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Shadow Cat
Nolan's mother takes him on a mystery trip and he finds himself caught up in an adventure. He encounters an African wild cat who he vows to protect from hunters.
305 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2015
3 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Gillian Cross
149 books86 followersGillian Cross was born Gillian Arnold in 1945. She was educated at North London Collegiate School, Somerville College, Oxford and the University of Sussex. Although now a full-time writer who often travels and gives talks in connection with her work, she has had a number of informal jobs including being an assistant to a Member of Parliament. For eight years she also sat on the committee which advises ministers about public libraries.
She is married to Martin Cross and they have four grown-up children, two sons and two daughters.
She is married to Martin Cross and they have four grown-up children, two sons and two daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 24, 2022
Well, Gillian Cross could have made her YA novel Shadow Cat into a decent and readable story if she had not (at least in my opinion) fallen into a number of (but in fact primarily three) very annoying and frustrating narrative traps.
For one, having author Gillian Cross use the first person (I, me, we and us) for co-protagonist Nolan to tell his story, while his textual counterpart Feather’s life is shown in a rather removed and distant third person narration, this kind of for me creates in Shadow Cat a somewhat confusing and disjointed reading experience (and it also leaves Feather as someone not really all that personally relatable and not all that easy to get to know, whereas Nolan on the other hand is often providing way way too much information and details, especially about his mother and her myriad of mental health issues, and yes indeed, that Nolan in Shadow Cat generally is made to appear and act/react considerably more maturely and reasonably than his mother, that Nolan often feels like the parent instead of his mother).
And for two, many (if not actually most) of the presented themes and contents for Shadow Cat also do not for me feel as though they truly fit together to provide a smooth narrational flow from beginning to end, which Gillian Cross herself might perhaps consider as representing actual reality but which I for one have found annoyingly frustrating and definitely slowing down both my reading pace and also seriously limiting and lessening potential reading pleasure, and in particular so because that entire wildcat rescue scenario in Shadow Cat feels majorly artificial, uninteresting and also does not really seem to consider that Servals truly are wild animals and not some kind of potential pet which Nolan obviously and positively wants to rescue but then also seemingly desires to own for himself (as yes, Servals are totally and absolutely wildcats and Nolan should in my opinion not be described by Gillian Cross as even thinking of wanting one).
Finally, for three (and this might well be why much of the entire Serval rescue premise feels so ridiculously unrealistic), the villains encountered in Shadow Cat, they are so majorly one sidedly flat and stereotypically evil, they are so lacking in ANY type of textual nuance that they ALL in fact and definitely feel quite farcical. However, since Shadow Cat is in fact supposed to deal with and cover serious issues, those one-dimensional villains, they are actually and of course not something to laugh at, but rather something to painfully majorly groan at and about (and that the combination of three rather massive textual flaws in Gillian Cross' storyline for Shadow Cat therefore and most certainly and definitely have made me personally only consider but two stars as a rating and to also not really recommend Shadow Cat except with some major reading reservations).
For one, having author Gillian Cross use the first person (I, me, we and us) for co-protagonist Nolan to tell his story, while his textual counterpart Feather’s life is shown in a rather removed and distant third person narration, this kind of for me creates in Shadow Cat a somewhat confusing and disjointed reading experience (and it also leaves Feather as someone not really all that personally relatable and not all that easy to get to know, whereas Nolan on the other hand is often providing way way too much information and details, especially about his mother and her myriad of mental health issues, and yes indeed, that Nolan in Shadow Cat generally is made to appear and act/react considerably more maturely and reasonably than his mother, that Nolan often feels like the parent instead of his mother).
And for two, many (if not actually most) of the presented themes and contents for Shadow Cat also do not for me feel as though they truly fit together to provide a smooth narrational flow from beginning to end, which Gillian Cross herself might perhaps consider as representing actual reality but which I for one have found annoyingly frustrating and definitely slowing down both my reading pace and also seriously limiting and lessening potential reading pleasure, and in particular so because that entire wildcat rescue scenario in Shadow Cat feels majorly artificial, uninteresting and also does not really seem to consider that Servals truly are wild animals and not some kind of potential pet which Nolan obviously and positively wants to rescue but then also seemingly desires to own for himself (as yes, Servals are totally and absolutely wildcats and Nolan should in my opinion not be described by Gillian Cross as even thinking of wanting one).
Finally, for three (and this might well be why much of the entire Serval rescue premise feels so ridiculously unrealistic), the villains encountered in Shadow Cat, they are so majorly one sidedly flat and stereotypically evil, they are so lacking in ANY type of textual nuance that they ALL in fact and definitely feel quite farcical. However, since Shadow Cat is in fact supposed to deal with and cover serious issues, those one-dimensional villains, they are actually and of course not something to laugh at, but rather something to painfully majorly groan at and about (and that the combination of three rather massive textual flaws in Gillian Cross' storyline for Shadow Cat therefore and most certainly and definitely have made me personally only consider but two stars as a rating and to also not really recommend Shadow Cat except with some major reading reservations).
November 5, 2018
I used this as the reader for my year 6 students; The idea is great, the vocabulary and fluency of the story is great but the suspense is fake and dissapointing. The story is really boring and uninspiring as well. I don't recommend it.
June 25, 2017
Very good book. It would be nice to know what happened to Nolan and Feather later.
October 5, 2018
Good storyline and ending!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews