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The Book of Night with Moon

(Feline Wizards #1)

Diane Duane (Goodreads Author),

Kathryn Parise (Designed by)

4.06 · Rating details · 2,077 ratings · 142 reviews

Rhiow seems a perfectly ordinary New York City cat. Or so her humans think -- but she is much more than she appears. With her partners Saash and Urruah, she collaborates with human wizards to protect the earth from dark forces and maintain the network of magical gateways that connect to different realities. But amid this amazing secret animal world lies a danger that threa ...more

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Mass Market Paperback, 464 pages

Published March 1999 by Warner Books Inc (first published 1997)

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· 2,077 ratings · 142 reviews

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Jul 11, 2009 A.K. rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, womans-work

Wizard cats that can see the forces of physics... I want to sit in a coffee shop just so someone will ask me what my book is about.

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Jul 28, 2011 Gwen added it

I love Duane's "Young Wizards", but had only heard of this companion book once. But regardless, knowing how successful Duane is in writing I had to snag this book when I saw it for sale at a used book store. Seriously, $3.50 is a steal. The entire cat culture described in this book is phenomenal; so detailed and yet also not entirely fiction. Yes, this is a fantasy novel, but everything is so plausible. If cat wizards did exist, they would behave exactly like this. And the word crafting! Duane h ...more

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Apr 20, 2016 ambyr rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: authorㅡfemale, protagonistㅡfemale, genreㅡfantasyㅡcontemporary, rereads, ageㅡya, ownㅡcurrently, i-am-exactly-the-right-audience, acquiredㅡbought-new

This is a difficult one to rate, because on the one hand there's uneven pacing, randomly dropped plot threads (view spoiler), and enough technobabble to fill a season of sci-fi TV.

And then on the other hand there are feline wizards, who are the best representation of what's going on inside a cat's head I've ever met in fiction and who I just want to ...more

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Jan 09, 2017 Jasmine added it

Shelves: warner-books, hodder-and-stoughton, aspect

I read l'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time at a similar time that I read Duane's So You Want to Be a Wizard, and they kinda blurred together in my memory. Having now watched the new movie last night, and read this book today, I begin to see why. Both books/series have a very similar focus: on the necessity of responding to hatred and fear with love, with mercy, with refusing to be ground down by despair, not because it is easy, but because it is the only thing that keeps life worth living. And both book I read l'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time at a similar time that I read Duane's So You Want to Be a Wizard, and they kinda blurred together in my memory. Having now watched the new movie last night, and read this book today, I begin to see why. Both books/series have a very similar focus: on the necessity of responding to hatred and fear with love, with mercy, with refusing to be ground down by despair, not because it is easy, but because it is the only thing that keeps life worth living. And both books have a similar tendency towards dramatic moments with people shouting very emotionally in very large and deadly rooms. (Not super conducive to being filmed.) But I was always more interested in Duane's world, and in this book I finally put my finger on why.

In this world it is well known that you may not survive your confrontation with the forces of destruction (the Lone Power in this world, It in L'Engle's). I have always been aware that not everybody makes it home (family history of military service), and so with books that purport to deal with the absolute "is it worth getting up tomorrow" questions, but don't acknowledge that some people don't get to see what they work towards, those books could approach feeling accurate on a baseline level, but can never feel absolutely true. But here in this universe we know that part of the associated cost of standing against entropy, destruction, death, cruelty, is that some of us don't come home. We all know going in that some of us will die in pain and never know if our sacrifices did anything to help. And we still make the choice to go to the fight, to stare down despair, to do our best, because we have looked at the alternative and this is better/best/the only thing. So. This is a thing Bujold does too in the Chalion books, which I have not been able to tell people about because saying "a faithful servant of god died under torture and it healed something in me" does not sound like a sane thing to say. But yeah, a book that looks well into the dark and still comes out of it saying "we've got to be kind" is affirming at the soul level. Possibly because I don't read alluded to stuff very well, but I totally missed if l'engle covers the horrible cost of continuing to love? But I got it in Duane's work. So I glommed onto it more.

