The Tygrine Cat

Long before humans walked the earth, the first cat, Te Bubas, cried one tear from each eye; from those tears sprang kittens, from which two tribes evolved: the spotted Sa Mau, representing cat's killer instinct, and the russet-furred Abyssinian Tygrine, symbolising cat's wisdom, insight, and spirit. Armed with dark powers, the Sa sought to crush the Tygrine and condemn all cats to eternal darkness. It is claimed that the tribes became extinct after the domestication of cats. however, they were wrong...


The story begins with the Queen of the Tygrine cats on an unspecified ship. Pulling away from her young son, she sprints toward the gangplank and down into the harbour, chanting a spell that would soon cause her son to forget his past. On the harbour, she meets the cat known as "Mithos the Destroyer", and announces that she is the Queen of the Abyssinia Tygrine and does not fear death. After, a brief dialogue, Mithos kills her.


After many days, the ship docks. The Queen's son, Mati, remembers her last instructions regarding leaving the ship when it drew to land. Saying goodbye to his floating home, Mati leaves the ship and finds himself in a busy marketplace. As he attempts to obtain some food, he meets three tabby catlings: Binjax, Ria, and Domino. While Binjax and Ria seem to be rather unpleasant, Domino tries to make friends with Mati, despite his strange appearance. Domino suggests that Mati might be able to join the stray cats in the marketplace, but they would have to find an adult cat prepared to appeal for Mati to Pangur, the leader of the stray cats. They then take Mati to Sparrow, an elderly, well-fed cat.


Far away to the Suzerain's empire to the north, the dark hunter Mithos enters the palace of the Suzerain, Zagazig. Mithos then reports to the Suzerain that the Tygrine Queen has been slain. However, the Suzerain flies into a sudden rage and snarls that a Tygrine heir still exists, and commands Mithos to hunt down and destroy the heir.


After some careful scrutinization, Sparrow decides to agree to their request and introduce Mati into their community at the next full-moon meeting. At the meeting, Sparrow appeals to Pangur, a strong black tom, about letting Mati join their kin. Pangur allows him to stay on trial basis without any objection, however the members of his feral kin do so with some reluctance, as they view Mati as an outsider.


The following day, Mati meets a stray named Jess. She strikes up a conversation with him and questions him about his history. Mati also learns about the somewhat hostile Kanks, who live in the neighborhood. Pangur seems to know their leader, Hanratty. While stealing fish from a fishmonger, Mati's eyes glow and he somehow manages to see the stall from the point of view of Binjax, Ria and Domino, who were nearby, also planning to steal fish.


In Zagazig, the Suzerain calls upon the power of the mysterious Great Spirit Alia and somehow manages to brew a storm.


Sparrow is educating Mati on the history of their kin, when Domino asks Mati out to play. They see a robin in the park. As Mati prepares to pounce on it, Domino warns him not to due to the fact that the robin is a "the first robin of the harvest moon", and their traditions forbid them to hunt it. When Domino is later called away by his mother, Jess joins Mati, and tells him about her old domesticated life. Several days later, the Suzerain, in his palace in Zagazig, speaks with the spirit Alia, who assures him that the forces of Sa are potent and he will soon be able to see Mati. True enough, a grim storm brews, and, via Alia's dark powers, the Suzerain summons thousands of bluebottle flies, which join to form the shape of a cat, and kills the robin. The Suzerain then talks with his commander, who informs him of an alliance made with the leader of a neighboring kin that could possibly help them invade the territory in which Mati is.


Back in Cressida Lock, Pangur banishes Mati for disobeying their traditions. Shortly after his banishment, he meets Etheleldra, a shalian, a mystical cat with gifts of wisdom. Etheleldra teaches him about the spirit world, Fianey, where he speaks to a spirit named Bayo. Bayo speaks of two people, one who has loyalty which Mati doubts, and the other who is young and of good heart, though his judgement would fail. However, Alia approaches and the conversation ends. Suddenly, Mati sees a flood at Cressida Lock, and rushes over to help. He manages to save Binjax from drowning in the catacombs. Pangur later admits that he is wrong about Mati, and invites him to stay. After sending Binjax, Ria, and their parents to investigate, the cats find out that the flood was actually caused by the fishmonger. In revenge, Pangur and twelve Cressida cats break into the fishmonger's house and give him such a fright that he closes his stall the next day and possibly moves out of town. A few days after, Mati manages to send Jess back to her owner. In her owner's house, Jess spots a sculpture that looks exactly like Mati. Back in Cressida Lock, Mithos lures Mati out onto the street using Mati's mother's voice. Mati is then injured in a car accident and is taken to the vet.

