a world where dwells men, cats[of various size and intelligence] and rats. Follows one boy who becomes Emperor. Ends with an unknown menace arising among the rats. ( )

Fantasy novel based on some semi-famous paintings by some artist. It was a little weird, and Norton wrote in an unusual style for this book, it was kind of…. yoda-ish. I had to reread several sentences several times before they made sense. But it was still a good book! It’s about a young man who comes from a warrior family but is not a warrior. As such, he doesn’t fit in and isn’t like by his father or older brother. Finally, he like, gets kicked out. He gets to make his ’solo’, which is a strange custom where the family takes their children out to the desert and leaves them in an unknown place, and if they can survive and find their way back home, they become an adult. This is mostly the story about his solo, and then there’s a little bit after that which is exciting and I don’t want to give it away. But there’s totally a sequel, which I’ll have to read next! ( )