Culdesac (War With No Name #1.5) by Robert Repino, 2016

Culdesac (War With No Name #1.5) by Robert Repino, 2016

Both a prequel of sorts and a companion novel to Mort(e), Culdesac tells the story of the fierce bobcat commander's quest to advance the Queen of the Dirt's war against humanity. I loved the first book and I enjoyed this one despite some slight repetition. Culdesac is a less conflicted and therefore less complex character than Mort(e) and didn't win my heart in the same way, but Repino is no holds barred take no prisoners in his story telling and I was swept along through glorious action sequences to a very satisfyimg conclusion.

The premise of these stories inverts a key trope of our contemporary interpretation of our world, the relationship between humans and "others." In defiance of our cult-like papering over of deeper correlations, Culdesac reminds us that we're all predators, every human being as much as the bobcat at the center of this tale; and the grim business of a predator is to kill. He also reminds us that the other animals, and people, whom we view with a transactional inhumanity have many of the same virtues we value in ourselves; and that truly recognizing ourselves requires recognizing them.


My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars) - I liked it.

"Mort(e)" by Robert Repino, 2014

"Mort(e)" by Robert Repino, 2014

While others' classified Mort(e) a post-apocalyptic cat detective novel, I prefer to describe it as Puss n' Boots meets Thundercats on Animal Farm!

Alternatively an updating of “Animal Farm” and a meditation on friendship and free will, “Mort(e)” is complex, beguiling, and often bloody. Despite its science fiction-fantasy set up, this is very much a book for adults: Mort(e)’s neutered status is rudely alluded to (he is a “choker’’), and the brutality of war is presented prosaically.

In the future, ants have evolved and developed a chemical that causes other animals to grow human like gain consciousness which in turn allows them to join the ants war against humans.

The “Change” happens to Sebastian, our cat protagonist, just as the war arrives at his masters’ doorstep. In the chaos of this global animal uprising, he’s separated from his beloved friend Sheba (dog).  His quest to find Sheba is interrupted when he is conscripted into the Red Sphinx, an anti-human insurgency squad led by a bobcat named Culdesac.

What happens next is convoluted and, perhaps, inevitable as the war winds down and the transition to a peaceful new order begins. Despite his desire to resign from active duty and live alone with his memories, a pitbull named Wawa drafts Mort(e) into the fray when a new, more subtle terror begins. As he investigates this deadly counteroffensive and is caught up in a strange prophecy, he begins to receive messages that Sheba may, in fact, still be alive.

My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars) - I really liked it.