Queen of Kats

By: John G. Hartness

Narrated by: Tim Campbell

It should have been so simple....

Remarin is a thief. He was hired to steal a gem. No big deal, right? Yeah, right. He stole the gem, then everything went sideways, and now he's running for his life across rooftops, through sewers, and all over the godsforsaken world trying not to get dead.

And who is this kid, Kit, anyway?

©2018 John G. Hartness (P)2018 Tantor

It would have made a good trilogy

It was very enjoyable. There were times the story seemed rushed, and it feels unfinished.

Great story

The world building and storytelling are superb in this book... it was an unexpected delight-

Enjoyable and fun, but...

All in all, I liked this one. Let me start with the best part, the performance by Tim Campbell is everything you could want from a narrator. He enhanced the story, never detracted from it in the least.
As for the story itself, it's okay. No spoilers: the characters are mostly good, a few are a little over the top but not too bad. The world is fun and the political dynamics are really interesting. Stereotypes are in there, but for the most part I could look past them because there was enough "new" so I could push on with the listen. It was the writing that pulled me out of the story every once in a while. Like what you ask, using the phrase "fire" instead of loosing arrows, not a big thing but it's just lazy writing. How about "Greek fire" in a world without Greece. Sure it gets the point across, but again, lazy writing. This is my first John Hartness book, but I expected more from him. I am not much into urban fantasy but as it is, I will look for more from this world. Maybe, just maybe...

Enjoyed

Refreshing and enjoyable with a great adventure and intriguing story that I simply loved the caterer plus being for all in the family. Wish for more like this.

Only gives broad strokes, so not very satisfying

As much as I loved the idea of a rogue assassin, a talking dagger, and a heist gone wrong, this was more of a storyboard than a fleshed out story. What does Rimoryn look like, other than being on the short end? What does the world look like? Setting, character and plot detail are all sorely lacking. What little detail exists tends to come in info dumps, like when we are told how someone became the new head of an assassins guild; I would have preferred to have been in on the coup instead of hearing the recap. Because nothing was filled in, everything felt flat; I didn’t really care about the characters and felt no suspense as the plot played out in perfunctory fashion.

The writing was clunky, especially for Rimoryn, who is often the smartest person in the room, explaining how they’re walking into a trap (and how he’s going to turn the tables), or how they’re going to sneak in or do xyz. Rimoryn also conveniently runs into old friends/enemies in virtually every scene: walking thru a sewer, invading a kingdom, etc and he always bumps into someone that he’s got history with.

Both the good and bad guys tend to be caricatures, which would have worked better if the author had leaned further into humor. Rimoryn’s shortness was begging for a Snake Pliskin ‘I thought you’d be taller’ riff, yet his stature didn’t signify after the first chapter. Characters appear only long enough to be sacrificed for the plot. Unfortunately, the plot is all over the place. The ‘heist gone wrong’ story devolves into royal politics, and even an awkward romance- and that just wasn’t the book I signed up for.

I much preferred the author’s Quincy Harker series, which was better on all fronts.
If there was a book 2, I wouldn’t be moving on.