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Knot Garden #1
The Knot Garden
A compelling tale of entwined fates and obsessive love in the bestselling tradition of Barbara Erskine.When Anna Prescott, retreating from a doomed love affair and a high-pressure career, discovers the idyllic hamlet of Ashmore it appears to offer the perfect escape. With its pretty cottages, picturesque canal and intriguing inhabitants — Stella Herringe, mysterious lady of the manor, feisty Alice at the Green Man, and handsome, enigmatic John Dawe — it seems the ideal place for a new life.When Anna finds herself adopted by two tiny kittens, Pond Cottage finally starts to feel like home. But dangers lurk beneath Ashmore’s apparently tranquil surface, and Anna’s arrival sets in motion a heady, nightmarish chain of events.
495 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Gabriel King
18 books30 followersA pseudonym used by authors M John Harrison and Jane Johnson
Series:
* Tag, the Cat
* Knot Garden
Series:
* Tag, the Cat
* Knot Garden
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 19, 2015
The wild roads of Gabriel King's The Wild Road and The Golden Cat exist in this world as well, but there is a different cast of characters and a new setting. There isn't a Majicou, no reference to Tag; and while a fox fitting Loves A Dustbin's description pops up, he doesn't introduce himself as such and only plays a small role. Here, dreamcatchers (cats who chase and eat dreams) protect the wild roads from errant dreams. In this version of England, human dreams break through the barriers to the wild roads and cause damage by traveling through spaces that nothing human has a right to invade. A few special cats, called dreamcatchers, chase these dreams (golden orbs of light with substance of sorts) and swallow them. If dreams aren't consumed, the nightmarish aspects (beasts, demons, vicious animals) will become real and inhabit the wild roads and do damage to them that may cause them to act strangely or shut down altogether.
Dreamcatchers seem to take the Majicou's place in protecting the wild roads in this novel, and from a threat that wasn't even present in The Wild Road or The Golden Cat; all that connects the The Wild Road to The Knot Garden are the wild roads themselves. It's not as well crafted as The Wild Road, and I'm unsure why this series was pursued from an angle never presented in the original books, which seemed for the best, really.
"There are so many idiots around, and they all seem to want to talk to me."
Dreamcatchers seem to take the Majicou's place in protecting the wild roads in this novel, and from a threat that wasn't even present in The Wild Road or The Golden Cat; all that connects the The Wild Road to The Knot Garden are the wild roads themselves. It's not as well crafted as The Wild Road, and I'm unsure why this series was pursued from an angle never presented in the original books, which seemed for the best, really.
"There are so many idiots around, and they all seem to want to talk to me."
October 13, 2015
I liked the first few chapters, where the cats where introduced: they were cute, and held the promise of a slowly developing but interesting tale. I sort of liked the last chapters, because things were finally happening. I didn't really like the chapters in between.
I expected this book to be some sort of sequel, albeit with a different cast and probably different themes, to The Wild Road and The Golden Cat. It isn't. It's not even set in the same universe, because although there are wild roads, they behave completely different from those in the first books apart from a few superficial similarities. Sometimes I felt like The Knot Garden was written by a different person, who hadn't read the other books and only received a handful of notes to work from. At first this was terribly confusing, but once I accepted it, I was merely disappointed by this new incarnation of the wild roads. They felt like just another place you can walk around in, instead of the force of nature they used to be.
The Knot Garden is actually two books with distinctly different writing styles: the story of human Anna, and the story of Orlando the cat. The stories never really connect. Even at the end, it feels like they meet merely by accident. Orlando's parts are written in the first person, supposedly looking back from much later, which I didn't like at all; the more immediate third person style from Anna's parts (and the Tag books) works much better in my opinion.
Most importantly though, Gabriel King seems to know two ways of conveying information: the subtle hint, which is good but only if followed by less subtle hints, and the info dump. The result is a book that seems interesting yet slow at first, and then loses all suspense when things are explained. Oh, and there were human antagonists doing terrible things to cats in laboratories, again. It's getting a bit old.
I could go on (about the cartoony feel of some elements that didn't seem to fit the rest of the setting, which by the way was something I encountered in The Golden Cat as well, or about Orlando's implausible and unexplained choice for Lydia rather than Millie), but I've spent enough time on this. I'm giving it two stars, because I must have liked something about it if I finished it.
I expected this book to be some sort of sequel, albeit with a different cast and probably different themes, to The Wild Road and The Golden Cat. It isn't. It's not even set in the same universe, because although there are wild roads, they behave completely different from those in the first books apart from a few superficial similarities. Sometimes I felt like The Knot Garden was written by a different person, who hadn't read the other books and only received a handful of notes to work from. At first this was terribly confusing, but once I accepted it, I was merely disappointed by this new incarnation of the wild roads. They felt like just another place you can walk around in, instead of the force of nature they used to be.
