Description:
Bobcat just wants to hang out and have fun rolling in catnip, loving his rabbit girlfriend, playing pranks, and betting on otter polo matches. Then his friend Skink loses his luck, an omen of terrible destruction, and Bobcat himself is visited by a horrific vision of a burning jaguar that inflicts real wounds. They consult the shaman, Fisher, and the omens are confirmed. The Blood Jaguar, the thirteen Curial, or god, is returning to inflict a plague that will kill almost everyone in the world. And when the Blood Jaguar returns, a bobcat, a skink, and a fisher must go on a quest to stop her and prevent the plague. The quest has always failed. Why should this one succeed? The Blood Jaguar will doubtless be likened to classic talking-animal novels like Watership Down and the Redwall series, but those are not entirely valid comparisons. The Blood Jaguar investigates the nature of magic, of reality, and of divinity, penetrating levels of meaning and truth. Appropriately, the nature of the novel changes until it can be read with equal validity as fantasy, alternate history, or science fiction. This is a fine book for both adults and youngsters, both animal fantasy fans and science fiction fans, both action/adventure readers and philosophical seekers. Michael H. Payne's first novel is multilayered and remarkable. --Cynthia Ward
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