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Cat Scratch #1
Cat Scratch Fever
Tsia had dreamed all her life of becoming a guide, attuned to her world through a telepathic gate to another lifeform. At last, she took the guide virus that would mutate her body to create the gate she so desperately craved. But the lifeform her body took was the one lifeform forbidden--the felines, who had scouted the planet for the First Droppers and, in exchange, been promised their freedom forever from human domination. By laws of the Guide Guild and the First-Landing Pact, she could never call to the cats, never speak with them, never approach them. But then capture and imprisonment, torture and slavery took the place of an empty future. Suddenly Tsia's only hope lay with her gate--and once she had touched the cats, there would be no turning back...
376 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
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January 5, 2016I don't know how to rate this book. Seriously, I don't.
It was awsome.
It was horrible.
It was one of the best books I've ever read.
It may have been the worst book I've ever read.
I read the blurb at a train station, once, while travelling somewhere, and did not buy the book then. The blurb text haunted me and I dreamed up all kinds of things the book might be about. It was more than a decade later that I actually held the book in my hands.
I read it in one session and it left me feeling icy cold and shivering with a kind of terror I don't think the author necessarily intended. I love dystopias, but this is the one in which too many aspects rang true at some level. Too close to developments I could see, too easy for me to imagine that yes, this is what people would do, given a chance. For as long as I can remember, this is the only book I ever read that gave me nightmares. I love it, I hate it, and I haven't been able to make myself start on the second book of the series yet...
It was awsome.
It was horrible.
It was one of the best books I've ever read.
It may have been the worst book I've ever read.
I read the blurb at a train station, once, while travelling somewhere, and did not buy the book then. The blurb text haunted me and I dreamed up all kinds of things the book might be about. It was more than a decade later that I actually held the book in my hands.
I read it in one session and it left me feeling icy cold and shivering with a kind of terror I don't think the author necessarily intended. I love dystopias, but this is the one in which too many aspects rang true at some level. Too close to developments I could see, too easy for me to imagine that yes, this is what people would do, given a chance. For as long as I can remember, this is the only book I ever read that gave me nightmares. I love it, I hate it, and I haven't been able to make myself start on the second book of the series yet...
could-not-finish
March 6, 2019I can't read anymore of this book! It's stubborn woman, uncaring man, torture, torture, torture, mind games - at page 85 I couldn't take it anymore. Guess which book is being donated?
May 16, 2019
Cat Scratch Fever by Tara K. Harper
I was intrigued by this one, but someone else mentioned that it was one of Ms. Harper's darker novels. Close to the same time that she published this there were many more authors digging into what might be the darker side of things . Susan R Matthews was soon beginning her series of books with An Exchange of Hostages and Valerie J. Freireich had her Becoming Human and Testament. There are many more. I'm not averse to dark so I waited for the book to arrive since it has not yet been converted to Kindle friendly. I wasn't disappointed, in fact, though this takes a reader from their comfort zone this is by far the best showcase of her talent as a writer, though my reading of her works is slightly limited.
This starts out as the simple story of Tsia, a biologist of a sorts, who wishes to join the Guide Guild. To do this she must be subjected to the 'Virus' which will help her mentally bond with other life forms on the planet Risthmus. Everyone is connected to a gate that is like a wi-fi connection inside their head to a network for communication and information. [It is much more because the adept can use it to lay what they call ghost-lines that will help hide their activities.] Tsia's gate is inactive because of a quirk with the virus. Also the virus has caused Tsia some bit of problem because her's has linked her to a forbidden life form the Cats on Risthmus who used to be used by the guild but are now under an edict that forbids contact and her virus has matched her with them making her Guide Guild abilities useless. But Guides also dance the fires and Tsia can still do that and that is going to be a problem for her quickly.
