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The Ghattis Tale (Finder-Seekers, Book One)

The Ghattis Tale (Finder-Seekers, Book One)

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Enjoyable but very reminiscent of Mercedes Lackey's books
Review: Although I enjoyed this book I did at first find it a bit difficult to get into. It reminded me very much of Mercedes Lackey's books which was okay but I found it annoying as the writing was not as good as Misty's. Still I did get into the characters in the end and enjoyed it. Probably people who have not read Mercedes Lackey's books would enjoy it more.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great book, wonderful charecters
Review: Finders-Seekers is a great book. I bought it originally because it looked good, and was I right! It's a must-read for any fantasy lover and even better for those of you interested in cats (or ghatti in this case)The charecters are real and you really get to know them. If you like this one and want more you should keep reading the rest of the series because it's just as well done!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very Good! Great for an up and coming author!
Review: Gayle Greeno has brought a new idea to fantasy... racism. The Seekers Veritas are victimized at every turn but they triumph as good triumphs over evil! To get the best enjoyment out of Gayle's books you must read all three -- maybe a new one will be out soon - I hope

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Murder, mystery, & "meow" on a lost colony
Review: Having been a cat-lover all my life, I'm always on the lookout for books that feature felines. I'm not sure why I passed up this series (begun in 1993) till just last year, but I'm glad that I finally broke down and bought it. Greeno images a lost Terran colony (probably settled by back-to-the-land pagans, since it has regressed to a pre-technological level in only 200 years and its people worship a goddess they call "the Lady"), where a major lifeform is the ghatti (a single male is a ghatt, a female a ghatta, and an immature of either sex a ghatten)--creatures which, whether through parallel evolution, genetic manipulation, or crossbreeding with Terran cats, look and behave very much like outsized versions of the latter, but are apparently sentient and boast a limited telepathic ability: they can "mindspeak" to each other and to selected humans, and can scan people's thoughts for lies and deception. They're also as loyal and loving as dogs: a ghatti bonds to a single human (it has long been thought that it *can't* bond to a second one, even if it loses the first, but in the course of the book we learn that this isn't true) in kitten- (or rather ghatten-) hood, and thereafter, following a period of training, the two become Seekers Veritas, circuit judges of a kind, one of two professions (the other is the "eumedicos," or doctors) that hold the society of Methuen together. The tabby ghatta Khar'pern (Khar for short) is Bondmate to Doyce, a woman who has already lived almost as many lives as a Terran cat: daughter to a weaver and shadowed sister of a cripple, eumedico-in-training, wife to Varon, stepmother to his son Vesey and mother to his daughter Briony, widow by fire, and unexpectedly, at the age of 27, Seeker. In the decade since the two have ridden their circuit faithfully and Doyce has slowly begun to heal from her loss, taking the Seeker Oriel as an intermittent lover (unaware that another of the male Seekers, Jenret, five years her junior, harbors feelings for her too), only suffering vivid nightmares which Khar shares through their link and tries to ease. Suddenly Oriel and his ghatt are found murdered and mutilated, and Doyce soon discovers that the crimes are part of a pattern: someone is apparently conducting clandestine medical studies of Seekers, their Bonds, and ordinary humans and Terran cats, trying to learn what makes the Bond relationship possible. Accompanied by Jenret and his black ghatt-friend Rawn, the mind-crippled ghatt Saam whose human Bond was one of the victims, and later by her former eumedico mentor Mahafny, the ex-priest Harrap, and the ghatt Parm who bonded with him after his first Seeker began to "change" mentally in frightening ways, Doyce sets out to follow Oriel's old circuit and try to learn what is going on. As the book proceeds, we learn that Doyce is in fact the key to the entire mystery. This is the first volume of (so far) four thick paperbacks, and you'll want to read them all, if only because Greeno leaves us, at the end, with a good old-fashioned cliffhanger.

Though readers may be distracted by mention of typical Terran wild animals (elk, mountain sheep, wolves, bears, foxes, owls, squirrels) in the woods of Methuen, the society of the colonists is well drawn, and of course the central pivot, the Seeker/ghatti relationship, is especially well done. Greeno obviously knows cats and has studied them closely: her ghatti behave just as we might expect a thinking, telepathic cat to behave. Among the most charming scenes is that on p. 244-7, where Parm tries to comfort the confused Harrap, who never expected to Bond with a ghatti: "I would wear a Lady's Medal for you, if you wanted me to," he says; "...I would do anything you wanted of me!"

