Cat-A-Lyst

For this reviewer’s money, Alan Dean Foster is the most criminally underappreciated science fiction / fantasy writer out there today. Foster remembers a time when rocket ships and ray guns were fun, gosh-darn it, and the genre neither clanked along laboriously under its burden of technical virtuosity nor dealt with grim dystopian futures.

His characters tend to start out likeable and maintain that likability even as the world/galaxy/universe/dimensional reality around them spins wildly out of control, and that tried-and-true notion comes back for another romp in Cat-A-Lyst.

Don’t try to dissect the plot too carefully. It has to do with conflict between a Monitor set on Earth to oversee the appropriate development of its two show more intelligent species and a Renegade agent of chaos with exactly the opposite goal. Along the way there’s a search for hidden treasure, revenge plots for a centuries-old outrage, and a trek into the Peruvian jungle that includes a bored B-movie actor between engagements, a feisty 50-year-old wardrobe mistress with a hidden past, an amateur archaeologist with a Freudian axe to grind, a tabloid journalist with more ambition than good sense, and a cast of characters that gets larger and more unwieldy (not to mention unlikely) as the tale rolls on.

Part of The Big Reveal is obvious pretty early on, but that’s okay. Foster keeps pulling more rabbits out of the hat to keep the reader occupied as the adventure gallops from the Peruvian jungle to the Nazca Lines to the slimy depths of Televisionland with stopovers in a couple of the aforementioned dimensional realities before he wraps the whole thing up with an ending where almost everyone gets their just rewards. Especially the reader. show less

I read this a long time ago now, I just ran into a copy while cleaning and sorting my Uncle's collection. I could not for the life of me remember its odd name, go figure. It was terrible, I was hoping for an adventure story but no it isn't. I think it tries to be a satire or have satirical elements and on top of that has direct references to classical works of satire but all of that comes off as outlandishly sudden and irrelevant thus utterly failing. I do not and would not recommend this book ever. I felt it a waste of time and was angry after finishing though I think I read this one in about two days.

A tongue-in-cheek adventure novel. The book is fun, but a little slow in spots. Especially enjoyable for cat lovers, and if you like Foster's 'off-the-wall' science fiction, you'll enjoy the book.

Jason Carter is a top star in B-movies in on a treasure hunt in Peru. He, Margaret Ashwood, and his cat, Macha, find a great adventure. There is treasure, a lost civilization, space travel, guardians of the continuum, and an evil renegade.

I was not terribly pleased with this book. I love Alan Dean Foster, but you can tell that this is one of his earlier books. The descriptions don't have the flow that he is capable of later, and character motivations are somewhat lacking.

If you like funny alien-or-Inca-related adventures, you could investigate. There were many moments that made me laugh out loud (some from the sheer ridiculousness of the plot), but it's definitely an easy beach read if you're looking for one.

funny alien fantasy. especially enjoyable for cat lovers who know kitties well enough to realize they are the superior species.

typically amsuing Alan Dean Foster fare.

Super Beings, that are catlike, watch over earth to let it grow up at its own pace. A rogue SB tries to ruin everything. Humans end up setting things straight.

This was a stupid novel. Might have been a good short story though.