In Jess's house, her owner explains to her the legend regarding the two tribes of the Tygrine and the Sa. In his slumber, Mati sees a vison of Te Bubas, telling him the story of the Creators and the Beginning. When she questions him about his identity, Mati simply replies his name. Te Bubas then frowns and closes her eyes. In Cressida Lock, Pangur reveals to the ferals that Hanratty is his brother, and that it was probably him that baited the fishmonger into flooding their territory.

Pangur and Hanratty had originally travelled together. Pangur was the stronger one, and Hanratty seemed content to step back whenever there were good things. However, one day, when Pangur told him that he was going to settle down and rule Cressida Lock, Hanratty revealed that he had just been biding his time. This led to a fight; Pangur won and led the Cressida cats while Hanratty led the Kanks. Pangur ends the story and tells the Cressida cats that they would now openly declare war on the Kanks.

Meanwhile, the Suzerain instructs Mithos to hunt Mati both in the spirit and physical world. In his sleep, Mati hears his mother: "To cast a light in your darkest hour, simply speak your self." When Mithos is so close to Mati that he can almost kill him, Mati senses him. Back in Jess's house, Jess runs away from her owner again. As the Cressida Cats wage their petty war against the Kanks, Mati flees from Mithos. As Mithos lands a blow on Mati, cats all over the world writhe in agony. Seeing as Mati is their top priority, the Cressida Cats and the Kanks make an alliance. Racing back to Cressida Lock, they attempt to stop Mithos, but he kills Hanratty with ease, along with a few others.

At the brink of giving up, the memories of a thousand Tygrines flood to Mati: Te Bubas and two kittens, the war of the two dynasties, his mother leading the Tygrines... Opening his eyes, Mati proclaims himself son of the Queen and heir to the Tygrine throne. Once he accepts his birthright, his eyes glow so bright that Mithos is instantly obliterated.

The Kanks and the Cressida cats join into one kin under Pangur's leadership. Mati then realises that Bayo was speaking of Domino and Pangur respectively. The story ends with jess returning to her owner.

I recommend this fantasy book to teenagers, especially cat lovers. The author, Inbali Iserles, has also written a few other books like The Bloodstone Bird. Her blog is mslexia.wordpress.com.

War of the Worlds

On 30 October 1938, the US was in a state of terror and chaos. People were certain that it was under siege by hostile Martian forces. Thousands of people called the police, many fled their homes in terror and several sought medical attention for shock and hysteria. The truth was, Martians weren't really invading. Orson Welles, a famous actor, was in fact performing a dramatization of The War of the Worlds, effectively convincing listeners that an alien invasion could happen anytime, anyplace.

The story starts off with the author analysing the planet Mars and the possible existence of life on it. He is at an observatory located in Ottershaw studying Mars and observes a strange fiery flash from Mars. Several similiar flashes occur following it, and a suggested theory was that the inhabitants of Mars were signaling humans.

One day, an odd falling meteor leaving a glowing green streak behind it lands on Horsell Common, where it is discovered not to be a meteorite, as suspected, but instead a metal cylinder containing grotesque, octopus-like, bear-sized Martian invaders, which emerge shortly after. A party bearing a white flag approaches the Martians, but are incinerated by a heat ray the Martians construct.

The Martians then use their long-range Heat Ray to vaporize buildings from afar and engage the military in battle. The author takes his wife to Leatherhead to temporarily stay with relatives. Upon returning home, he realizes, to his horror, that the Martians have managed to create a metal, tripod-like battle machine equipped with the Heat Ray and the Black Smoke, a chemical weapon contained in rockets fired from a black tube attached to the war machine. The Smoke is apparently toxic and is more of an dense, inky vapour than a smoke, spreading easily through towns.

More cylinders start landing all over England, and civilians begin a panicked exodus from London, including the author's brother and two female travelling companions. They witness the fall of two tripods, destroyed by a torpedo ram, the Thunder Child, which is later obliterated by the Martians. The trio makes a successful escape via boat.

The next book tells of the author's experiences while taking refuge in a ruined building with a mentally unstable curate who is traumatised by the Martian invasion and believes the Martians to be heralds of Armageddon. Shortly after, a Martian cylinder lands nearby. For a period of time, the author studies and observes the Martians' daily routines and life. However, the curate's outbursts inevitably expose them. The writer escapes detection while the body of the curate is dragged away.

The writer travels to London, where he decides to commit suicide. However, he then realises that the Martians have been slain by bacteria , to which they possessed completely no immunity. He is reunited with his wife, and humanity walks towards a hopeful future with more open minds.

Notably, Wells has written several science-fiction novels, which he is famous for, such as The Island of Dr Moreau, The Time Machine, and The Invisible Man. I recommend this novel to science-fiction novel lovers, specifically young people.