The Knot Garden is actually two books with distinctly different writing styles: the story of human Anna, and the story of Orlando the cat. The stories never really connect. Even at the end, it feels like they meet merely by accident. Orlando's parts are written in the first person, supposedly looking back from much later, which I didn't like at all; the more immediate third person style from Anna's parts (and the Tag books) works much better in my opinion.
Most importantly though, Gabriel King seems to know two ways of conveying information: the subtle hint, which is good but only if followed by less subtle hints, and the info dump. The result is a book that seems interesting yet slow at first, and then loses all suspense when things are explained. Oh, and there were human antagonists doing terrible things to cats in laboratories, again. It's getting a bit old.
I could go on (about the cartoony feel of some elements that didn't seem to fit the rest of the setting, which by the way was something I encountered in The Golden Cat as well, or about Orlando's implausible and unexplained choice for Lydia rather than Millie), but I've spent enough time on this. I'm giving it two stars, because I must have liked something about it if I finished it.
February 25, 2021
As a longterm fan of The Wild Road and its direct sequel The Golden Cat, I am greatly disappointed in this book.
Personally, I don't believe these newer books should be marketed as sequels to the original two. The new story introduced in The Knot Garden differs significantly in style, characterization and tone, and the basic world-building dynamics do not seem to fit together across books. Although wild roads exist in both, the way they behave and are maintained feels more like a variation on a theme than an addition to the world as delineated by the authors of the original books.
That being said, I wanted to love the concept of the dreamcatcher cats as wardens of the wild roads, but this idea was underdeveloped, sometimes in troubling and irresponsible ways. I was particularly bothered by the inherent sexism in that women's dreams are more harmful to the wild roads than men's (this was even stated outright by a character late in the book!). When outdated sexism is innate to the way your fantasy world functions, it's a problem.
From a story standpoint, this book didn't seem to know whether it wanted to be a typical "burnt out city girl meets a dark-haired stranger in the country" type of book or a mystery thriller. Much of the book was spent on inconsequential details of the characters' lives instead of engaging moments that could have rounded out the main plot in a more interesting fashion.
Rather than reading repetitive arguments between adult characters unable to communicate beyond running away angrily from one another, I would have liked to see some actual character development from any of the characters. They all left me feeling sadly disengaged. This was a particularly hard blow since excellent characterization is part of what made the original Wild Road a masterpiece.
Overall, The Knot Garden plods along with a subpar story and underdeveloped characters to a questionable and unsatisfying ending. For those looking for the mastery of language, amazing characterization and atmospheric fantasy storytelling of The Wild Road, you will definitely not find that here.
Personally, I don't believe these newer books should be marketed as sequels to the original two. The new story introduced in The Knot Garden differs significantly in style, characterization and tone, and the basic world-building dynamics do not seem to fit together across books. Although wild roads exist in both, the way they behave and are maintained feels more like a variation on a theme than an addition to the world as delineated by the authors of the original books.
That being said, I wanted to love the concept of the dreamcatcher cats as wardens of the wild roads, but this idea was underdeveloped, sometimes in troubling and irresponsible ways. I was particularly bothered by the inherent sexism in that women's dreams are more harmful to the wild roads than men's (this was even stated outright by a character late in the book!). When outdated sexism is innate to the way your fantasy world functions, it's a problem.
From a story standpoint, this book didn't seem to know whether it wanted to be a typical "burnt out city girl meets a dark-haired stranger in the country" type of book or a mystery thriller. Much of the book was spent on inconsequential details of the characters' lives instead of engaging moments that could have rounded out the main plot in a more interesting fashion.
Rather than reading repetitive arguments between adult characters unable to communicate beyond running away angrily from one another, I would have liked to see some actual character development from any of the characters. They all left me feeling sadly disengaged. This was a particularly hard blow since excellent characterization is part of what made the original Wild Road a masterpiece.
Overall, The Knot Garden plods along with a subpar story and underdeveloped characters to a questionable and unsatisfying ending. For those looking for the mastery of language, amazing characterization and atmospheric fantasy storytelling of The Wild Road, you will definitely not find that here.
December 4, 2022
This book is a standalone story instead of a sequel to the first two books.
However, it works well because it's a very uinque story that takes thing in a completly different direction, with diverse characters and very intriguing mystery.
This book also focusing a lot more on the human characters, alteranting between the perspectives of the cats and the humans. I think this adds depth to the story, although sometimes of the behavior of the humans can be overdramatic, in my opinion.
Overall, I found this to be quite an exciting mystery and adventure as good as the first book.
However, it works well because it's a very uinque story that takes thing in a completly different direction, with diverse characters and very intriguing mystery.
This book also focusing a lot more on the human characters, alteranting between the perspectives of the cats and the humans. I think this adds depth to the story, although sometimes of the behavior of the humans can be overdramatic, in my opinion.
Overall, I found this to be quite an exciting mystery and adventure as good as the first book.
