In this entertaining sequel to the SF adventure Rolo the Pet Earthling\u00a0(2023), 13-year-old Rolo escapes the planet Blorx (where \u201choomans\u201d are pets) and lands on Earth, accompanied by his brainy, one-eyed, multi-limbed companion Quiggles. Expecting to meet free \u201choomans,\u201d Rolo learns that felines now dominate the Earth. After being hauled to the vet for a rough tongue bath and vaccinations, he is taken before a judge who rules that, because he\u2019s beyond his \u201ccute years\u201d and too old to be adopted, he is to be locked up in the \u201cLitterpool Pound for Stray Hoomans.\u201d Rolo escapes, stows away on a sky-ship belonging to the elephantlike Madame Marvelli and her Fantastical Flying Circus, and is discovered by prickly 11-year-old human Ailey, who performs with the troupe. Ailey agrees to help him find the legendary home of Earthlings who went underground generations before. The book is a wild ride filled with humor and action, but Ness adds emotional depth with Rolo\u2019s inherent optimism, the pain behind Ailey\u2019s prickliness, and the reasons for Madam Marvelli\u2019s kindness and understanding (and bounty hunter Wicks\u2019 cruelty). Feline behavioral quirks are delightfully on display: Wicks (whose apelike minions\u2019 repartee is a hoot) is distracted by a laser pointer; a cat watches \u201cfunny hooman\u201d videos; a tabby baker blissfully kneads dough; Rolo\u2019s judge deliberately knocks a cup of pens off the bench; and a human catnip smuggler is sentenced to scoop litter boxes. There\u2019s a bit of shivery horror in the mix, too, as the author (in the voice of an unnamed feline narrator) explains that humans\u2019 rampant genetic tinkering in the 2100s led the now-sentient cats to rebel during the \u201cNight of the Billion Claws,\u201d reducing humanity by two thirds and ushering in the \u201cgreat Felion Empire.\u201d The epilogue includes an intriguing teaser for the next book in the series, involving Rolo\u2019s encounter with a pirate crew of outcast canine \u201choundrels.\u201d Komarenko\u2019s vivid, imaginatively conceived digital illustrations complement the action.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In this entertaining sequel to the SF adventure Rolo the Pet Earthling\u00a0(2023), 13-year-old Rolo escapes the planet Blorx (where \u201choomans\u201d are pets) and lands on Earth, accompanied by his brainy, one-eyed, multi-limbed companion Quiggles. Expecting to meet free \u201choomans,\u201d Rolo learns that felines now dominate the Earth. After being hauled to the vet for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}