This series is a perfect choice for the lover of both cats and sf/fantasy (I'll probably be buying a set for my girlfriend, who is both).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Murder, mystery, & "meow" on a lost colony
Review: Having been a cat-lover all my life, I'm always on the lookout for books that feature felines. I'm not sure why I passed up this series (begun in 1993) till just last year, but I'm glad that I finally broke down and bought it. Greeno images a lost Terran colony (probably settled by back-to-the-land pagans, since it has regressed to a pre-technological level in only 200 years and its people worship a goddess they call "the Lady"), where a major lifeform is the ghatti (a single male is a ghatt, a female a ghatta, and an immature of either sex a ghatten)--creatures which, whether through parallel evolution, genetic manipulation, or crossbreeding with Terran cats, look and behave very much like outsized versions of the latter, but are apparently sentient and boast a limited telepathic ability: they can "mindspeak" to each other and to selected humans, and can scan people's thoughts for lies and deception. They're also as loyal and loving as dogs: a ghatti bonds to a single human (it has long been thought that it *can't* bond to a second one, even if it loses the first, but in the course of the book we learn that this isn't true) in kitten- (or rather ghatten-) hood, and thereafter, following a period of training, the two become Seekers Veritas, circuit judges of a kind, one of two professions (the other is the "eumedicos," or doctors) that hold the society of Methuen together. The tabby ghatta Khar'pern (Khar for short) is Bondmate to Doyce, a woman who has already lived almost as many lives as a Terran cat: daughter to a weaver and shadowed sister of a cripple, eumedico-in-training, wife to Varon, stepmother to his son Vesey and mother to his daughter Briony, widow by fire, and unexpectedly, at the age of 27, Seeker. In the decade since the two have ridden their circuit faithfully and Doyce has slowly begun to heal from her loss, taking the Seeker Oriel as an intermittent lover (unaware that another of the male Seekers, Jenret, five years her junior, harbors feelings for her too), only suffering vivid nightmares which Khar shares through their link and tries to ease. Suddenly Oriel and his ghatt are found murdered and mutilated, and Doyce soon discovers that the crimes are part of a pattern: someone is apparently conducting clandestine medical studies of Seekers, their Bonds, and ordinary humans and Terran cats, trying to learn what makes the Bond relationship possible. Accompanied by Jenret and his black ghatt-friend Rawn, the mind-crippled ghatt Saam whose human Bond was one of the victims, and later by her former eumedico mentor Mahafny, the ex-priest Harrap, and the ghatt Parm who bonded with him after his first Seeker began to "change" mentally in frightening ways, Doyce sets out to follow Oriel's old circuit and try to learn what is going on. As the book proceeds, we learn that Doyce is in fact the key to the entire mystery. This is the first volume of (so far) four thick paperbacks, and you'll want to read them all, if only because Greeno leaves us, at the end, with a good old-fashioned cliffhanger.

Though readers may be distracted by mention of typical Terran wild animals (elk, mountain sheep, wolves, bears, foxes, owls, squirrels) in the woods of Methuen, the society of the colonists is well drawn, and of course the central pivot, the Seeker/ghatti relationship, is especially well done. Greeno obviously knows cats and has studied them closely: her ghatti behave just as we might expect a thinking, telepathic cat to behave. Among the most charming scenes is that on p. 244-7, where Parm tries to comfort the confused Harrap, who never expected to Bond with a ghatti: "I would wear a Lady's Medal for you, if you wanted me to," he says; "...I would do anything you wanted of me!"

This series is a perfect choice for the lover of both cats and sf/fantasy (I'll probably be buying a set for my girlfriend, who is both).

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I want one of these cats.
Review: I almost gave it four stars, and then bumped it back down to three. It's a good book; been a while since I read it, though, and my memory's given it a better look after having read the books following. It's not amazing, and it can be slow, and towards the end, becomes fairly confusing, but it's still an enjoyable read. There are parts I thought could have been done better, and parts that I would have loved to have seen explored more, but overall it's a nifty world that drew me back to read the rest of the series and love them. Aye, it's obviously modeled after Pern, but good regardless-- if I had to choose between them, I think this'd be my favorite of the two.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: very good, well worth the money
Review: I enjoyed this book and recommend it highly to everyone who likes Fantasy especially if you also like cats

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You have GOT to get this series!!
Review: I hadn't read epic fantasy for years, and had gotten stuck in a morbid rut of True Crime when I picked up this first book of the series. I was originally drawn by the picture of what appeared to be a cat on the cover, then dove in. Bear in mind, I had lost my 32nd friend to AIDS and nothing was able to let me "escape". I stayed up all night and read. If you love cats, you will love ghattas. They are much larger, bond telepathically to the individual they choose (and nip) as a ghatten, and then that pair becomes a "Seeker Veritas" - literally a circuit-riding judge pair. The fact that the ghattas can read the "litigants'" minds helps the human to make accurate decisions. Gayle Greeno is the finest author on this planet. She paints "word pictures" that literally take you "away". You can see and hear and feel what she wants you to feel. You will find yourself transported to that world, you will be amazed at her ability to weave several "strands" at the same time, you will learn to love the characters, and her command of the English language is like painting a "masterpiece". I used to think H.P. Lovecraft was the most complex and intense author that ever lived - I was wrong. If you buy this first one, you might as well buy the rest of the series at the same time, because "buyer's remorse" will hit you BIG TIME if you don't. Whether you like cats or not, this series is fantastic!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful series...recommend to all fantasy & cat lovers.
Review: I inhaled all three of these books. Hard to put down. Recommended to family members who raved about how much they enjoyed the original story line. If you like Shirley Rousseau Murphy's "Catswold Portal" or Rita Mae Brown's "Mrs. Murphy Mysteries", you will enjoy this series even more!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A vibrant colorful world!
Review: I just happened to pick this book up from a store, and had no idea what a good choice it was! The characters are unique and alive, and the world in which they live is drawn in fabulous detail. I couldn't put this book down! The Ghatti especially are wonderful, showing many catlike traits but so much more than just cats. I think the author subtley explains our own cats behaviors with the thoughts of the Ghatti! After reading this book I immediately bought all the rest of the series.


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