Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts

Sunday, 4 August 2024

CAT WINTER

Written by MOLLIE HUNT.  

    

A black cat, sprinkled with some snow, occupies the bottom half  and foreground of the cover. They sit in front of a snow covered woodland clearing with snow covered grey and black trunked trees behind. The title, Cat Winter, is written above in a chilly blue and white curly script. The authors name in capitals is along the bottom. To the left of the cat in the near foreground sits a Siamese-like cat. To the right of the black cat, and in the background sits another cat, possibly light tabby in colour. The cover has a very wintery feel due to the snow and black trees.

                                                                                   

An Adventure Book Review by Erin the Literary Cat©, International Book Reviewer.

Hello, and welcome to my weekend Book Review featuring this week an Adventure in Adult Fiction from CWA member and prolific writer of cosy and less cosy mysteries and adventures, Mollie Hunt.

No rambling intro this week, so let's dive straight in to a chilly adventure where things very soon HOT up. . . . 

A black cat, sprinkled with some snow, occupies the bottom half  and foreground of the cover. They sit in front of a snow covered woodland clearing with snow covered grey and black trunked trees behind. The title, Cat Winter, is written above in a chilly blue and white curly script. The authors name in capitals is along the bottom. To the left of the cat in the near foreground sits a Siamese-like cat. To the right of the black cat, and in the background sits another cat, possibly light tabby in colour. The cover has a very wintery feel due to the snow and black trees.



AUTHOR:  MOLLIE HUNT

 

Cover art by:  Roslyn McFarland

 

Published by:  Independently published

 

Publication date Paperback:  19/12/2020

 

Paperback ISBN: 198 406 2247 


Cover price for Paperback:  £11.95 / $15


Kindle price: £4.73 / $5.99

 

Pages: 365

 

Age range:  Adult


Any dogs or cats? As this is Mollie, there are lots and lots of cats, with some human companions/cohabiters

 

 

SPOILER ALERT


Some as to plot direction and characters.

 

 

Thank you to... 


I treated Mrs H to this as I was keen to see what happened next. So, unusually, it is Mrs H thanking me!  


As ever, our views are our own, and we only share reviews of books we have bought, received as gifts, or received in exchange for an impartial review.

First and foremost, the books we review are those we select to read, like, and feel our global readers deserve to know about and that we hope they, their family, friends and students will enjoy.

 

The plot


Our main protagonist is Slayter, an elegant and lithe black cat, who lives with another feline, Emma, in the home of their cohabiter human, Claire.


We also have Zaadkiel, an entity that had recently attained consciousness in the cosmic soup from which all life and planets began. In the beginning, we see how this entity changes over millennia, finally through curiosity reaching out across all of time and space to become informed. 


It is the eve of a new season, Spring, and snow is in the air and on the ground. But it is also a moment in time called the Winter Verus, a time when winter stops still, literally suspended, and things can no longer be measured in time as we recognise it. Snowflakes are frozen mid-air, and a deafening silence swallows all who tread this space. During this period, nine feline emissaries of the council can slip between the seconds to execute the Rectification of the Variants and put to right the human wrongs, at least those they can impact. In doing so, they reset existence for Earth and every creature hereon.  


The two cats head off on a mission; two of the nine cats chosen by a feline council to correct the wrongs that have happened. It is a given the wrongs or incidents that need correcting all involve humans. Incidents that, though seemingly trivial, if not corrected and the humans sent the right way, will lead to tragedy and travesty on a scale dangerous to all species and the planet. Simple choices that, when corrected, would stop an individual man from committing a second murder, which would have led to starting a dangerous cult, causing widespread death and fear.


Each of the nine cats chosen for this year's Verus has a connection to the events and humans that cause the variants. Each cat has come from afar and wouldn't, under normal circumstances, have worked in a group. They meet up, and after introduction, the adventure begins, but not without tensions evolving into blows. It is more than a quest and potentially far more perilous. 


When Slayter's task differs from the others, things take a turn for the worse. He arrives in a place and amongst people, scientists and cosmologists, he does not know. It seems that all he had to do was awaken one of the astronomers from his sleep. In doing so, the man sees something in the night sky far away that otherwise he would have missed. But Slayter senses something terrible, a shadowy malevolence lurking beyond sight and mind. It is the same evil that Zaadkiel, the star-chameleon entity deep within its black hole, could feel, too. It was a poison in the new world he had so very recently discovered. The entity knew this disease must be cut out.


