Tailchaser's Song

I remember checking this out of the library several times years ago, perhaps even when I was in high school, and always returning it unread. I think the stiff formality of the language turned me off, but I finally got over that, or rather, allowed it to absorb me into the story, and thoroughly enjoyed this "Watership Down with cats". Williams does a great job of inhabiting the mind of a cat, from articulating the sounds of cat language to explaining the meaning behind the familar stretches, scratches, and that habit of turning several times on a spot before laying down. The story is typical quest, but what sets this apart is the imagined interactions between the various animals one encounters. Rather than taking the lazy way out and show more having all species speak remarkably good English, Williams spins a verbal reality that allows the reader to "hear", with astonishing clarity, the characteristics of squirrels, dogs, crows and, of course cats. One can almost picture the author in his den, surrounded by chittering, barking, squawking and meowing creatures, listening carefully and typing in the sounds just as he hears them. A delightful twist on a familiar story. show less

Xenofiction outside of kids cartoons is a niche genre thats not for everyone, so I forgive that people keep comparing Tailchasers song to warrior cats because that and watership down are the most well known books of its genre. but i want to make this review saying that its not a rip off of warrior cats.. its WAY better. Tailchasers song puts a ton of more effort into world building and structuring the cats society and culture around their unique reality and abilities. The characters are rich, memorable and charismatic and nothing like those stock "good warrior" and "anxious queen" archetypes warrior cats and its boring clan system features and encourages. Most of the plot features fritti tailchaser exploring the world and seeing all the show more caveats of the kingdom of cats. Unlike in warriors, the traveling is actually fun to read and there's less human stuff along the way. All through the book stories of the cats religion and culture are told through "songs". I wont spoil much but they seem to have a greek pantheon vibe going on. each time a character was about to sing i found myself getting as excited as fritti did to listen. much more rich and interesting and well thought out than starclan vs dark forest. age rating should be about teenager I think as it has a lil bit of gore like WC, but its not as often.

My only drawbacks are that it bothers me how unequal it is for the female cats and how few of them there are in the story point one for warrior cats I guess :/. I'm also not a huge fan of when other species are on the same intellect as the main characters in xenofiction especially when there is pred/prey drama. the "politics" of it all are either never fleshed out right, or it never should have been brought up in the first place. The squirrels involvement in the story was unessecary, but luckily the squirrels don't take up too much time in the book though. I found it annoying how the main character ends up fainting and waking up somewhere else a lot esp between chapters for the drama.. these are all nitpicks maybe, but it gets tiring sometimes. show less

Another spectacular animal fantasy, this book is probably the best stand-alone one I’ve ever read. The mythical cat-world Tad Williams creates is so vibrant and easy to lose yourself in.

This is a gripping, wild adventure tale about a young tomcat called Fritti Tailchaser, who one day sets off to find his good friend Hushpad, who vanished mysteriously. But little does he know, Tailchaser will not find this journey easy. His companions are wide and varied; a bouncy kitten, a half crazed old tom, a cool and graceful she-cat, a rough and easygoing cat prince, and a band of fearsome forest warriors. The quest will bring him though forests and plains, to the court of the cat Queen, and to the most devilish depths underground. And before it show more is over, Tailchaser will have met two cat gods, lived through the most awful places on earth, made a pact with squirrels, crossed a waterfall, and so much more. And he will finally find what he has been searching for…in the most unexpected way. An incredibly written book with parallels to Watership Down and other fantastic animal classics. show less

I read a well-followed fantasy blogger's list of his/her top 20 books of all time and they ranked this one above Watership Down. So I had to check it out. Perhaps if I had read this as teen I would love it. I see how it became beloved by many people but I liked Watership Down better personally.

The story follows a cat going on a quest to find out what is happening to cause some cats to just disappear. Tad Williams creates a whole culture around the cats and their world including stories of how the world came to be and a few words in cat tongue that are repeated thru the book.

Adventure fantasy book with cats as the main characters. This book starts as Tailchaser's quest to find his missing friend, Hushpad, but it becomes a much bigger journey. I appreciated learning about the cats' world & mythology. There was a lot of growth in the main characters, & it all made sense considering the events of the story.

There were a few instances of exciting events happening off-page & later being explained to Tailchaser - while I don't expect Tailchaser to be a part of all events, this book already used multiple points-of-view, so I would have preferred to just see these from others' perspectives. The ending seemed a bit rushed. But it was a very fun book overall. Were there other books by the author set in this world, I'd show more be interested in reading them. show less

This book started out as a pleasant little cat fantasy, mainly following the story of the hero – Tailchaser. I love the many names that Williams come up with for his characters, cat and otherwise, as well as the place names and the cat mythology. I especially liked the story about how M’an (man) came to be. Tailchaser and the rest of the Folk (read cats) live at Meeting Wall near Old Woods. Everything is going along quite swimmingly when suddenly the folk begin to disappear and the elders of Meeting Wall hold a ‘nose-meet’ in order to work out what is to be done. They decide to send a delegation off to Mirmirsor Sunback, queen of the folk, and her court at Rootwood forest to apprise her of the situation and appeal for her help. show more Tailchaser, afraid that Hushpad, his best friend and would-be mate who has also disappeared, will be overlooked by the delegation, undertakes to follow along on his own in order to plead her case before the court himself. In the course of his journey, Tailchaser takes up with the youngling Pouncequick and meets the rather unbalanced Eatbugs. There are a multitude of things that happen to Tailchaser, his friends and the other cats they meet along the way that I cannot reveal here for fear of spoiling the story.

It would have been easy to keep his story on a more Redwall-ish level, but Williams chooses to go quite dark with it. His villains are very evil and creepy and there are times when things look very black for Tailchaser and his allies. This was a good book. I read a bit of it aloud to Willie and except for the tale of Windflower (“all his tom-hood had been taken, changed he had been to half-fela*”) he seemed to like it too.
*female show less

As a lover of cats and traumatised as a child by the animated movie of Watership Down, I approached this book somewhat warily.

And it was with great sadness that I finished this book, but not for the story. Just sad that the story had ended too quickly as I was thoroughly immersed in the world. There were still unanswered questions and so much scope to pursue. I read this book too swiftly to be satisfied. I can only hope hope that Tad Williams will one day return to Tailchaser's world.
The story was not without it's fault; I found the pacing at times, off; many details skimmed over and others lingering too long. Nor is there quite the same richness he displayed the the Dragonbone Chair trilogy. This is more frustrating knowing that show more Williams has since refined his art.

If you are not a lover of cats, you likely will not get as much out of this story as I did. show less