ALSO, I glommed onto Duane's work because there are semi-sentient trains, and dinosaurs attacking an opera, and excellent cat-chess played by posing, and tips on stealing pastrami. ...more

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Jan 16, 2017 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: listened-to-ab

Being owned by cats, it's always a reassuring pleasure to know that you aren't alone in this feline-run world. Diane Duane writes about felines from such an informed perspective - the book is told from the lead feline's POV - it's clear that she loves cats and is loved by cats in her home life. Only a cat "owner" would know to say, "Y'know the tuna wasn't all that bad" in a feline's attempt at an apology and be able to wring tears from her audience. Being read to via Audible was also a pleasure ...more

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Jan 15, 2009 Talena rated it it was amazing

Shelves: scifi

Anyone who has cats will love this book. It is obvious the author has lived with and observed cats for a long time. She captures their attitude and social structure while weaving a story of magic and myth that is captivating. Even the small nuances of cat behavior become a part of their language. Her technical descriptions of the cats work add depth the story and I love how her characters interact with each other and with other species. I also found her references to mythology to be a refreshing ...more

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Jan 10, 2017 Robin Smith rated it really liked it

What an odd book, in an interesting way. The author elevates cats as a species to a position of power in the universe, although they operate outside the awareness of most humans. Add in the concept of wizards and magic, plus a few (million) dinosaurs, and the story gets complicated.

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May 30, 2011 Kevin Veale rated it liked it · review of another edition

I realise that this makes me very late to the table, but I hadn't read this book until just a few days ago. I enjoyed the Young Wizards books when I was a teenager, but somehow never ran into this one - though I had heard of it.

A friend heard about this grievous error and gave us a second-hand copy for Christmas, which was excellent.

I thought it was very cool. A tale of wizards, who happen to be cats, saving the world from the forces of entropy.

I think The Book of Night With Moon is aimed at mor ...more

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Nov 11, 2007 Christina rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, 2007, fantasy

This book has been standing on my shelf for 8 years before I got around to reading it...! I love the idea of the book - cats as wizards, working together with human wizards, trying to save humankind, from heat disaster but more urgently from about a billion dinosaurs trying to enter this world and eat us all! My favourite part in the book is when Pavarotti gets eaten by a dinosaur - how many other book does that happen in???
I liked the whole parallel universe ideas, where wizards are able to tra ...more

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Mar 27, 2017 Kathleen rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, read-in-2017, fantasy

Throughout the Young Wizards books we hear about cat wizards. They are the only ones with the correct sort of vision to work the world gates at Grand Central Station. They have their own culture and their own ideas about wizardry and humanity. Obviously a book about that culture is enticing, but in execution, I found it hard to immerse myself in the story. Too much of this book is about explaining that culture. Words are repeated in the cat language. Puns in the cat language are explained after ...more

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Aug 06, 2016 Nicole rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: magic, fantasy

This is an amusing book, but it also has more depth to it than you'd expect from a book about cat wizards. It discusses silly things like how cats can seem to appear out of thin air, but also more serious things like entropy and choice and why even fights that seem hopeless are worth fighting.

That is actually what I like the most about this whole greater world... the Young Wizards series as well as the Feline Wizards series. It is a set of fun stories that tell deeper truths; YA novels that cont ...more

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May 03, 2011 Valerie added it

I've never been the sort to believe that any vertebrate acts on 'instinct'. Frankly, I've had doubts about quite a few INvertebrates, as well. The characters of the cats in this book are well developed; subtle and complex.

