued and powerful member of Rhiow's team of elite cat wizards. The main themes in this book are the unending struggle between the forces that shape the universe, good and bad, light and darkness, order and chaos, with the winner being decided by the most important thing a choice made of free will.
“The Hungry are born among the smaller kindreds, the Mindful among the great; the save and the kindly mingle. You never know which sort you'll find yourself dealing with. Yet every feline, great of small, carries all of them within herself; we all have to make the choice again and again, a hundred times in a life, or a thousand. Sum up all the choices, over nine lives, and your fate's decided, they say. If you fail, then there's nothing at the end of it all but silence, and the night.”
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There are lovable cat characters with humans being relegated to background characters although there are very well written, heartfelt scenes of cat-human interactions. The Wizard cats do their job to protect the world. When an adversary manages to take control of one of the Grand Central Portals, Saurians (dinosaurs) invade New York, the adversary's power is so great even dinosaur bones reanimate like in Night At The Museum.
These dinosaurs are no joke, while it reminded me of Sue from Dead Beat their sheer size alone means they're a menace to humanity and whatever smaller creatures are in their way. Most of those without guns or magical powers should definitely work on their cardio!
So this book has good characters, world building, lore, a magic system and endless potential. The language is both good and bad. Personal observation - the names and some of the words when pronounced are very cat-like sounds, it wasn't until I said "Rhiowwww" with a rolling R and W that my kid actually noticed it too. Same with Saash and words like ffrihh (fridge) or hhoeuehhu (want). This is good.
However, I have a pet peeve (pun intended). Many Ailurin (cat language) words sprinkled throughout the text are not defined, leaving the reader helpless to figure out what exactly is meant in the context (it's confusing for a lot of them) since this really detracts from the enjoyment of the book. The more common ones are in A Very Partial Ailurin Glossary at the end of the book, in my opinion this should have been expanded to include all the Ailurin used, so a reader can at least know what is going on.
If this had been done better the book would have been less confusing and received a much higher rating because dang it, this cat servant really wanted to love this book. Incidentally, a quick search on google shows that there is more than one Cat-munication app out there, which I might have to try if it's free, like this one.
Cats are among many species with wizards who are tasked to protect the known universe from its arch enemy, Entropy. Iau, the Cat Goddess, gave magic to her minions along with a choice to either preserve life by not hunting as much as they could, or seek power which comes with destruction and death. Every species can choose (with their wizards weighing in) but must accept the consequences.
Protagonist Rhiow, a pet cat leads her team of Cat Wizards consisting of Saash the neurotic always itchy tortoiseshell with fire magic and Urruah a dumpster living foodie tomcat work to keep New York City's Grand Central Station worldgates running. A gate is going haywire, the team fixes it rescuing Arhu, a tom-kitten in the process. Their magic involves working with hyperstrings in the gate, which some humans might have seen and thus invented this game.
Arhu has apparently been given a choice, and he chose to be a wizard! His suffering is part of "The Ordeal" every aspirant must pass in order to become a wizard. Arhu is young, brash and doesn't know any better, so it takes a while for him to become a loyal, valued and powerful member of Rhiow's team of elite cat wizards. The main themes in this book are the unending struggle between the forces that shape the universe, good and bad, light and darkness, order and chaos, with the winner being decided by the most important thing a choice made of free will.
“The Hungry are born among the smaller kindreds, the Mindful among the great; the save and the kindly mingle. You never know which sort you'll find yourself dealing with. Yet every feline, great of small, carries all of them within herself; we all have to make the choice again and again, a hundred times in a life, or a thousand. Sum up all the choices, over nine lives, and your fate's decided, they say. If you fail, then there's nothing at the end of it all but silence, and the night.”
[image error]
There are lovable cat characters with humans being relegated to background characters although there are very well written, heartfelt scenes of cat-human interactions. The Wizard cats do their job to protect the world. When an adversary manages to take control of one of the Grand Central Portals, Saurians (dinosaurs) invade New York, the adversary's power is so great even dinosaur bones reanimate like in Night At The Museum.
These dinosaurs are no joke, while it reminded me of Sue from Dead Beat their sheer size alone means they're a menace to humanity and whatever smaller creatures are in their way. Most of those without guns or magical powers should definitely work on their cardio!