Lost in a daydream about his strange task, Slayter catches up with the others to discover one of the cats has arrived at their scene to find the human they needed to help was dead. A husk that, on touching, disintegrated with a curdling scream into dust and a small ashen pellet.


It is thought to be a freak coincidence, yet, in this suspended between-seconds world, there is only one true answer – a murderer is running amok.


Fearful of what may have happened or will happen to Claire, Slayter and Emma rush home. It is from here on that Claire becomes involved. Slayter's fears over what is happening, the scientist, and the malevolence he feels cause him to reveal the cats' ability to speak, the task and the dangers. If anyone can help the cats, Slayter feels it is Claire, which, indeed, she can. Having contacted the scientist, the three head off to meet him.


Now, from here on in, things ramp up. The malevolence gets a name, in fact, two, the first being 'the Other'. It is intent on consuming all things on a galactic and dimensional scale. But he has found adoration among the tiny worthless inhabitants of one of the many planets he seeks to destroy. He will spare them as he is vain and loves the adoration. He loves to watch how, when he turns one of their number to dust, they praise him more. Yet, on the same planet, there is an irritation, a force that can harm him. The Other is aware of Zaadkiel, too, and seeks to destroy it, to suck out its energy. 


Zaadkiel needs help to remove the evil, which they realise they can't do themselves. Reaching out across time and space faster than light, it finds, or rather senses, an ally on Earth in the form of a small sentient being known as Slayter. 


And so Earth becomes the battleground for two mighty opposing forces. Primordial good and evil incarnate. It becomes a place where the fight to save everything from the moment of creation forward will transcend time, space, and even life itself. All actions have consequences, and Slayter and his newfound friends have only one chance to put right the biggest variant of all. They also have a whole new earth-bound enemy, too!


So, what did we think?


I was half expecting this to be an extension of the first-in-series and wasn't entirely sure what 'new' could be brought to a previous all-encompassing and seemingly complete story. And for a moment, in the opening chapters, it seemed I was right. I really needn't have worried, as soon enough, with obligatory character introductions and scene setting complete, we ventured where no reader has boldly gone before. The cast of felines, naturally enough, have more than an inkling as to what must be done. Thankfully, they, too, were unprepared. 


Like the best, and I do mean the best, sci-fi movies, we were enthralled by diving ever deeper and ultimately into an almost maelstrom of physical and astral planes through which our protagonists must travel. The text is rich, evocative, and full of terms that had Mrs H reaching for her science dictionary and brought added credence (though not needed for us) to the plot. 


We both, after trying to draw comparisons to works we already know, especially movies/TV, which many more will be familiar with than sci-fi fantasy books. We came up with four: Inception, Contact (by the late great Carl Sagan), Interstellar, and Quantum Leap. 


It is highly appealing that this book inhabits time and space, has earthy, earthly and unearthly characters, good and heinous, and has a spiritual flavour, something for everyone. And it does all that with so much aplomb. It became a seat-of-the-pants tale that was wholly satisfying. 


Fear not; this story isn't spaceships and warp-speed antics. Though those have their place, elsewhere, for those who need them. This tale found its feet for us when we ventured to an earlier and brutal human civilisation. 


I always hope to do a book justice without giving too much away. I can give away the fact that I just didn't see the end coming and that the build-up was intense, a volcano erupting tense. As I said, this is real seat-of-the-pants stuff.

 

So . . . .

Crunch time. 


Molly has taken cat adventures to a whole new level, and our reading has never been more exciting or rewarding. It's an all-around delight and deliciously satisfyingly different. Onwards to book 3! 


 

Want to buy a copy?


You don't have to transform into a feline to get a copy. Lovely though that would be, there is nowhere to carry change or credit cards. Just get yourself down to your local independent bookshop. Or order online. However or from wherever you buy, you support an independent author, fellow cat carer and member of the Cat Writers Association. 

 

Mollie Hunt's web page can be found HERE or type this: https://molliehuntcatwriter.com/

 

We are joining the Sunday Selfies, hosted by the wonderful Kitties Blue and their mum, Janet Blue, from the Cat on My Head blog in America. Click this link to see Janet Blue's selfie page.

