Ratha and Thistle-chaser
 Clare Bell
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 1990 Margaret K. McElderry Books NY USA
  ISBN: 0689504624


This book is available in new & used condition from $55.00

A drought threatens the Named, a Clan of intelligent wild Cats led by young Ratha. The clan must drive their Herdbeasts to new grazing on the coast, there they meet Seamares & the solitary mute cat that lives among them.

I first met Ratha in Clare Bell's Ratha's Creature a while ago & thoroughly enjoyed her company.

In Ratha and Thistle-chaser our feline heroine, who is so much more than "just" a cat & a large one at that, is tested, found wanting & must learn the precarious & humbling troubles of being a leader.

Clare Bell has a superb ability to create intriguing yet ever so familiar worlds, seen from an entirely different set of eyes & an entirely broader mind; & in this fourth book we learn so much more about the Named.

We also come across Newt & her Seamares. Newt is a Cat who cannot speak yet obviously has a similar level of intelligence. Newt is, however, bedeviled by Dreambiter & something more. Until she meets Thakur, the Clan's Scout out looking for a place for their Herdbeasts.

It is when all the Cats come together & ideas & actions take on a life of their own that Ratha & her beloved Clan face a quantum leap in consciousness.

When Newt & Ratha meet, half-forgotten sorrows & half-remembered kinships stir & swirl as the Cats learn about life in this new land.

Wonderful stuff, mesmerizing, filled with thoughts & wonderment. Makes you work your mind, shift your shape.

Also by Clare Bell: Ratha's Creature, Clan Ground, Tomorrow's Sphinx.
(06/27/99)

Rebecca