Catalyst

Tales of the Barque Cats #1

by Anne McCaffrey, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

Pilot, navigator, engineer, doctor, scientist—ship's cat? All are essential to the well-staffed space vessel. Since the early days of interstellar travel, when Tuxedo Thomas, a Maine coon cat, showed what a cat could do for a ship and its crew, the so-called Barque Cats have become highly prized crew members. Thomas's carefully bred progeny, ably assisted by humans—Cat Persons—with whom they share a deep and loving bond, now travel the galaxy, responsible for keeping spacecraft free of vermin, for alerting human crews to potential environmental hazards, and for acting as morale officers.

Even among Barque Cats, Chessie is something special. Her pedigree, skills, and intelligence, as well as the close rapport she has with her human, Janina, make her the most valuable crew member aboard the Molly Daise. And the litter of kittens in her belly only adds to her value.

Then the unthinkable happens. Chessie is kidnapped—er, catnapped—from Dr. Jared Vlast's vet clinic at Hood Station by a grizzled spacer named Carl Poindexter. But Chessie's newborn kittens turn out to be even more extraordinary than their mother. For while Chessie's connection to Janina is close and intuitive, the bond that the kitten Chester forms with Carl's son, Jubal, is downright telepathic. And when Chester is sent into space to learn his trade, neither he nor Jubal will rest until they're reunited.

    But the announcement of a widespread epidemic affecting livestock on numerous planets throws their future into doubt. Suddenly the galactic government announces a plan to impound and possibly destroy all exposed animals. Not even the Barque Cats will be spared.

    With the clock racing against them, Janina, Jubal, Dr. Vlast, and a handful of very special kittens will join forces with the mysterious Pshaw-Ra—an alien-looking cat with a hidden agenda—to save the Barque Cats, other animals, and quite possibly the universe as they know it from total destruction.
 

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Cats, Fiction, Animals, Young Adult, Science Fiction Fantasy

256 pages, Hardcover

First published December 15, 2009

About the author

Anne Inez McCaffrey was an American writer known for the Dragonriders of Pern science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, Weyr Search, 1968) and the first to win a Nebula Award (Best Novella, Dragonrider, 1969). Her 1978 novel The White Dragon became one of the first science-fiction books to appear on the New York Times Best Seller list.
In 2005 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named McCaffrey its 22nd Grand Master, an annual award to living writers of fantasy and science fiction. She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on 17 June 2006. She also received the Robert A. Heinlein Award for her work in 2007.

Reviews

[Red · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't really care for this book. I picked it up at the library on a whim, because the cover looked interesting and then read the synopsis here and it sounded good. I love Anne McCaffrey's writing and have rarely been disappointed with her solo works, but I've shied away from her collaborations fearing that her name was on the covers just to sell the books. This novel did nothing to disabuse me of that notion.

The ideas were interesting, the bones of a good story was there, they were just poorly fleshed out and even less well clothed. I didn't like most of the characters, barely liked the main cat, Chester, and his boy. I didn't really care about any of their problems, though I wanted to. I kept getting stuck on terse and discordant prose. The relationships were so simplistic as to make me wonder if this is meant to be a YA book.

I don't think Ms. Scarborough is an author for me. Even though Anne McCaffrey's name is on many co-written books, and I am sure she collaborates with the authors, I don't think she does much of the actual writing.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

McCaffrey and Scarborough, both cat lovers, have created a vision of the future that shows that, no matter the advances in technology, both human and feline nature will remain the same until the end of time. Animal lovers and/or Anne McCaffrey fans will definitely like this one.

[Sarah B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story has all of the things you could want in a great science fiction tale: a complicated storyline, characters you actually like, danger threatening the galaxy and a bunch of furry friends, in this case cats. And make no mistake: the cats in here are main characters who actually communicate with certain people through mental thoughts. They have opinions and often chunks of the story is from a cat's viewpoint. As the story goes on the danger increases from a tiny seed until it's an overwhelming mountain. And while the pages I had left to read was shockingly thin, I had no idea how it was going to end. At all. Often in books I can guess but nothing in here was guessable at all. And yes, it's a fast paced adventure story.

