Tailchaser’s Song
I read this book maybe 30 or 35 years ago now, and only got this book out because my daughter’s into the “Warriors” series of books. Having read one or two books with her of that series, I had to dig this book out to see how it compares, and there really is no comparison.
This book kicks the young adult series all over the place and takes its lunch money to boot. Its probably not a fair comparison. this is a much harder book to read, more akin go lord of the rings than it is to nancy drew, but the comparison is still apt. The amount of world buliding that tad williams takes to this one shot book is incredible, and you forget that its really just cats you’re reading about.
there’s magic, there’s mythology, there’s a mcguffin to boot, but unlike other stories with mcguffins, tad williams actually resolves it satisfactorily! I’ve never seen such a case where the mcguffin is called to be a mcguffin and then actually resolved.
This is actually also tad williams very first book, and you can see that maybe he bit a bit too much to chew off for his first book, trying to hit on all the major lord of the rings motifs, but with cats. its still satisfying to read even though there were maybe 3 or 4 other volumes missing that could have been in the in-between.
Still, my kid finished it and thought it was interesting, so i call it a win. Its a bit hard for her, but i blame too much screen time for that (even though she’s younger than when i first read this book, but i also read it on my own instead of reading along with her…).
highly recommended as a lord of the rings-lite with a 1 shot volume and adventure and still quite satisfying even reading as an adult.