LitPick Review
"The Outlaw Varjak Paw" - a clunky, rather unwieldy title - nevertheless fittingly describes the adventurous action novel by SF Said. Like a classic western except with cats, the novel follows Varjak Paw, a new cat in an area long starving under the control of the white cat Sally Bones and her deadly gang. With his friends Holly and Tam, and even with the help of a great big dog named Cludge, Varjak learns to accept his place as leader of a new gang that will bring liberty from oppression to the Free Cats of the city. For he is the only cat he knows of that has been educated in the Seven Skills, a mystical Mesopotamian fighting power. Only with these powers, and with his friends, can Varjak win freedom.
Opinion:
It takes a few pages to get used to the style of Said's YA novel. At first the reader can be confused, having been transported to some strange reality where wild cats live entire lives and fight great battles in the hidden places of a city, never coming across humans. But I recommend this book for those who can keep reading and get to the heart of the story. The action is riveting, and the themes resonate with so many other great stories about friendship, courage, loyalty, and leadership. The characters Varjak meets are many and varied, and always interesting. The only strangely off-putting parts are Varjak's memories/dreams of his training in Mesopotamia, where the metaphors are as large and towering as the mountains, and just as obvious. On the whole, though, "The Oulaw of Varjak Paw" is a great read, not only because of the cool characters and setting, but because of the emotional and archetypal themes that pervade the action.