Small image. The Cat on My Head Sunday Selfies Blog Hop badge. Features a yellow-haired lady with a tuxedo cat on her head.

I shall leave you with a selfie of me doing a spot of light loitering for tickles in the doorway.




🙂 🙂

Till laters!

ERin


Sunday, 17 December 2023

CAT SUMMER (Book one in The Cat Seasons tetralogy)

 

by Mollie Hunt;  

                  
Cat Summer book cover. It shows a lawned and hedged garden scene. Three lead catcharacters from the book apppear on the cover. Front and just right of centre is a large ginger tom with bright yellow eyes. Behind in the middle ground is a fluffy tuxedo cat, and sitting in the border under a hedge is a fluff silver gray feline. Cat Summer title appears in a salmon orange along the top, along with the Cat Writers Association Muse Winner Badge. Auhors name is in white upper & lower text along the bottom.

 
                                                                  

An Adventure Book Review by Erin the Literary Cat©, International Book Reviewer.

Hello, and welcome to my weekend Book Review featuring this week an Middle Grade Adventure Fiction.
 
This week, as the year slowly draws to an end, I offer you our final review of 2023. We have an adult book to review, called Lie or Die, by Firefly Press. It's LONG. So, Mrs H has got a stash of mince pies in and a fresh bottle of sherry, and we'll be busy reading throughout the rest of December. Me, I have six boxes of cat food and some long-life cream and catnip and valerian cushions to while away the quiet hours between chapters.

So, without further ado, here's the review!

 
Cat Summer book cover. It shows a lawned and hedged garden scene. Three lead catcharacters from the book apppear on the cover. Front and just right of centre is a large ginger tom with bright yellow eyes. Behind in the middle ground is a fluffy tuxedo cat, and sitting in the border under a hedge is a fluff silver gray feline. Cat Summer title appears in a salmon orange along the top, along with the Cat Writers Association Muse Winner Badge. Auhors name is in white upper & lower text along the bottom.


AUTHOR: Mollie Hunt

 

Cover art by: Roslyn McFarland

 

Published by: Independent Published

 

Publication date Paperback: This 2nd edition 7/2/2023

 

 

Paperback ISBN:  978-1984134844 

 

Cover price for Paperback:  £11.77


Kindle UK price:  £4.99

 

Pages: 353

 

Age range:  ADULT


Any dogs or cats? Absolutely chocked full of cats, plus some interesting humans, too!


 

 

SPOILER ALERT


Some as to plot direction and characters.

 

 

Thank you to... 

 

I am incredibly grateful to Mrs H for buying me this for an early festive holiday present.


As always, our views are our own, and we only share reviews of books we have bought, been given as gifts, or received in exchange for an impartial review. 


First and foremost, the books we review are those we select to read, like, and feel our global readers deserve to know about and that we hope they, their family, friends and students will enjoy. 


The plot

 

Our protagonist, Lise, awakes at night in her bed. It's hot, and she can't sleep. Forgoing dressing, she skips downstairs through the large, empty house. Her aged tuxedo cat, Percy, lies snuggled on the sofa. That is where the familiarity of the scene ends, for sitting on the floor is a large orange tabby. When she asked herself out loud who he was, he actually answered her. He is called Evermore Artair Eckx or plain Tom. The two cats discuss Lise's suitability to be 'She Who'. Tom thinks she is too big and clumsy to fit in their world. But time, it seems, is short, and their mission has to happen on Tri-Night, which is now. So, Lise is what they have to work with. But the cats head off, and Lise, for better or worse, follows. Still uncertain of what is really going on, but driven by curiosity and the guiding of the cats, she drops to all fours and dove whiskers first through the flap into the night beyond. Here marks the start of their journey and perilous mission. 


The cats offer little in the way of information as to the task that must be done. But soon, it becomes clear there is a demonic-like force, an evil that has been driving and feeding off man's wickedness and destructive nature. The name of the beast is Seh. And if he isn't stopped now, they never will be able to.


In an old neighbourhood shed, they come across one of Seh's minions, and it's not pretty. The cats flee, and soon enough, Lise realises there are many cats out there to help in the fight to bring an end to Seh's powers. It will be too late if they leave it till the next Tri-Night. Tri-nights give all sentient beings, of which cats are one, the ability to do things they could not before, like talk to each other.