So this book has good characters, world building, lore, a magic system and endless potential. The language is both good and bad. Personal observation - the names and some of the words when pronounced are very cat-like sounds, it wasn't until I said "Rhiowwww" with a rolling R and W that my kid actually noticed it too. Same with Saash and words like ffrihh (fridge) or hhoeuehhu (want). This is good.
However, I have a pet peeve (pun intended). Many Ailurin (cat language) words sprinkled throughout the text are not defined, leaving the reader helpless to figure out what exactly is meant in the context (it's confusing for a lot of them) since this really detracts from the enjoyment of the book. The more common ones are in A Very Partial Ailurin Glossary at the end of the book, in my opinion this should have been expanded to include all the Ailurin used, so a reader can at least know what is going on.
If this had been done better the book would have been less confusing and received a much higher rating because dang it, this cat servant really wanted to love this book. Incidentally, a quick search on google shows that there is more than one Cat-munication app out there, which I might have to try if it's free, like this one.
November 3, 2023
What's not to like about wizard cats?
May 19, 2024
Cat wizards!
November 23, 2012
just re-read this after finding it in B's room...amazing what books rotate into his room and off the main bookshelves...I was looking for a Terry Pratchett book and that is always a good place to find them. After reading this book again I recognize how I miss having cats in the house - yes, this book is better if you have lived with cats. And you'll never look at them the same way again. Not my favorite Diane Duane, but still a good read - and a continuation of the Young Wizards trilogy although written for adults. Good vs. Evil. Choosing the light. Cats and human and dinosaurs. You get the picture....
September 23, 2016
This was...a lot of book. Really, so much book. The same extremely devout religious themes appear in this book as in the "So You Want to Be a Wizard" series I read growing up; but at a grander scale, because this was nearly 400 pages of culty superscience cats fighting dinosaurs, delivered completely sincerely. And also the dinosaurs are in a cult, too, and some of them are...magic clones?...and some of those are wizards, and cats are wizards, and people are pets, and it's weird. And weirdest of all is the sense of unflinching eye contact I got from Duane. I think Duane doesn't think this is weird.
May 14, 2018
Cat wizards! Physics magic! Traversing NYC on invisible stairs high above the streets! Hidden populations of dinosaurs, gates to other worlds, epic battles between ancient powers... Wonderful premise and world-building; from now on I'm utterly convinced that many cats, with their inexplicable behaviors, are secretly wizards.
The book unfortunately had trouble keeping momentum at any point. About 60% of the way through it got exciting and then the climax was heart-stopping wonderful, but there were numerous points otherwise that dragged down the pacing to a standstill. Definitely worth it for the cat wizards, but took me forever to get around to finishing.
The book unfortunately had trouble keeping momentum at any point. About 60% of the way through it got exciting and then the climax was heart-stopping wonderful, but there were numerous points otherwise that dragged down the pacing to a standstill. Definitely worth it for the cat wizards, but took me forever to get around to finishing.
February 8, 2019
If you thought DD didn't pull her punches for YA, this will definitely be a bit of a shock. The worldbuilding is exquisite, and Rhiow is a great introduction to cat wizardry. (And the puns.)
March 7, 2015
This book is the SHIT. I don't even LIKE cats and this book is, still, the SHIT.
May 23, 2016
Really interesting view of the other wizard species and how they interact with the Powers. Also, as a side note, a very interesting discussion of gender and performative gender.
March 31, 2022
Recommendation by my grandmother, I thought it was a nice read. A different concept, purrfect for cat lovers.
June 21, 2017
This was an interesting addition to the universe of my beloved childhood read So You Want to Be a Wizard. This time, the wizards in question are cats, which draws me to the book all the more, being the cat fanatic I am.
I thought that the cat culture was fairly well-designed in the book, and I could tell the author had done her research. It's true that, linguistically, cats only really meow when they're trying to communicate with humans and that they usually speak in body language and softer trills with each other. The game that the cats play with each other also felt very realistic in terms of how cats interact. I did sometimes find the integration of the cats' language into the text to be somewhat annoying, though. I was fine with the fact that certain words that would have no English equivalent, such as the cats' names and cat-only concepts, would be written in the cat language, but since the majority of what the cats were saying was translated into English for the reader, I didn't understand why the author felt the need to keep so many seemingly random words in the cat language instead. It only really made them harder to read.