A group working for the Artist Guild are out looking for someone just like her to pluck up and kidnap to press into slavery for the Artist Guild.[There is a rather complicated plot about using the firedance skill in an artists artwork.] This is where the book goes dark and the reader starts getting a really close look at a complicated social structure on this planet. The Artist Guild make art that embeds the experiences of other's sensory experience into the art which sells very well and they have come to deal ruthlessly with the models until few volunteer to help them; so they have stooped to slavery where they use and abuse the subjects until they die. And because of Tsia's isolation from the gate these people who kidnap her are able to turn her into a non-person [Everyone assumes she's dead] so even if she escapes she can't legally use the gate. The artist who buys her is relentlessly sadistic and there will be scenes that will push many readers to the limit of their comfort zone. Some of these include children. Thankfully Tara Harper did not find it necessary to go into graphic detail. The point was to demonstrate how easily people can fall into slavery while the master uses others around them as bargaining chips and in this instance since they didn't want to mar Tsia physically that's how they meant to control her; by first threatening the slave responsible for indoctrinating her and then the children of other slaves, assuming that her own freedom would be less important to her than her compassion for the lives of the children. What I found the most insidious was the explanation given by Vashanna, the other slave, as to why Tsia should do as the Artist wants. Vashanna is convincing in that it is clear that that is what she believes and she's fully bought into the whole picture.[It has to be understood that the slaves can be tortured by a device(r-con) that leaves no marks and in the case of Vashanna her use has reached a point they didn't care about her looks so they also physically torture her.] Vashanna and Tsia seem to represent disparate sides to the slave equation.
The dark part of the story does dominate a large portion of the front of the novel, but the payoff comes when things turn around and Tsia and several others must struggle to survive the harsh desert that stand between them and freedom. This story has some epic world building and there is a second story happening that Tsia is a reluctant part of that involves prophesy that she doesn't believe in. Since this is part of a series it's likely that there may be more about this. But primarily we see the evolution of Tsia from someone blissfully unaware of the limitations she places upon her own life to make her a virtual slave; to someone aware and perhaps overly paranoid about where she might be compromising herself and her freedom and developing the resolve to never do so again. Tsia is a complex character who undergoes change but constantly remains complex.
This is a fantastic read in the SFF arena and though it has strong Fantasy elements it also has some interesting Cyberpunk notions that are more rooted in the use of the computer connection to be used in the real world.
Yes it's dark and if you are squeamish about bad things happening to children then you might want to tread carefully.
One last note, this bit about the artist guild using slavery to squeeze the best work out of the subject matter made me have a thought about writing and the author and how some of the most interesting novels are those where the artist[author] forces the characters into the worst situations that they could possible imagine and then somehow manage to continue to roll that into ever more conflict until they milk the character for everything they are worth with seemingly no compassion for those poor characters.
It's just a thought; but read Cat Scratch Fever and try to keep that image out of your head through the first portion of the novel.
J.L. Dobias
I was intrigued by this one, but someone else mentioned that it was one of Ms. Harper's darker novels. Close to the same time that she published this there were many more authors digging into what might be the darker side of things . Susan R Matthews was soon beginning her series of books with An Exchange of Hostages and Valerie J. Freireich had her Becoming Human and Testament. There are many more. I'm not averse to dark so I waited for the book to arrive since it has not yet been converted to Kindle friendly. I wasn't disappointed, in fact, though this takes a reader from their comfort zone this is by far the best showcase of her talent as a writer, though my reading of her works is slightly limited.
This starts out as the simple story of Tsia, a biologist of a sorts, who wishes to join the Guide Guild. To do this she must be subjected to the 'Virus' which will help her mentally bond with other life forms on the planet Risthmus. Everyone is connected to a gate that is like a wi-fi connection inside their head to a network for communication and information. [It is much more because the adept can use it to lay what they call ghost-lines that will help hide their activities.] Tsia's gate is inactive because of a quirk with the virus. Also the virus has caused Tsia some bit of problem because her's has linked her to a forbidden life form the Cats on Risthmus who used to be used by the guild but are now under an edict that forbids contact and her virus has matched her with them making her Guide Guild abilities useless. But Guides also dance the fires and Tsia can still do that and that is going to be a problem for her quickly.
A group working for the Artist Guild are out looking for someone just like her to pluck up and kidnap to press into slavery for the Artist Guild.[There is a rather complicated plot about using the firedance skill in an artists artwork.] This is where the book goes dark and the reader starts getting a really close look at a complicated social structure on this planet. The Artist Guild make art that embeds the experiences of other's sensory experience into the art which sells very well and they have come to deal ruthlessly with the models until few volunteer to help them; so they have stooped to slavery where they use and abuse the subjects until they die. And because of Tsia's isolation from the gate these people who kidnap her are able to turn her into a non-person [Everyone assumes she's dead] so even if she escapes she can't legally use the gate. The artist who buys her is relentlessly sadistic and there will be scenes that will push many readers to the limit of their comfort zone. Some of these include children. Thankfully Tara Harper did not find it necessary to go into graphic detail. The point was to demonstrate how easily people can fall into slavery while the master uses others around them as bargaining chips and in this instance since they didn't want to mar Tsia physically that's how they meant to control her; by first threatening the slave responsible for indoctrinating her and then the children of other slaves, assuming that her own freedom would be less important to her than her compassion for the lives of the children. What I found the most insidious was the explanation given by Vashanna, the other slave, as to why Tsia should do as the Artist wants. Vashanna is convincing in that it is clear that that is what she believes and she's fully bought into the whole picture.[It has to be understood that the slaves can be tortured by a device(r-con) that leaves no marks and in the case of Vashanna her use has reached a point they didn't care about her looks so they also physically torture her.] Vashanna and Tsia seem to represent disparate sides to the slave equation.