I liked the scenes in the NYPL, which don't get mentioned much in reviews. I also liked the descriptions of cat politics/games. I liked the descriptions of the worldgates, which are often rather sketchily defined in other books in this series. And, since I hate opera, I have to ...more

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Jun 13, 2020 Kathleen rated it really liked it

I had forgotten how affecting this series can be! The long chapters made this one kind of a slog. I liked the cats' view of New York and its inhabitants. The dinosaurs were an unexpected bonus! ...more

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Nov 23, 2012 Claudia rated it really liked it

just re-read this after finding it in B's room...amazing what books rotate into his room and off the main bookshelves...I was looking for a Terry Pratchett book and that is always a good place to find them. After reading this book again I recognize how I miss having cats in the house - yes, this book is better if you have lived with cats. And you'll never look at them the same way again. Not my favorite Diane Duane, but still a good read - and a continuation of the Young Wizards trilogy although ...more

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Sep 23, 2016 Lia Marcoux rated it it was ok

This was...a lot of book. Really, so much book. The same extremely devout religious themes appear in this book as in the "So You Want to Be a Wizard" series I read growing up; but at a grander scale, because this was nearly 400 pages of culty superscience cats fighting dinosaurs, delivered completely sincerely. And also the dinosaurs are in a cult, too, and some of them are...magic clones?...and some of those are wizards, and cats are wizards, and people are pets, and it's weird. And weirdest of ...more

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May 14, 2018 Jessica rated it liked it

Shelves: author-woman, genre-fantasy

Cat wizards! Physics magic! Traversing NYC on invisible stairs high above the streets! Hidden populations of dinosaurs, gates to other worlds, epic battles between ancient powers... Wonderful premise and world-building; from now on I'm utterly convinced that many cats, with their inexplicable behaviors, are secretly wizards.

The book unfortunately had trouble keeping momentum at any point. About 60% of the way through it got exciting and then the climax was heart-stopping wonderful, but there wer ...more

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Feb 27, 2012 Beth rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, urban-fantasy

If you thought DD didn't pull her punches for YA, this will definitely be a bit of a shock. The worldbuilding is exquisite, and Rhiow is a great introduction to cat wizardry. (And the puns.)
...more

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Mar 06, 2015 Emily rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya-ideal-library, ya-fiction, sci-fi-fantasy

This book is the SHIT. I don't even LIKE cats and this book is, still, the SHIT. ...more

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Apr 29, 2016 Hillary rated it it was amazing

Shelves: gender-and-sexuality

Really interesting view of the other wizard species and how they interact with the Powers. Also, as a side note, a very interesting discussion of gender and performative gender.

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Jun 11, 2017 Cheyenne rated it liked it

This was an interesting addition to the universe of my beloved childhood read So You Want to Be a Wizard. This time, the wizards in question are cats, which draws me to the book all the more, being the cat fanatic I am.

I thought that the cat culture was fairly well-designed in the book, and I could tell the author had done her research. It's true that, linguistically, cats only really meow when they're trying to communicate with humans and that they usually speak in body language and softer tri This was an interesting addition to the universe of my beloved childhood read So You Want to Be a Wizard. This time, the wizards in question are cats, which draws me to the book all the more, being the cat fanatic I am.

I thought that the cat culture was fairly well-designed in the book, and I could tell the author had done her research. It's true that, linguistically, cats only really meow when they're trying to communicate with humans and that they usually speak in body language and softer trills with each other. The game that the cats play with each other also felt very realistic in terms of how cats interact. I did sometimes find the integration of the cats' language into the text to be somewhat annoying, though. I was fine with the fact that certain words that would have no English equivalent, such as the cats' names and cat-only concepts, would be written in the cat language, but since the majority of what the cats were saying was translated into English for the reader, I didn't understand why the author felt the need to keep so many seemingly random words in the cat language instead. It only really made them harder to read.

I had a few other complaints with the design of the story, as well. For one, I found the story to be almost too steeped in lore. It explored the lore of cat wizards and how it's similar and different to that of human wizards, but every character in the lore had multiple names to refer to them and it was difficult keeping everybody straight, especially when there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to why certain names were used at certain times. Additionally, a lot of what the cats worked with magic-wise was very technical and could be difficult for me to picture well.