I had a few other complaints with the design of the story, as well. For one, I found the story to be almost too steeped in lore. It explored the lore of cat wizards and how it's similar and different to that of human wizards, but every character in the lore had multiple names to refer to them and it was difficult keeping everybody straight, especially when there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to why certain names were used at certain times. Additionally, a lot of what the cats worked with magic-wise was very technical and could be difficult for me to picture well.
Finally, the ending of the story felt a little sloppy to me. The main character had in some way obtained a spell during her Ordeal which she kept in the back of her mind but didn't understand at all, and suddenly, during the climax of the story, she understood it and was able to use it against their enemy. The spell wasn't touched upon a great deal throughout the book before that, however; it was mentioned a little, but I was frequently unclear of why. I also kind of wanted the MC to be able to use the spell due to some personal growth she went through, when in the book she could use it because of things the enemy had done. There was also kind of a throwaway solution to one of the problems of the book; when things are first starting to wind up toward the climax, a character goes missing. The mission leading to the climax was originally organized to find out what happened to him. However, the whole entire climax happens without ever finding him, and when it's all over, he's just back on his own. I found that sort of disappointing.
Despite all these things, however, I did find it a good read and would recommend it to fans of not-too-serious fantasy and science fiction.
I thought that the cat culture was fairly well-designed in the book, and I could tell the author had done her research. It's true that, linguistically, cats only really meow when they're trying to communicate with humans and that they usually speak in body language and softer trills with each other. The game that the cats play with each other also felt very realistic in terms of how cats interact. I did sometimes find the integration of the cats' language into the text to be somewhat annoying, though. I was fine with the fact that certain words that would have no English equivalent, such as the cats' names and cat-only concepts, would be written in the cat language, but since the majority of what the cats were saying was translated into English for the reader, I didn't understand why the author felt the need to keep so many seemingly random words in the cat language instead. It only really made them harder to read.
I had a few other complaints with the design of the story, as well. For one, I found the story to be almost too steeped in lore. It explored the lore of cat wizards and how it's similar and different to that of human wizards, but every character in the lore had multiple names to refer to them and it was difficult keeping everybody straight, especially when there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to why certain names were used at certain times. Additionally, a lot of what the cats worked with magic-wise was very technical and could be difficult for me to picture well.
Finally, the ending of the story felt a little sloppy to me. The main character had in some way obtained a spell during her Ordeal which she kept in the back of her mind but didn't understand at all, and suddenly, during the climax of the story, she understood it and was able to use it against their enemy. The spell wasn't touched upon a great deal throughout the book before that, however; it was mentioned a little, but I was frequently unclear of why. I also kind of wanted the MC to be able to use the spell due to some personal growth she went through, when in the book she could use it because of things the enemy had done. There was also kind of a throwaway solution to one of the problems of the book; when things are first starting to wind up toward the climax, a character goes missing. The mission leading to the climax was originally organized to find out what happened to him. However, the whole entire climax happens without ever finding him, and when it's all over, he's just back on his own. I found that sort of disappointing.
Despite all these things, however, I did find it a good read and would recommend it to fans of not-too-serious fantasy and science fiction.
October 25, 2017
This book is one of the most unusual I have read. The story is told from the point of view of a wizard cat, complete with its own language. It took me a while to get used to the specific terms used throughout the book, which kept me from reading it more quickly. It also took me a while to get involved with the story.
It’s a story of how the wizards, both cats, humans and other species, are working to delay the earth’s destruction, from possibly global warning. Teams of wizards working together have specific jobs to do. The Team of three cats, which are the central characters of this book, main job is keeping gateways around Grand Central Station in New York City in good repair. These gateways are used by wizards in traveling both on and off the planet and to different times.
The gateways also seem like metaphors for what is happening on earth. In this book there are almost always problems with the gateways, which requires the team to have to go to a world beneath the visible world to find the root cause of the problem and repair it. Nobody likes going there as it can be very dangerous. The cat wizards that go down there are armed with multiple spells to help protect them.
This is basically a story about the fight between good and evil and making the right choice when tempted by the Lone Power to choose a life which gives a species more power over others. These choices often lead to chaos and death of a species ie the dinosaurs as the language of the choice is tricky. It also sends the team of cats down into extreme danger to try to save the world where the battle for the planet and other worlds is fought.
The relationship between cats and their humans is also an important one. Each cat including, the new abandoned kitten that the team saves and becomes the 4th member of the team, have their own unique relationships with humans.
