The Golden Cat

Title: The Golden Cat

Author: Gabriel King

Publisher: Ballantine Books (1999)

Genre(s): Fiction, Fantasy

Length: 350 pages

Synopsis:  King returns to the high-fantasy world of cats he created in the prequel, The Wild Road.  The world is different now, following the final confrontations of the prequel.  The King and Queen of cats are tending to their three golden kittens and Tag is settling into his role as Majicou, the powerful guardian of the mystical paths that run across the world, binding past and present in the infinite soul of the Felidae.  Not all is well, however.  Something foul stalks the wild roads, turning them sour, forcing them to take where they should give.  Sealink, returning to her birthplace in New Orleans, finds that a city once full of dreamy-eyed cats has become hostile and barren, ruled over by the vile queen Kiki la Doucette.  When kittens begin to disappear, Tag must step into his role as guardian and act, but how?  How can he fight an enemy he cannot find and cannot see, an enemy he thought had been defeated?

My Rating: 4 Stars

My Opinion: 

High fantasy is not easy to write, and to find high fantasy as lyrical and whimsical as this is always a treat.  Cats seem to offer a particular window on the cosmos, and King has turned that to his purpose quite ably.  The tale blends magic and science, deities and daily life to create a world that is at once totally alien and completely recognizable.  After all, who knows what our companion felines are really thinking as they stare into the dust motes in a shaft of sunlight?  But though they exist in a world of their own, these characters are quite relatable.  Their sense of humor brings jokes even humans can appreciate, and the terror and longing of a cat is as painful and terrible as our own.  Very occasionally, the language of the story seems to become overly enamored of its own elegance, but it never descends into melodrama.  Anyone looking for a change in the usual high fantasy wands-and-wizards would appreciate the world of unlikely heroes King has created here.