After and earthquake and fire a young cat walks to the northern end of Japan. Not painful for an animal story, but that's it. ( )

An epic cat-quest!
It's somewhat an exploration of what makes a home, and how our experiences change us.

RECOMMENDED! ( )

http://www.susanhatedliterature.net/2018/04/the-cat-who-walked-a-thousand-miles/ ( )

Such a wonderful moving story. Set in Japan only shortly after cats were first introduced there, the narrative follows Small Cat. She's grown up as part of a peaceful cat colony in Tokyo, on the grounds of an abandoned old house, where she's been immersed in their fudoki, the stories about their ancestors and forebears in the colony. One day they're struck by an earthquake, followed by a fire, and the colony is destroyed. Small Cat sets out on an epic journey across Japan, trying to find other cats with whom she will belong. With the importance it places on telling stories about our pasts and those who came before us, I found this story incredibly touching, and Small Cat's adventures are suspenseful enough, as well. I feel like this would be a good story book to read to children, despite it not being specifically a children's story. Being short and freely available on Tor.com, I feel like there's no good reason for anyone not to read this. ( )

Well, in the space of a few hours I just read two stories by the same author. If I'd read the Ponies one first I'd never have tried anything else by this author and gone out of my way to ignore everything they've ever done in their writing career. Instead I read the cat one first, this one here.

I'm somewhat unable to spend money at the moment for various reasons. This short story was so interesting and good I almost just blindly bought some ebook novel or short story collection to continue reading this author. I suppose I should be thankful that other story was on Tor.com, for free.

This story follows the point of view of a kitty, something of a coming of age story for cats. The kitty lived in a great walled garden like setting with many relatives and a ruined building. Everything was fun and games. Then a fire rages through Tokyo. Confused and hurting the kitty begins a journey to try to find where a relatively distant relative came from. And so heads "North".

She, the kitty, travels along a particular road that goes north, sometimes needing to dodge humans who have no idea what a cat is and think she is a demon, while sometimes finding friendly humans.

I wouldn't have written this much if not for reading Ponies after reading this story, and while that got me to write something, it is also distracting me from going any deeper in a review of this story.

Ok, I will add this: Despite everything I've said, reading a five star story, then a one star story by the same author within a short period of time, the five star story is just that good that I'll probably attempt something else by this author.

Oh, and I suppose I should note that there wasn't anything particularly bad with the writing or anything on that level with the Ponies story. I just disliked the story.
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