Wizard cats and other wizards have specific abilities which enable them to do their jobs. These abilities add another layer of interest to the story as does the relationship between the cat wizards and their human advisors. The importance of a cat’s nine lives is a factor. Some cats can also earn a 10th life which almost reminds me of angels.
It is an enjoyable story that I strongly recommend to those that enjoy wizards and cats.
It’s a story of how the wizards, both cats, humans and other species, are working to delay the earth’s destruction, from possibly global warning. Teams of wizards working together have specific jobs to do. The Team of three cats, which are the central characters of this book, main job is keeping gateways around Grand Central Station in New York City in good repair. These gateways are used by wizards in traveling both on and off the planet and to different times.
The gateways also seem like metaphors for what is happening on earth. In this book there are almost always problems with the gateways, which requires the team to have to go to a world beneath the visible world to find the root cause of the problem and repair it. Nobody likes going there as it can be very dangerous. The cat wizards that go down there are armed with multiple spells to help protect them.
This is basically a story about the fight between good and evil and making the right choice when tempted by the Lone Power to choose a life which gives a species more power over others. These choices often lead to chaos and death of a species ie the dinosaurs as the language of the choice is tricky. It also sends the team of cats down into extreme danger to try to save the world where the battle for the planet and other worlds is fought.
The relationship between cats and their humans is also an important one. Each cat including, the new abandoned kitten that the team saves and becomes the 4th member of the team, have their own unique relationships with humans.
Wizard cats and other wizards have specific abilities which enable them to do their jobs. These abilities add another layer of interest to the story as does the relationship between the cat wizards and their human advisors. The importance of a cat’s nine lives is a factor. Some cats can also earn a 10th life which almost reminds me of angels.
It is an enjoyable story that I strongly recommend to those that enjoy wizards and cats.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 16, 2019
To her humans, Rhiow is like any other cat. But to the world of wizards, she has an important role keeping the world gates in Grand Central Station running. Her and her partners get dropped a new kitten to take care of/guide through his ordeal in the midst of crisis after crisis with the gates. Can they solve the problems and keep their new kitten - and themselves - from losing another life?
First of all, if you haven't read the Young Wizards series, you have to. If you like YA sci fi/fantasy, you just have to read it. I also highly recommend reading those before reading this book. I think this story would be a little hard to follow if you weren't familiar with the main series.
Duane has created such a realistic, yet deeply detailed world. Every aspect of cat/human interactions has been thought about an explained, along with a complete cat language and a very technical science system of how the world gates work. Her brain is just incredible - and the whole thing is so believable.
While there were a few interesting moments in the plot that I was confused at how they were resolved, and occasionally the cat language tripped me up, I really enjoyed reading this book. I'm anxious to read the next one but I'm waiting on Nick to finish the series he has been reading so he will read these!
Again, read the Young Wizards series first, but if you are dying for more like me (like seriously, where is the next book in that series???), check these out! Definitely more adult and not YA (just in detail, not raunchy at all), a little more technical, but still great wizardry books.
This is making me want to go read another fantasy story right now! I'll go 8 of 10 overall (the original series is still so near and dear to my heart that these can't top it) and 3 of 5 for readability. Very technical. But a fantastic story with a very interesting and unexpected ending.
For more reviews, check out bedroopedbookworms.wordpress.com!
First of all, if you haven't read the Young Wizards series, you have to. If you like YA sci fi/fantasy, you just have to read it. I also highly recommend reading those before reading this book. I think this story would be a little hard to follow if you weren't familiar with the main series.
Duane has created such a realistic, yet deeply detailed world. Every aspect of cat/human interactions has been thought about an explained, along with a complete cat language and a very technical science system of how the world gates work. Her brain is just incredible - and the whole thing is so believable.
While there were a few interesting moments in the plot that I was confused at how they were resolved, and occasionally the cat language tripped me up, I really enjoyed reading this book. I'm anxious to read the next one but I'm waiting on Nick to finish the series he has been reading so he will read these!
Again, read the Young Wizards series first, but if you are dying for more like me (like seriously, where is the next book in that series???), check these out! Definitely more adult and not YA (just in detail, not raunchy at all), a little more technical, but still great wizardry books.
This is making me want to go read another fantasy story right now! I'll go 8 of 10 overall (the original series is still so near and dear to my heart that these can't top it) and 3 of 5 for readability. Very technical. But a fantastic story with a very interesting and unexpected ending.
For more reviews, check out bedroopedbookworms.wordpress.com!
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