Book Review: Cleocatras Kushion by Robin Price

Robin Price of I Am Spartapuss'fame is back with the fifth book in this series where cats really do, as weve long suspected, rule the world. Like the first in the series, puns are flung about with gleeful abandon, and those who tire of linguistic witticisms may need to take a break every now and then; likewise, those who take their history rather grimly and seriously may wish to look elsewhere. But if youre a young reader after a quick intro into ancient history and a few giggles to boot, be sure to give this quick and silly read a few moments of your time.

Although beginning with a previously in Spartapuss opening (cue low-pitched voiceover and montage music), readers should be relatively okay leaping straight into this one without too much prior study. Having only read the first in the series, I found that the plot was straight-forward enough, although readers will want to keep a close eye on the named narrator at the beginning of each diary entry, as all that first person epistolary stuff may become confusing otherwise.

Our friend Spartapuss, whom we met in the first in the series as a young gladiator, is now a plump and jolly middle-aged puss cursing the dreamy nature of his lazy, starry-eyed son, known in the novel simply as as SOSSon of Spartapuss. On a visit to Rome SOS finds himself quite taken with the young Haireena (who of course is unaware of his existence), and sets about wooing her. Unfortunately his romantic efforts dont quite go as planned, and SOS finds himself imprisoned. Finally escaping, he learns that Haireena has been taken in search of a great treasure in Fleagyptand follows her, encountering all manner of hilarious mishaps and silliness on the way.

In the meantime, poor Spartapuss the Elder finds that his considerable fortune, much of which has already been frittered away thanks to SOSs freeloading demands, has been lost. A talking frog seems to be the key to regaining his lost riches, and so off to Fleagypt he goeswith a chap known as Eddipuss in tow.

Although the diary format of the novel necessarily means that live action is out of the question, Price uses it here to far better effect than in the first of the series, and the gaps between entries are evocative rather than empty, adding to the story rather than detracting from it. There is a good deal of POV swapping that can see things come unstuck at times, but generally the voices are differentiated enough that this isnt an issue. The cast list is quite large, however, and given that everyones name is appended with -puss, the Dramatis Pawsonae at the beginning of the novel can be a handy referencealthough of course one would rather not have the need to resort to such a list.

For me, though, the kicker is the hilarious scene in which the parallel narratives finally meet (er, perhaps theyre not parallel if they meet, but you know what I mean), and where SOS takes his father through a list of all the terrible things that have happened to him as part of his journey, and Spartapuss responds in turn with So have I. Sheer, laugh-out-loud brilliance.

If youre after some ancient history-lite, and you can abide the odd pawful awful pun youll happily while away some time on this snappy little read.

Rating: (very good)

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With thanks to Mogzilla Books for the review copy

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