Until I read this, I never really thought of how the far future and spaceflight would affect our animals. Would there be cats in space? How about horses or dogs or the other animals we have as pets or companions? When we go to other world's do they go with us? During the age of sail cats were highly valued on ships for their rodent catching abilities. Well, what about on spaceships? The book calls them the Barque Cats. Barque means a type of sailing ship. This is their tale and how they were almost undone by some awful humans!

I believe anyone who loves cats or animals will love this book. It's full of many cat-human pairs. And those pairs will do anything to get back together and save the other from certain doom. Unfortunately it's not easy at all as the enemy in here is all powerful.

Many of the human characters go through character arches and change. That doesn't happen in all books but it does in here, often for the better. Some of the characters actually ended up surprising me big time!

I really can't think of anything bad about this book at all. In fact I just ordered the sequel to this as I definitely want to read it, to see what happens next. And I can't believe I never read this before!

The cover art on this book is beautiful!

[Joan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up on this one. Other than Chessie and Janina, none of the characters were at all likable. While I have read successful books with unlikable characters, those books have other things going for them: storyline, etc. Also, I know I've seen cats used as ship partners before in other books. I have tons of other books to read. If this isn't grabbing me by now, it has lost it's chance to be read! Seriously, my experience with Anne McCaffrey is that the books she wrote by herself were vastly superior to those cowritten with other writers. I'll miss her books.

[Brenda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not their best book. More YA than adult. Cats patrol spaceships, killing rodents, insects,and searching for air or gas leaks. Eating iridescent beetles makes some cats able to telepathically bond with humans. Some cats are of higher pedigree, the Barque cats, and their kittens are expensive. A pregnant cat is kidnapped and finds refuge dirtside in a stable, with another pregnant cat.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know if this book is classified as a YA, but IMO, it should be. Not that it's a bad book, but it is... Well, it's told from the cat's POV. This can be done in a sophisticated manner (Watership Down), but this story just has a YA feel to me.

The first narrator is Chessie, a Barque cat, which is a specially bred, specially trained spaceship cat. Not only do they catch the vermin which stows away with ship cargoes, but they search out air leaks and tiny meteorite hull punctures and alert the ships crew. They're very expensive, highly trained kitties. So when the ship's Cat Person brags about the very pregnant Chessie to a curious stranger on a space station, the reader is not surprised to find the stranger stealing the cat.

The narration shifts to one of Chessie's newborn kittens and mostly stays with him. The plot is fairly convoluted, with different villains who sometimes behave badly, and sometimes do good things, that turn out not to have good results. It's a fun read, and leaves the field open for further adventures of Chester and his family.

[BellaGBear · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about cats in space. I am actually were amazed that this one is not deemed a childrens book because of the theme. This book is basically about the love of cats people have, especially when the cats are usefull for pest control and such (a bit like the old-fashioned ship cats, but in space).

A very cute read which is certainly recommended for everyone who loves cats. Especially because they are often the narrator and love their own cute fuzziness :). And also the Barque cats are so beautifully proud of the work they do.

[Darlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

While perusing my local library system's site of ebooks and audios I saw the second book in this series by one of my favorite authors, Anne McCaffrey. Well, I hate starting in the middle of a series so I bought the first one and the Audible version to go with it.

If you love cats and space travel adventures, this is the book for you. I thought it was going to be too much fluff, a childish book, a book about kitty cats. I was wrong. This gave a new perspective about cats and space travel.

I just happen to have a polydactyl black cat and I have wondered if, with the right training, all those toes could be used like our hands. Could she be a Barque cat? Could she fly a space ship? My husband and I spend our retired days trying to read our cats' and new dog's minds. Sometimes we think we know them pretty well. We provide the words to the bubbles over their heads. Just imagine if instead of watching the mice for entertainment if they could kill the space alien?