It is a mission that will bring them face to face with friends and foes, some feline, others creatures of this world but turned bad within. Lise is warned by a feline she meets en route to watch out for their eyes. If they are red, they are evil and in league with Seh. The journey also takes our heroes, for that is what the ultimate band of felines is, on a quest that will transcend realms, maybe dimensions, where they will take on different forms and face not only the devilish workings of Seh but also Seh itself in a tangible form.


Like the best stories, those like LOTR, the heroes will be tested to breaking point, maybe even death. In the Alter tier– the realms cats can visit beyond their bodies and beyond the mortal world– things are not what they seem, nor people or creatures.


So as not to spoil this adventure, I shall leave my review here. I have but covered the intro to the first half of this story, which moves forward briskly to not one, but two conclusions. To say more would ruin the drama that unfolds and who features.


So, what did we think? Beware, Spoilers!!!!


The story is divided and defined by both chapters and time. It is also very descriptive; the writer has taken great pains to create a solid and compelling ambience-filled setting for the feline and human characters and the grizzly baddies in all their forms, wherever they may be. There is a very credible and clever link between the science and the fiction, which gives the story a grounding, especially in the second half.


I have to say, Mrs H and I were taken aback when, halfway through, we reached the second part and jumped 100 years. But the transition to what are effectively new characters was handled well. You'll note I say 'effectively new'. That will become clear when you read the story. Suffice it to say, this is a story with twice the punch. The ultimate ending (though arguably, given there are more books to come, this isn't the ending) was gripping and heartfelt. 


There is as much a journey of discovery for Lise as there is action and adventure. A higher purpose to her life, maybe the lives of all humanity. Thought-provoking.


I loved the cats, which are studies in feline behaviour and mannerisms. Knowing how skilled a cat carer Mollie is, this should be no surprise to any of her readers. This is a standout example, within its genres, of how we feel an excellent feline book should be for those who have neither cats nor read feline-themed adventures. 


For us, there are many ways of depicting cats in adventure stories. Over the years, they have been relegated in human-based detective stories to mere sidekicks or hooks to lure cat lovers and humanitarians. Don't get us wrong; any books featuring positive enforcement for fellow sentient creatures are to be applauded. More recently, I am pleased to see our favourite sentients, the cats, get a fair crack at the whip and move to speaking and action rolls. 


I have reviewed LT Shearer's first two books, The Cat Who Caught a Killer and The Cat Who Solved Three Murders, and was pleased with the intelligent portrayal of Conrad, the talking feline co-protagonist. It is also pleasing to see children's/Middle-Grade books with all manner of other sentient creatures ably portrayed. 


There are what we consider 'adult' moments in this book, which, for me, would make this an adult-only read.

 

So . . . . 

Crunch time.


A story worthy of Ray Bradbury – Old School in the best way. Keenly written, a blend of spiritualism, fantasy and science fiction that is not overpowering yet deliciously on the edge, or rather, straddling a rift between earthly and alternate worlds. 


Of the books and films we have read and seen, Mrs H thought it was like Madeleine L Engle (A Wrinkle in Time) meets Twilight Zone and Dr Who with undoubtedly a soupçon of Star Trek. 


We both agreed that this book is very much a parable for humanity and a fragile, on-the-brink planet. Thought-provoking in the best way.

 

So, loads to love and well worth dipping more than a toe or paw in for Christmas.  


Want to buy a copy?


To get a copy, in whatever reality you may be in, please saunter, float or morph on down to your local independent bookshop. There are plenty out there, realities and bookshops, and each shop is just waiting to serve up whatever kind of mystery, fun and adventure you desire.

 

Mollie Hunt's web page can be found HERE or type this: https://molliehuntcatwriter.com/

 

We are joining the Sunday Selfies, hosted by the wonderful Kitties Blue and their mum, Janet Blue in America.

 

Small image. The Cat on My Head Sunday Selfies Blog Hop badge. Features a yellow-haired lady with a tuxedo cat on her head.



And here is my selfie. Mrs H said she wanted to get all of me in the frame, so I obligingly obliged with an early Sunday morning 'Breakfast Roll'. 🙂




Till laters!

ERin