REVIEW: Cat Dragon by Samantha Birch
In the whimsical world of Tangleroot Valley, magic flows like the seasons, and every witch has her cat dragon – except Aloysia Papplewick.
She’s far from bonding with her fiery feline familiar, and with her magical farm in chaos, her prattling pumpkin patch meddling in her life and the annual Harvest Festival to prepare for, Aloysia has enough to handle – even before her best friend’s insufferable brother, Hollis, brings danger and distraction to her door.
When she and Hollis are whisked away on a quest to a mysterious mountain, Aloysia must contend with magic, mayhem – and a spark she never expected.
Dear Ms. Birch,
This is marketed as a “cozy” and it definitely is that. I was psyched to read about cat dragons because the image on the cover is adorable. The book started well for me but before long, I was mad, frustrated, and then slightly bewildered trying to keep up with what was going on.
There is so much description but ultimately much of it meant little and was just more verbiage to wade through. Every town, street, room, character, forest glade, or creature was minutely detailed whether or not those things would take any further part in the story. And even when things were being explained – in detail – I often struggled to understand exactly what was going on during the action scenes.
The story is very episodic in feel. This needs to be done so our MCs go there and do that. Then they need to go to this place to find something else needed for Aloysia’s spell so they go there and get it. Rinse, repeat. But later on
Spoiler: Show
Aloysia really leans into the “witches do” ethic. Helping her neighbors or the town might wear her out, take up all her time, and she gets little thanks for it but “witches do!” So she does. This is great but she also seems to feel that it’s a personal failing if she accepts any help and resents anyone who attempts to aid her. She might have imposter syndrome and she definitely feels sorry for herself. After a while, I wanted to tell her to grow a backbone, ask for help, and begin to repeat self-assertion mantras every morning. Also, most of the members of the council of witches in her town are shits.
Much of the book sends Aloysia, her cat dragon, her best friend’s brother, and Aloysia’s messenger bird on a road trip to gather essential ingredients for a spell. Action scenes ensue at times but as I mentioned earlier, a lot of the time I had a hard time picturing the action despite all the detail. There is a quirky character who claps excitedly while she talks or withholds information as she promises, mischievously, that this will be fun. Characters like that exhaust me. I preferred the slightly snarky witch.
There is a romance but it’s an almost no burn one with little build up. The hero gives hints of what he’s feeling but Aloysia staunchly refuses to believe there is anything between them because there’s been nothing between them before. So he remains little but a Ken doll. She also has a habit of immediately blaming herself for anything that goes wrong whether or not she could possibly have known what to do. This got old.
Did the cat dragon work for me? Of course Littlewick did. I want him and I want him now. He’s the reason this book is getting the grade that it is. Aloysia adores him and I do too. Sadly he’s sort of a plot moppet though.
I liked the idea of this book. Some of the characters were initially interesting but ended up flat and I don’t think the best use was made of many of them. The pace was irregular – great at the start, slow in the middle, and rushed at the end. It’s densely and needlessly verbose. Aloysia does grow as a character and finds some strength, there’s a bit of found family, but the romance is barely there at all. C-
~Jayne
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Well. That’s disappointing. There’s not enough — not even Littlewick — to make this of interest. Thanks for the review, Jayne.
@Darlynne: I just keep trying to like cozy fantasies. They always sound like so much fun. But I need to pay closer attention to names as “Papplewick” should have told me this might be just a bit too twee. Also, I didn’t mention the talking pumpkins who are somehow actually Aloysia’s family. That never made sense to me either despite a couple of attempts to explain it.
@Jayne: Did you like Sarah Beth Durst’s THE SPELLSHOP? That book really worked for me and it could have been quite twee, but there was a balanced darkness to it. Plus sentient spider plant and I bought the whole thing.
@Darlynne: The sentient spider plant calls to me but I haven’t read it yet.
I’ve actually read this book twice
I found it’s pace good and most things were explained in the text if you read it fully
The pumpkins were in fact grown from soul seeds if you read the book you can find the explanation there
@Adam Carter: I’m glad it worked better for you than it did for me.
I agree with Adam – I loved this, and there weren’t any plot holes (that I spotted!) if you pay attention. Maybe cozy fantasy just isn’t for you? Which is fine! If you want spicy romance, definitely go elsewhere – but if you want a beautiful, fully realised world (I love having enough detail that I can picture how people actually *live* in a fantasy world), with adventure and female friendship then I highly recommend it! This would definitely pass the Bechdel test, which is not true of alot of fantasy.
@Clara: Clara, I think you’re right about cozy fantasies and me. They just don’t seem to work very well for me but the descriptions sound so wonderful that I keep trying them. I need to rethink doing that.