Friday, May 07, 2010

Tad Williams: Tailchaser's Song

My sister lent this to me with the caveat that it wasn't that great, but if you like cats (like she does) it can be kind of fun.

Me, I don't hate cats or anything. I'm not cat-mad, that's for sure, but I don't hate them.  However, this absolute disgrace of an excuse for a novel I think can only be enjoyed at all by someone who really really really gets a kick out of cats. It's pretty much unreadable tripe.

It starts off not too badly, with establishing that cats are The Folk, who have their own mythology and see humans as a ruined, inferior offshoot of the cat family. Fritti, the hero, decides to leave his clan to search for a female cat he knows, amid rumours that cats are disappearing and that something terrifying is hunting them in small but increasing numbers. There's a bit of cultural explanations, and some language invention, and some other fantasy basics. A little silly-feeling, but okay. Not everything one reads is awesome.

Then Fritti goes off on his trek, teams up with a kitten, meets a madcat, a bunch of other cats including a psychic one, meets the royal cats at court (this was DIRE), discovers that the origin of the evil is a cat-figure of evil from their mythology who contrary to what the myth says is not dead, but now lives inside a hill gorging himself on cats, forcing cat slaves to dig tunnels for him, creating evil slaves by breeding cats with maybe even DOGS (who are called Growlers - ohdearchrist). It is truly terrible and completely completely unoriginal.

If you're ever in a library and the new ice age is coming, forcing you to burn books for your survival - reach for this one first.

2 comments:

li'l sis said...

That last sentence? ROFL!

Poor baba, was I mean to lend it to you? =P

bani said...

Darling, not at all. However, Tad Williams will have to justify himself come the day of judgment. :P