Anyway, this was fun and I didn't stop between the two books and got right into book two. I have to admit to wishing there was more! R.I.P. Anne McCaffrey. I miss you!

[Leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Telepathic cats try to take over the galaxy with dung beetles. Not McCaffrey's best work.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a book for cat lovers. I would also say that although it's a space adventure, it's more oriented towards female readers.

Much of the story is told from the perspective of the cats involved. I found their voices to be convincing most of the time--they weren't always nice to each other or to humans, and at one point, an angry kitten uses someone's boot as a bathroom, which is realistic enough! But on the other hand, some cats truly loved humans, and that is also realistic.

Basically, the story is this: cats are specially bred to perform a variety of tasks aboard starships, and they have Cat Handlers to take care of them. It's a workable sci-fi premise.

In the beginning of the book, one of these special cats (pregnant with kittens) is stolen by a roguish man. This causes all sorts of trouble, and when compounded with an overzealous galactic government, things eventually spiral into craziness. Lots of people and cats end up on collision courses--the rogue, his son, the cat's Handler, the vet, and a variety of cats with different personalities. There are also psychic elements to the story.

As in most tales involving animals at the mercy of humans, sometimes sad things happen to the characters. But overall, this is a cute book. I would recommend this to people who really like to think about or read about cats, but not to just anyone.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barque Cats. It's in the title. Cats that are useful in spaceships in the Talet series by Anne McCaffrey. So of course I think that's what this book is about. Great - I mostly liked that series.
But no, this book, Catalyst, is about Barque Cats. Cats that are useful in spaceships in an alternate universe where Earth was destroyed by nuclear holocaust (I think - don't worry, that's not a spoiler, just a random informational note they give you somewhere in the text). Really? Cats, same name, same function, different universe. Totally messed me up; I didn't like that.
The characters are not very interesting people/cats (yes, cats are characters too). I did like the attempt to make the cat characters seem cat-like, but it didn't work that well for me.
As for plot, it didn't really meet my expectations. It kind of just wanders and happens, without a whole lot of growth and change in the characters. It left me feeling pretty blah.

[Dixie Conley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular. Gripping. Amazing. Maybe because I like cats and maybe because I like Anne McCaffrey's writing, but nonetheless, I greatly enjoyed this story. I'm amused that (while never explicitly stated) the guy who caused the problem by his illegal actions was one of the ones to rectify it. Shows you that villains aren't black and white.

[Debbie]

Fun. Gotta love a book with talking cats

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barque cats are practically essential to the running of a well maintained spacecraft. They rid the ship of vermin, detect fuel and oxygen leaks more efficiently than sensors, and are the unofficial morale officers. That makes them both well-loved and extremely valuable. Chessie, a descendent of Tuxedo Tom, the original Barque cat, reflects her breeding well. Not only is she a beautiful and extremely capable ship’s cat, she produces litter after litter of highly prized kittens which are sold for large amounts of money once she has trained them.

She’s ready to give birth at any time when she is kidnapped and hidden away in a barn by Ponty, a man who plans to profit from her kittens and use her DNA sample to make counterfeit Barque cats from regular felines. His son, Jubal, has longed for a cat to call his own and finds he has a telepathic connection with one of the kittens.

Prior to the kidnapping, Chessie’s cat person, Kibble, noticed a glittery substance in Chessie’s excretions, and took a sample to the space station vet. Dr. Vlast finds some horses on the planet below have the same glitter in their saliva. Soon, the Galactic Government has quarantined every animal that has the glitter, as well as those that have come into contact with them. It’s doubtful any quarantined animals will survive. Can the cats and their humans find a way to save the condemned animals before it’s too late?

This fast paced, Sci-Fi/Fantasy adventure is listed as an adult novel, but would be equally appropriate for teen and older juveniles. Told mostly from the cat’s point of view, it will strike a chord with anyone who has an appreciation of felines. It’s a quick read with enough details for the reader to keep up with the multiple story threads. The second book in the series, Catacombs, is scheduled to be released December 7, 2010.

[Lark of The Bookwyrm's Hoard · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was deeply disappointed in Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough’s Catalyst. I wanted to like it. I enjoyed the barque cats in The Rowan and Damia , and looked forward to reading more about them. But Catalyst failed to engage my interest even enough to finish it. And that makes me sad.

McCaffrey at her best is terrific (Dragonsong, DragonsingerDragonsinger, the first Dragonriders trilogy, especially The White Dragon.) I love the Dragonriders series, the early Tower and Hive books, The Ship Who Sang (and Mercedes Lackey’s thoroughly enjoyable The Ship Who Searched ), Decision at Doona , and the Pegasus novels.

On the other hand, some of McCaffrey’s books simply haven’t worked for me. I could never really warm to the Killishandra books; they were good, but they weren’t my kind of book. I read the first several Acorna novels, but I neither finished the series nor went back and reread any of them. Ditto the Freedom/Catteni series and the Petaybee books. (A sure test of whether I like a book is whether I consider it worth rereading. If I don’t reread a book, it hasn’t risen to the level of “good friend,” one I enjoy spending time with.) The Freedom books, like the Killishandra books, were well-written, just “not my thing.” The first Petaybee trilogy struck me as an interesting premise which hadn’t gotten quite the level of author investment it deserved.*

Catalyst, on the other hand, felt more like the Petaybee Changelings trilogy, only worse. It isn’t simply that both the Changeling trilogy and Catalyst are clearly aimed at a middle-school/YA readership. Dragonsong and Dragonsinger are generally considered YA, and they are among McCaffrey’s best work, in part because the characters are so real. The characters in the Changeling trilogy and in Catalyst, on the other hand, feel more like cardboard cutouts. There is no real depth, and thus it was difficult to care much about them. Catalyst’s initial settings, the colony world Sherwood and the station above it, also lacked a sense of reality; they seemed two-dimensional, more like a stage set than like real places. In contrast, Pern, Doona, and the worlds of the Tower series are as real in their way as any Earth country I’ve read about but never visited.

I should be honest here and admit that there is another reason Catalyst failed to hold my attention: the cats themselves. I’m normally an expert at the willing suspension of disbelief. I can accept magic, elves, dwarves, schools for wizarding children, talking gryphons, telepathic dragons, and teleporting Talents. I have no problem with the intelligent cat-like species in McCaffrey’s Doona books; they aren’t cats, they are to cats what humans are to small monkeys. I can even believe wholeheartedly in Mercedes Lackey’s Companions (which look like horses, but aren’t) and bondbirds (which are more intelligent than ordinary birds because their ancestors were magically altered.) But when otherwise ordinary animals start talking and thinking like humans without any explanation of why and how, my ability to suspend disbelief is stretched past the breaking point. (Oddly, this difficulty doesn’t extend to Beatrix Potter and other picture books. I even enjoyed the animated “Redwall” series on TV—but I couldn’t get through the book the first time I tried. Rodents simply don’t wear swords, fight wars, or congregate in abbeys except as unwelcome visitors.)

Lackey explains the differences between her Companions and ordinary horses, between her bondbirds and ordinary raptors. Those explanations make her creations different from ordinary animals, and thus their abilities become more believable. In Catalyst, on the other hand, both pure-bred barque cats and common barn cats exhibit human-like intelligence and communication, for which McCaffrey and Scarborough fail to give any explanation at all. For anyone even moderately familiar with cats, this stretches belief too far.