The dark part of the story does dominate a large portion of the front of the novel, but the payoff comes when things turn around and Tsia and several others must struggle to survive the harsh desert that stand between them and freedom. This story has some epic world building and there is a second story happening that Tsia is a reluctant part of that involves prophesy that she doesn't believe in. Since this is part of a series it's likely that there may be more about this. But primarily we see the evolution of Tsia from someone blissfully unaware of the limitations she places upon her own life to make her a virtual slave; to someone aware and perhaps overly paranoid about where she might be compromising herself and her freedom and developing the resolve to never do so again. Tsia is a complex character who undergoes change but constantly remains complex.
This is a fantastic read in the SFF arena and though it has strong Fantasy elements it also has some interesting Cyberpunk notions that are more rooted in the use of the computer connection to be used in the real world.
Yes it's dark and if you are squeamish about bad things happening to children then you might want to tread carefully.
One last note, this bit about the artist guild using slavery to squeeze the best work out of the subject matter made me have a thought about writing and the author and how some of the most interesting novels are those where the artist[author] forces the characters into the worst situations that they could possible imagine and then somehow manage to continue to roll that into ever more conflict until they milk the character for everything they are worth with seemingly no compassion for those poor characters.
It's just a thought; but read Cat Scratch Fever and try to keep that image out of your head through the first portion of the novel.
J.L. Dobias
January 7, 2019
This book was very boring. The first 2/3 of the book was just Tsia being tortured and being a slave, nothing really happened. The last 1/3 was more exciting but not what I was expecting in regards to her gate with the cats. There was hardly any cats in this book that Tsia actually interacted with. The sentence about cats skittering on her brain was used about every paragraph, that got really old really fast. I didn't particularly like any of the characters except Ramok. Tsia wasn't even that likable. I finished the book but I regret that I spent that much time reading this when there are so many other better books out there. There is a second book but I will not be reading it since this one was so boring. 2 out of 5 stars.
June 21, 2010
This one did not live up to my expectations.
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August 30, 2025I love the Wolfwalker books, although I haven't read them in years. And, I'm giving up on this 30 pages/two chapters in. So far, it's a lot of info dumping, and skimming the rest of the book and the reviews indicate there's a lot of torture and few cats. Not what I'm looking for at the moment.
July 26, 2019
If the title led you to expect some Piers Anthony-type wit, you would be mistaken.
There are some words she likes, which is not unusual among authors. Nor anyone else. However, by the time the book ended, I was ready for it to end. I'd heard enough of:
flexor
sweat
scent
thick
musk
ripple
flesh
chest
node
gate
There's a Thomas Covenant-style issue where toward the end the author hits some goal gradient and the over-adjective thing starts running rampant. The back ripples, the arms ripple, the scar on her face ripples... then I ate some fudge ripple ice cream, ripple-fired some missiles from my MiG, measured the ripple in the electrical current in my house, and listened to Ripples, by Genesis.
Some of the last statement might not be true.
Positives: good platform for future stories, the main character kept fighting no matter what and refused to give in, plenty of roguish mercenary types with good hearts, mixing of sci-fi and fantasy, unlike other worlds/platforms in the power and lawful evil of some of the trade guilds.
The "About the Author" section reminded me of the 1970's Saturday Night Live sketch about the suburban mom who is a nuclear physicist and commissioner of consumer affairs. In her spare time she does needlepoint, sculpts, takes riding lessons... I can't remember it well, but it was a kitchen sink of achievements and stress - all fueled by speed.
Taken together, I'm sure it's good for some, but it does not compel me to read any sequels.
There are some words she likes, which is not unusual among authors. Nor anyone else. However, by the time the book ended, I was ready for it to end. I'd heard enough of:
flexor
sweat
scent
thick
musk
ripple
flesh
chest
node
gate
There's a Thomas Covenant-style issue where toward the end the author hits some goal gradient and the over-adjective thing starts running rampant. The back ripples, the arms ripple, the scar on her face ripples... then I ate some fudge ripple ice cream, ripple-fired some missiles from my MiG, measured the ripple in the electrical current in my house, and listened to Ripples, by Genesis.