May 28, 2025
The cover should have cats on it. Half the book is written from the perspective of a cat. Beware! I thought those parts were trying too hard to be poetic and engaging at the same time, resulting in boring and pretentious. I just really couldn't care less about cats being horny, eating, licking themselves etc. The human woman is unbelievable and clearly written by a man "she folded her arms under her breasts" (where else would she fold them?) and changing her mind every five minutes, running this way and that in the rain in the middle of the night. The ending where there turns out to be a space behind a wall that somehow crumbles as soon as they touch in with their bare hands is stupid, and the evil lady using her own hair to ty a guy up even more stupid.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 14, 2018
Bit different... Okay, very different. Fantasy's not my usual thing so it took a little bit of getting into, but once I was there, I definitely enjoyed this.
My only criticisms were; the perhaps too in-depth descriptions of houses, scenes etc., Anna's continual running off from conversations with John, and the fairly glossed-over death of a supporting character the very moment she started to come into her own.
My only criticisms were; the perhaps too in-depth descriptions of houses, scenes etc., Anna's continual running off from conversations with John, and the fairly glossed-over death of a supporting character the very moment she started to come into her own.
December 4, 2021
for some reason i read this book thinking it was a sequel to the wild road and golden cat, the Tag books. it isn’t, but it’s set in the same universe with both cat and human characters. we see both their points of view. some wild and unexpected twists in this. this author writes so lyrically, i can’t believe these books aren’t more well known.
August 21, 2021
Absolutely loved this book. Enjoyed the supernatural/fantasy edge to it. Will most definitely be reading more of Gabriel King.
August 17, 2023
I thought it would be about Tag and the gang, since it's marketed as a sequel. It's not. None of the cats we knew and loved are there.
May 2, 2013
My Mum passed this on to me to read and BookCross and I'm glad she did. So unusual and right up my street.
When Anna moves to the country, she soon finds herself sharing her cottage with kittens Vita and Orlando, and their adoptive mother. Just as their arrival is a bit strange, so events around the village start going the same way. She finds herself falling for John Dawe, but is equally repelled by his cousin, Stella, beautiful and confident cosmetic tycoon.
Meanwhile, Orlando is growing up and is realising that his life isn't always going to be tinned food and warm beds. Under the tuition of Hawkweed, his gnarled grandfather, he becomes a Dreamcatcher, patrolling the Wild Roads to protect them from the damage caused by human nightmares. But when cats start disappearing and strange storms blow across an increasingly fractious village, both Anna and Orlando need to face a few truths to bring about a happy ending.
I just loved the way this went back and forth between Anna's and Orlando's narritive. The cat mythology was lovely and a great way to look at the world, although I hope my new kittens don't happen to be Dreamcatchers!! I read this over a weekend and can't wait to track down the sequel, as just enough is hinted at the end of this one to make it a must read.
When Anna moves to the country, she soon finds herself sharing her cottage with kittens Vita and Orlando, and their adoptive mother. Just as their arrival is a bit strange, so events around the village start going the same way. She finds herself falling for John Dawe, but is equally repelled by his cousin, Stella, beautiful and confident cosmetic tycoon.
Meanwhile, Orlando is growing up and is realising that his life isn't always going to be tinned food and warm beds. Under the tuition of Hawkweed, his gnarled grandfather, he becomes a Dreamcatcher, patrolling the Wild Roads to protect them from the damage caused by human nightmares. But when cats start disappearing and strange storms blow across an increasingly fractious village, both Anna and Orlando need to face a few truths to bring about a happy ending.
I just loved the way this went back and forth between Anna's and Orlando's narritive. The cat mythology was lovely and a great way to look at the world, although I hope my new kittens don't happen to be Dreamcatchers!! I read this over a weekend and can't wait to track down the sequel, as just enough is hinted at the end of this one to make it a must read.
November 6, 2013
I picked up this book absolutely by chance. My favorite second hand book store in Dubai had a pack of three books at a price I could not resist. And this book was a part of the set.
This was my first foray into surreal fantasy and I enjoyed it. Macabre in bits, fantasy mixed with fast paced narration. The narrator kept changing and this added in keeping the interest alive. I enjoyed this book.
This was my first foray into surreal fantasy and I enjoyed it. Macabre in bits, fantasy mixed with fast paced narration. The narrator kept changing and this added in keeping the interest alive. I enjoyed this book.
March 20, 2018
Good
To be honest, it took me awhile to understand how this book for into the series. Once the dreamcatcher and his role in the wild roads was clarified, I was able to get involved with the characters and enjoy the story. This one gave us something to think about.
To be honest, it took me awhile to understand how this book for into the series. Once the dreamcatcher and his role in the wild roads was clarified, I was able to get involved with the characters and enjoy the story. This one gave us something to think about.
March 21, 2013
a great thriller, really enjoyed reading this. gabriel king is a must for cat lovers everywhere!!
August 22, 2013
Overly long, very slow to develop.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews