Homunculus and the Cat, by Nathan Croft
Genre: contemporary-fantasy
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Date of Release: August 31, 2015
Cover Artist: Eugene Teplitsky
Find Online: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Goodreads
Description:
Homunculus and the Cat – Just a typical kitten saves the afterlife story, disguised as a book about death.
In a world where every culture’s mythology is real, Medusa’s sisters want revenge on Poseidon, Troy is under siege again, and the Yakuza want their homunculi (mythological artificial humans) back. Near Atlantis’ Chinatown, a kitten and her human campaign for homunculi rights. Against them are Japanese death gods, an underworld cult, and a fat Atlantean bureaucrat.
The main character dies (more than once) and a few underworlds’ way of death is threatened. Also with giant armored battle squids.
My Review
(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
Since cats are my favourite animals and I adore them completely, I was really happy to see that a winged cat was one of the main characters in this book. I’m not sure if her kind actually exists in mythology… but it was still an interesting concept. And I thought the descriptions of her came across really well.
It was interesting to see bits and pieces of the world around, though I did spend a lot of the book completely confused about the kind of world they were in. While things did make a bit more sense later on, I did spend an awful lot of the book completely lost about why there were a lot of modern things in what seemed like a fantasy setting.
I thought the concept of the godfriends was a really cool one and it was especially good to see that many of them weren’t the obvious ones… such as Euryale and Ahmet. I also thought it was cool to see that the cat was named by her godfriend and how the name of the god became part of her name.
It was nice to get some idea of what different aspects were in the world, even if many of those didn’t really fit in with each other.
I thought it was good to see the cat interacting with various other characters and the nine lives thing was really interesting to see… but the description of the fire was awful. I cringed when I read it and actually found myself getting a bit emotional.
While it was difficult to read about the prejudice many of the characters were facing, I was intrigued by the whole concept of the beings. While they were apparently soulless, they certainly seemed to have feelings and emotions.
There was a lot that was intriguing about this book. I didn’t like that there wasn’t a proper resolution to part of the story at the end, but I really did love a lot of what the cat came out with. And I enjoyed seeing her interacting with Tyro. In the future, I would definitely be interested in reading more books by this author… and hopefully a sequel to this one.
About The Author
Nathan Croft is a self-proclaimed first-world-fantasy-anarchist, lover/writer of contemporary, punk, sometimes morbid, dark, weird, super-happy, and literary fantasy & mythology. Connoisseur of trope subversion and elegant rule dissection. Always good for craft discussion, sushi included preferably.
Reads anything resembling “literary fantasy.” Adoration to R. Zelazney, L. Grossman, C. Mieville, T. Pratchett, D. Adams, C. Lewis, U. LeGuinn, and a few Brandons.
Husband, father. Nocturnal.
Craves actual honest to goodness ball-bearing, adrenaline, die-if-you-fall, “don’t you dare go out without a helmet,” distance times time, kind of speeds. Still has a driver’s license.
Retweets, shares, favorites, follows, upvotes, and keeps ~50 Chrome tabs open at all times. Hates math. Incessant gamer. Retro, sanbox & Steam. MTG, TES. (ask, will friend) Into post rock, lo-fi, EDM, prog-house, most anything-tronica, neo-folk, chiptune, and 2nd wave emo. (ask at your own risk) Favorites: The Smashing Pumpkins & Shiny Toy Guns.
Find Nathan Croft Online:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
About Curiosity Quills Press
Curiosity Quills Press (CQ) is a small hybrid publishing company specializing in genre fiction of the highest quality. With 150+ titles in our catalog already and approximately 6 new books coming out each month, there’s never a dull moment at CQ. We work with major retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Audible to ensure that you, the reader, can find whatever you are looking for at your convenience.
Founded in 2011 by Eugene Teplitsky and Lisa Gus, CQ was initially a resource portal for writing and publishing, created in an effort to help writers, like themselves, survive the publishing industry. After rapid success, CQ morphed into publishing press that over time has solidified its share in the market. Now we spend our days searching for the next great escape!
Ink of Blood 