Tailchaser’s Song
Fantasy
By Tad Williams
Reviewed by Rachel Sweger
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Fritti Tailchaser is a young, feral ginger tom cat of the Meeting Wall Clan. He has many friends in the forest, including Hushpad, whom he likes. They spend long hours together, until one day, she vanishes. After investigation, Fritti discovers that Hushpad’s owners have left, and, distraught, he goes to the Meeting Wall Clan to share his disturbing incident. He discovers that many cats have experienced strange losses, and, that though his loss is just as significant, he is relevantly ignored amongst the cats. They decide to simply send a delegation to the Court, a place where the descendants of the first cats live, and let them deal with it. But Fritti can’t wait, and decides to set out on his own to find Hushpad. Pouncequick, a cat younger than Fritti, follows him into the wilderness. Fritti considers sending him home but instead lets him stay for he’s already too far away to take him back, plus he doesn’t mind the company. Together, the pair traverses many miles and meet many strange cats, including Eatbugs, a strange, mud and twig covered cat that talks in riddles and frequently runs away, and the Firstwalkers, direct descendants of the first cats who refuse to live amongst the court for its crowded corridors of trees. They also met Roofshadow, who joins them on their journey. They find their way to the court where they learn several disturbing secrets, and decide to set out against the odds. On their journey they face a greater peril than they could ever imagine in a place haunted with cats that seem to be shells of their former selves and cats that are gone as soon as they come. They make strange alliances, and face catastrophe after catastrophe in their journey; but most shocking of all is the revelation that Fritti learns in the deepest corridors of his nightmarish journey. And Fritti wonders if he will ever find Hushpad, or die trying…
Tailchaser’s Song is an excellent book with great descriptive words. The story is unique and has many unexpected twists. The songs and phrases are somewhat confusing, but are easily explained when the dictionary like reference in the back of the book is used. There was never a dull moment when reading this book, and I’d often stay up late into the night reading this book. I’d recommend Tailchaser’s Song to anyone who likes exciting action books with a ton of mystery, danger, adventure, and excitement. Tad William’s style of writing really keeps the reader at attention without any flaws.
