Melissa

A classic fantasy adventure story- with cats! This is a fun journey about a cat trying to locate his missing girlfriend. He winds up getting into more than he bargained for! This story is an adorable palette cleanser, with a few dark twists. One moment you'll read subtle Lord of The Rings references, the next you'll encounter light body horror. Probably not something to read as bedtime story material. A must read for classic fantasy lovers.

It takes a bit for things to start coming together, but when it does, it takes you for a ride. This was a deeply beautiful story. I loved so many of the characters. They held so much depth in their stories. I felt for them. I laughed and cried.

Trigger warning, though: child abuse

What a fun time! Tiger's internal dialogue is hilarious. It can be a bit heavy handed with explaining to the reader how he's wrong about women, but this was written in the 80's. And it quickly establishes what we all know nowadays, that women are badass too. Tiger gets better. He grows up about it. Then you get an emotional story of two broken people figuring out their lives, together.

This started off exciting. We finally get to see Talia out in the world! Except shortly into the novel, all forward momentum is lost. It devolves into circular ponderance of ethics and her ability. Stuck in a single spot, rather than getting to see Valdemar.This is the majority of the book. If the characters were more interesting then this could have been okay. The dialogue between characters was pure torture. Attempts at humorous conversation made me feel uncomfortable. There's a problematic mentor/mentee relationship to boot. Not cool.

Lynn Flewelling has really outdone herself with this installment. She brings back threads of the past back together and expands greatly on her world lore. An exciting and fulfilling read!