I live with two cats. Tasha is inquisitive, loves to get into nooks and crannies and onto high places, and chews on power cords (not a sign of higher intelligence.) As for Thomas, we like to joke that he is waiting for the Large Hadron Collider to come back online so he can solve the mysteries of the universe, but we know he’s really just sleeping—all the time. Neither cat is particularly good at communicating anything beyond “I’m hungry,” “I want to be on the other side of this door,” and “Don’t move, you’re providing a heat source,” and they certainly don’t exhibit any sign of comprehending what we say to them. I love them both, but I have no illusions about their intelligence. If McCaffrey and Scarborough’s cats are not substantially different from my own, but talk and think like humans, how can I believe in them?

Sadly, flat characters, cardboard settings, and heavily anthropomorphized housecats don’t add up to a satisfying book, at least not for me. If you loved the Changeling trilogy, by all means read Catalyst; you may enjoy it. If you prefer McCaffrey’s older, richer works, save yourself some disappointment and skip her latest offering.


Edited 4/22/2019 to add: I have since revised my assessment of the Changling books slightly upward. Emphasis on slightly. They are still nowhere near as good as McCaffrey’s earlier works. They are, however, readable. My opinion of Catalyst remains the same, and I’ve never tried reading it again.

Review originally published on 1/30/2010 at The Bookwyrm's Hoard.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chessie is a very expensive Barque cat, who assists the human crews on spaceships by catching rodents and detecting tiny air leaks. She is very pregnant when she is kidnapped from the vets office by Carl Poindexter. His son Jubal has been wanting a cat for a long time, and Carl will be able to make a lot of money off the extra kittens. Jubal telepathically bonds with the kitten Chester. Meanwhile Chessie's cat person has been frantically searching for her. When Chessie is turned in for the reward money the crew demands that Jubal give Chester back as well. Jubal is heartbroken and determined to get Chester back, so he signs onto another ship. Chester ends up meeting a cat with his own spaceship and plans for world domination. Meanwhile all domestic animals, including Chessie, are being impounded for a possible disease threat. [return]Well this one is going to win the if you don't have anything else to read award. The characters are really the only thing that kept me reading this story. I really liked Chester and his boy, Jubal. I have always enjoyed telepathic connections between animals and their owners. The story itself I found to be rather lackluster and somewhat stereotypical. I mean a cat who has plans of world domination, who'd have imagined that? I found the change in Jubal's father to be rather unlikely, and the I had a hard time buying the impounding of animals, especially when it would have created such havoc.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book seemed to take forever to read. (And when I say "forever," it was about three weeks to get through 307 pages, which is a long time for me.) The first 200 or so pages seemed to drag on and on, and the characters got on my last nerve. All of the main characters had mommy or daddy issues of some kind. (Janina is an orphan, Jubal's father is a criminal, etc.) Even the bad-guy vet, Dr. Wren, who hates cats, had some childhood issue: a cat scratched her up so badly she needed surgery to repair her face. All righty then.

All of the characters are basically flat characters. They don't undergo any amount of growth. (Although, a case could be made for Jubal's father, who uses his criminal skills to save the cats.)

The plot is okay. I mean, it's about cats in space, not sure how much one should expect. I do have to give the authors credit for their imaginative story-telling. Coming up with a plausible inter-galactic economy, previously unknown species, etc. was the most entertaining part of the story.

The last 100 or so pages were better. More cats and more action made for more enjoyment.

This is apparently just one installment in a larger series, but I don't think I liked it enough to read the rest.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 5 out of 5]

This funny series is named for spaceship Barque (French for bark, boat, small boat - as in: embark) and costly purebred felines. Barque-cats are specially trained to sniff trouble and eat pests inflight.

An Egyptian-cat-like super-power telepathic alien aims for universal domination. He controls shiny crunchy beetles that confer direct brain communication and bonding between kitties who eat them and nearby compatible "twolegs". He rescues, and brings to his own hot desert world, felines quarantined by evil scientists conspiring with land-hungry politicians who claim that the innocent sparkles spread up the food chain are a contagious plague.