Finally, the ending of the story felt a little sloppy to me. The main character had in some way obtained a spell during her Ordeal which she kept in the back of her mind but didn't understand at all, and suddenly, during the climax of the story, she understood it and was able to use it against their enemy. The spell wasn't touched upon a great deal throughout the book before that, however; it was mentioned a little, but I was frequently unclear of why. I also kind of wanted the MC to be able to use the spell due to some personal growth she went through, when in the book she could use it because of things the enemy had done. There was also kind of a throwaway solution to one of the problems of the book; when things are first starting to wind up toward the climax, a character goes missing. The mission leading to the climax was originally organized to find out what happened to him. However, the whole entire climax happens without ever finding him, and when it's all over, he's just back on his own. I found that sort of disappointing.

Despite all these things, however, I did find it a good read and would recommend it to fans of not-too-serious fantasy and science fiction. ...more

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Oct 24, 2017 Helen Drake rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book is one of the most unusual I have read. The story is told from the point of view of a wizard cat, complete with its own language. It took me a while to get used to the specific terms used throughout the book, which kept me from reading it more quickly. It also took me a while to get involved with the story.

It’s a story of how the wizards, both cats, humans and other species, are working to delay the earth’s destruction, from possibly global warning. Teams of wizards working together h This book is one of the most unusual I have read. The story is told from the point of view of a wizard cat, complete with its own language. It took me a while to get used to the specific terms used throughout the book, which kept me from reading it more quickly. It also took me a while to get involved with the story.

It’s a story of how the wizards, both cats, humans and other species, are working to delay the earth’s destruction, from possibly global warning. Teams of wizards working together have specific jobs to do. The Team of three cats, which are the central characters of this book, main job is keeping gateways around Grand Central Station in New York City in good repair. These gateways are used by wizards in traveling both on and off the planet and to different times.

The gateways also seem like metaphors for what is happening on earth. In this book there are almost always problems with the gateways, which requires the team to have to go to a world beneath the visible world to find the root cause of the problem and repair it. Nobody likes going there as it can be very dangerous. The cat wizards that go down there are armed with multiple spells to help protect them.

This is basically a story about the fight between good and evil and making the right choice when tempted by the Lone Power to choose a life which gives a species more power over others. These choices often lead to chaos and death of a species ie the dinosaurs as the language of the choice is tricky. It also sends the team of cats down into extreme danger to try to save the world where the battle for the planet and other worlds is fought.

The relationship between cats and their humans is also an important one. Each cat including, the new abandoned kitten that the team saves and becomes the 4th member of the team, have their own unique relationships with humans.

Wizard cats and other wizards have specific abilities which enable them to do their jobs. These abilities add another layer of interest to the story as does the relationship between the cat wizards and their human advisors. The importance of a cat’s nine lives is a factor. Some cats can also earn a 10th life which almost reminds me of angels.

It is an enjoyable story that I strongly recommend to those that enjoy wizards and cats.
...more

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Dec 15, 2019 Bedrooped Bookworms rated it it was amazing

To her humans, Rhiow is like any other cat. But to the world of wizards, she has an important role keeping the world gates in Grand Central Station running. Her and her partners get dropped a new kitten to take care of/guide through his ordeal in the midst of crisis after crisis with the gates. Can they solve the problems and keep their new kitten - and themselves - from losing another life?

First of all, if you haven't read the Young Wizards series, you have to. If you like YA sci fi/fantasy ...more

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Sep 17, 2019 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: j-ya, birth-of-a-reader

Oh my. I am way out of my league here in this fantasy realm of cat wizards who rule the human world, well, the universe actually. Unseen and unacknowledged by any but a handful of human wizards they calmly go about the business of keeping the universe afloat and fighting evil. Grand Central Station in NYC and an inside out city in the Downside beneath it is the main setting for this one. Quantum Mechanics, magic, entropy, catenary gate matrices, millions of cannibalistic dinosaurs, and some fant ...more

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Mar 23, 2020 Catherine Thompson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

Every species in the universes has its wizards. Human, alien, cetaceans... felines.