Some of the last statement might not be true.
Positives: good platform for future stories, the main character kept fighting no matter what and refused to give in, plenty of roguish mercenary types with good hearts, mixing of sci-fi and fantasy, unlike other worlds/platforms in the power and lawful evil of some of the trade guilds.
The "About the Author" section reminded me of the 1970's Saturday Night Live sketch about the suburban mom who is a nuclear physicist and commissioner of consumer affairs. In her spare time she does needlepoint, sculpts, takes riding lessons... I can't remember it well, but it was a kitchen sink of achievements and stress - all fueled by speed.
Taken together, I'm sure it's good for some, but it does not compel me to read any sequels.
August 24, 2009
I thought that the book was well-written, just like Tara K. Harper's other books. However, I had a difficult time with the first half of the book. There was too much torture for me in the first half of the book. If you manage to get to the second part of the book, you'll be rewarded for your efforts. The action picks up, and awesome new characters are introduced.
I have reread this book a few times, but I tend to only read the second half.
I have reread this book a few times, but I tend to only read the second half.
September 5, 2021
This book is deranged. The first singular chapter is some charming, intriguing retro sci-fi, and then the rest of the book from then on is all torture scenes. Lots and lots of brutal torture. Different captors, different methods, different mind games. That's what this book is about. I got halfway through. I wanted to know if there was something else on the other side, but it's just a slog.
August 19, 2013
This was well written, but the torture made my spine itch. Uncomfortable, so I didn't look for other books by this author. The plot and characters were interesting but some parts of the story were confusing.
September 19, 2023
I enjoy Tara K Harper's wolfwalker series, I just could not get into this one much to my disappointment.
September 30, 2023
About a third is torture and enslavement. There is a whole bunch of garbage. I read the sequel years and years ago and liked it, and had getting this on my list for a while. It was such a waste.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 15, 2023
I’ve read this book soooo many times!
It’s just such an interesting exploration of bonding between two species and a view of space faring peoples. I love it!
It’s just such an interesting exploration of bonding between two species and a view of space faring peoples. I love it!
March 23, 2025
Tsia had dreamed all her life of becoming a guide, attuned to her world through a telepathic gate to another lifeform. At last, she took the guide virus that would mutate her body to create the gate she so desperately craved. But the lifeform her body took was the one lifeform forbidden--the felines, who had scouted the planet for the First Droppers and, in exchange, been promised their freedom forever from human domination. By laws of the Guide Guild and the First-Landing Pact, she could never call to the cats, never speak with them, never approach them. But then capture and imprisonment, torture and slavery took the place of an empty future. Suddenly Tsia's only hope lay with her gate--and once she had touched the cats, there would be no turning back...
July 2, 2008
I read this because I remembered reading it when I was about 13. I remembered only the basic plot and wondered how good it was, so I got it from the library to see. It was okay. Nothing spectacular, but the second half of the book, at least, kelp me wanting to read on. The first part lags a lot and is just plain stressful. In fact, throughout the book the writing is overly descriptive. I found myself skimming for the meat of the information quite a bit. Another drawback was the way the futuristic technology was described. There were several places where I had no idea what was being said. Overall, though, it's an okay read.
June 12, 2011
I enjoyed this book, it was great to see how the character grew through all the different difficulities she went through. However some parts seemed a little drawn out and over done. This is my first time reading a book from this author and I'm certaintly considering picking up another from her. I found the world interesting that she created and very rich. Wouldn't have minded having a bit more for closing, but what's there works and I feel satified with the way things turned out.
May 25, 2012
I read this book awhile ago and I recall enjoying it.
Later I wanted to reread it but couldn't recall the title. Luckily I joined the What's The Name of That Book??? group and a lovely person was able to help me out. After at least 5 years of looking, that was excellent!
Now to track down a copy to reread!
Later I wanted to reread it but couldn't recall the title. Luckily I joined the What's The Name of That Book??? group and a lovely person was able to help me out. After at least 5 years of looking, that was excellent!
Now to track down a copy to reread!
March 21, 2009
This is a VERY good book. All of Tara K. Harper's books are very good.
May 15, 2017
So love this book!
Want to read
November 21, 2008TBR
April 18, 2014
I read this a long time ago. I think I liked it.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews