I just finished another one of those horrid books where the plot is just a cover for the romance underneath. Although it's not written that way, exactly; the romance part takes up less space than other things. The impending doom of dreadful evil magic stealing over the kingdoms and the more general coming of age is more discussed than the actual Relationship in The Serpent and the Rose by Kathleen Bryan. However the romance is the only thing I ended up caring about, and even that with only a tiny amount of 'care.' So then I'm stuck reading about the death of the duke blah blah blah the main girl is using magic blah blah blah i don't care.
You know how it goes; forbidden love, being bound by duty and tradition, etc etc. I'll let you guess- She's the daughter of a duke, ready to assume the seat of power due to the duke's failing health (which of course means attaining a husband as well) So he's a.... wait for it... yes! You got it! A peasant! It will never be. Sad day.
Not only is he a peasant, but he also becomes a knight-in-training due to his brimming, wild, uncontrollable magic that makes him special. Knights aren't exactly bound to chastity but they're very, very busy people with lots of things to do, so they generally don't go for marriage/women that often, apparently. Sad day and a half.
However, they find themselves connected, able to use their magic in ways that no one has ever heard of, as long as they are together.
You know the point where the couple just needs to get it on and be done with it? Yeah, that point comes pretty early, and passes with no satisfaction (for any party). So it goes on and on, with both parties allowing themselves infinitesimal moments of desire that end abruptly in rigid self-contol, reminding themselves that they simply cannot, and no such thing is allowed. It's frustrating. This is the intent, I guess, but everything just gets so saturated with hopeless longing that nothing else matters, even the 'main' plot of the evil king and the ancient serpent that's trying to break free of its prison. This may be ideal reading for some, but not I.
Catalyst: a Tale of the Barque Cats by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, is the sort of thing I could see myself writing- a sci-fi fantasy story centering around cats. I've been going through my old stuff recently, including stories I wrote in elementary school which all invariably centered around cats; specifically, my own cat, who was apparently the most important person in my life at that time (poor Bill, she's been gone for five years now, I can hardly believe it!). I also came across a couple notebooks I had in scriptwriting class in college, in which we wrote little stories/scripts every day for exercises. A handful of the small scenes or monologues I created concerned a cat in some way. The parallel amused me.
Catalyst is not a challenging read, but a cute one. You should probably be well-disposed towards felines in order to enjoy it. It's the future, we have spaceships and live on multiple planets, and there are breeds of cat that are especially adept at stalking through spaceship halls, looking for gas leaks and other things that may go wrong.
Some of these cats and their kittens are worth lots and lots of money. Cue theft and intrigue.
Interestingly enough, some sections of the books are told from first-person POV from one of these barque kittens, a very special kitten with cognitive powers beyond many people, let alone other cats. His dry voice is some of the best reading in the novel.
There's more books that follow this one, but honestly even though it was a cute book I wasn't left feeling like I need to read the next one. And it's even about cats! I don't know what's come over me.
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