Rhiow is a wizard. She and her team, Saash and Urruah, help keep the worldgates (magical portals) in Grand Central station in New York City in working order. They work alongside human wizards to keep things humming along.

But something has started to interfere with the gates... something, or someone. Rhiow and her team, joined by Arhu, a youngster on Ordeal, must go Downside in order to get at the root of the probl ...more

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Jan 15, 2018 Susan rated it it was amazing

Another re-read. This is related to the Young Wizards series, but concerns the cats who maintain the world gates at Grand Central Station. When a major problem arises, the team of four must go "downside" to where the root of the gates is located. However, that area is filled with dinosaurs who are inimical to all other life - the Lone Power again, of course. The human wizards from the Young Wizards series make brief appearances, but the main characters are the four cats - three of whom have been ...more

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Apr 14, 2019 BW rated it liked it · review of another edition

Not bad, but not my favorite of Duane's works.

This book follows Duane's typical style, and it ties in well with the rest of her Young Wizards world. The downside is that there is a lot of the cat's language (mostly vowels), which can make it really hard to get through. Trying to remember the differences between auuh (stray), auw (energy), houff (dog), and Rhiow (the main character) is enough to give any ehhif a headache. It was enough that I actually put this book aside for a couple of weeks to ...more

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Aug 18, 2017 Joy rated it liked it

Shelves: women-authors

This book was so weird and I don't regret reading it at all, but parts of it were a slog and other parts were amazing. It is super uneven.

It goes full-on Watership Down with its own world of cat culture and language. And then adds magic on top of that. And dinosaurs. And cat mythology??

There is just so much going on with this book. There are things that I thought were foreshadowing, that are never brought up again. There is a lot of cat culture explained just for the heck of it. There are star ...more

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Sep 23, 2018 Monique rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: women-authors, urban-fantasy

This book, while set in the Young Wizards universe, and using the same principles, mythological structure, and type of magic generally, though all adapted for cat use... manages to come off entirely differently in execution and tone. I mean this in the fondest and most excellent of ways, because following different characters of a different species even, it should feel different. Duane manages to ground it in familiarity, while also introducing a wide swath of variation that makes this book feel ...more

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May 20, 2017 Alicia rated it it was amazing

Memorable and unexpected. Way deeper than one might expect from the main characters being cats. Literally Epic. And the language involved in the mythology and related devotions *feels* right. Be warned, this is not a quick read - if you are a skimmer-for-plot like I am, you will need to slow down and pay attention, like with Pratchett.

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Feb 05, 2018 Janet rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this intricate story about a team of cat wizards. Sometimes I felt that some details of the magic were beyond my comprehension but I appreciated the complexity of the magic in this world. Diane Duane does a great job of writing the feline wizards and I look forward to reading more of their adventures.

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About Diane Duane

Diane Duane

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Diane Duane has been a writer of science fiction, fantasy, TV and film for more than forty years.

Besides the 1980's creation of the Young Wizards fantasy series for which she's best known, the "Middle Kingdoms" epic fantasy series, and numerous stand-alone fantasy or science fiction novels, her career has included extensive work in the Star Trek TM universe, and many scripts for live-action and an ...more

Other books in the series

Feline Wizards (3 books)

Books by Diane Duane

So You Want to Be a Wizard (Young Wizards #1)

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Quotes from The Book of Night...

“Sometimes we do not hear the Whisperer even at her loudest because she speaks in our own voice, the one we most often discount.” — 18 likes

“A legend can just as well be founded in the future as in the past."
"It's called a 'prophecy,'" Urruah said. "You may have heard of the concept.” — 13 likes

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