Point-of-view from a newborn kit is the funniest, but so is the rest. An arsonist con-man turns helpful dad. His lonely young son stows away. Good guys and girls (primarily a hunky tired vet & cute ship-cat trainer girl) triumph. The scary shock is when Mom cat is being shaved for dissection.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like cats and I loved McCaffrey's Pern dragons so I was certainly prepared to give this a chance. It should be noted that there is a second author, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, who should certainly be credited as well.
The Barque Cats are specially bred to act as vermin control and gas leak notifiers on space ships. They are accompanied and cared for by their own Cat Person. They are very well trained, as are their Cat Persons, so naturally they are expensive and their kittens are very valuable. Add cloning and greed into the mix and you have a basis for an exciting story. Add some fluorescent beetles that leave "sparkles" in the fluids of animals that eat them or animals that eat those animals and it becomes quite complex.
I enjoyed the cats and the way some can communicate with other species. Definitely is right there with the Pern stories. The next book is called Catacomb.

[Jae · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only reason I gave this book 2 stars, is because normally I'm a fan of Anne McCaffrey, and I just couldn't see myself giving a book she wrote one star.

In the point of view of cats more than people this had great promise, but within the first chapter, I was already starting to skip pages. By the second chapter, I was skipping a few pages at a time, and by the 5th chapter, I'd had enough and skipped to the end, which really didnt even bother me.

This book was just very difficult to be interested in. It was an utter drag to read, and i felt my my brain was being slogged through mud to even read one page. Needless to say, it was sorely disappointing.

[Rachel Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book. There are parts that get slow, but for the most part I found this a fun and enjoyable book. There are a few continuity errors. Such as a character saying "Take this kitten he will be safer with you" but then later the kitten is still with the first character. Or a character saying "I better not tell them about such and such" but then later the other characters do know about it. It mostly isn't a big issue, but it can be confusing. That is really the only reason I'm not giving this book 5 stars. If you enjoy sci-fi and cats this is an enjoyable read with fun characters and a good plot.

[Ashleigh Cutler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chester and Chessie are awesome characters. I really enjoyed the cat POV in this book. The cats behave like cats, even Pshaw-Ra. I could honestly believe cats really do think like this. The story is paced well, and the POV shifts aren't too bad. I have several favorite scenes and lines, but repeating them would leave spoilers. If you're a cat lover, this book is for you. It's short enough that even kids could enjoy it, but still a fulfilling story... aside from the obvious cliffhanger.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, I'm a cat person, so naturally I grabbed this one. I could tell that McCaffrey and Scarborough also love cats. The book lost a star because the sci-fi bits felt a little strained, but the descriptions from the cats' point of view were spot on. A perfect combination of affection, pretention, and curiosity. Chester's description of having his claws clipped was perfect!

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems silly, but i loved it and there was quite a lot of heart wrenching going on. I have a medium haired Tortie with a fluffy tsil like Chessie, so it was kind of easy to imagine myself in Janina's place. Id get upset enough i would have to stop reading for a time. But i really liked how it was written. Cant wait to start the next one!

[BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one just didn't do it for me. The characters were all victims and the cats were too whiny for me. I ended up skipping 1/4 of the book, near the end just so I could read the ending. It didn't do anything for me.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Endeavour Award read of a series and not one I'd read by choice. YA in style and silly. Psychic cats including at least one cat bent on world domination. Didn't really like the cats or the people. 3 of 5.

[Jaishree · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful, lighthearted novel.

I could be biased because of my love for McCaffrey, cats and science fiction, but the tounge-in-cheek humour and the parts told by the kitten clicked all the right buttons for me.

[Meg Dendler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne knows cats as well as she knows dragons. Fun theme. I'm obviously a big fan of alien cats, though she has a whole different take on it than me. Intentionally didn't read these until my own series was established so I wouldn't be influenced. More YA than adult, for the most part.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny and a great read!

[Steven Leatherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cats and science fiction, two of my favorite things rolled into a great novel!