Kingdom of the Cats

Phyllis Gotlieb first began writing science fiction with "A Judgement of Dragons": a book of four short novellas featuring the starfaring couple Khreng and Prandra, GalFed surveyors from the planet Ungruwarkh, who could best be described as large red telepathic cats. Their daughter Emerald and her lover Raanung dealt with an interstellar conspiracy in "Emperor, Swords, Pentacles." Now, in what the afterword describes as the last of the GalFed-commissioned chronicles of the Ungrukh, Emerald and Raanung's daughter Bren faces murder and terrorism in the most unlikely of places: Sol Three's Grand Canyon. A group of Ungrukh had agreed to come to Earth, where their mental abilities and physical structure could be studied by resident scientists, but while they were prepared for hostility they did not expect a massacre. There were only four survivors: Bren; her twin siblings Tugrik and Orenda; and a shy loner named Etrem whose panther-black pelt had made him an outcast among his tribe. While Emerald and Raanung continue to realize Khreng's dream of a unified Ungruwarkh, no longer split up into warring tribes and hereditary feuds, Bren and Etrem struggle to avenge the murder of their kin. With the help of a GalFed telepath and a Pueblo shaman, they are successful in finding the killer-but things become suddenly uncertain when Qumedni, the mischievous energy being that created the Ungrukh from Terran leopards and regards them as his own, decides to step in and lend a hand.Of Gotlieb's three Ungrukh novels, "A Judgement of Dragons" is my personal favorite; it's hard to watch the decline and death of favorite characters as time passes. That said, "The Kingdom of the Cats" is a wonderful book. Its scope is not as wide as some of Gotlieb's other science fiction, as the action takes place mainly on Earth and Ungruwarkh, but the characters are strong and textured and the universe in which they live is meticulously detailed. Gotlieb's aliens are believable as aliens and as characters; their worlds are so carefully written that the descriptions of their landscapes could have been drawn from experience. The mystery is less solid here than in "Emperor, Swords, Pentacles," but the Ungrukh's relationship with Qumedni has been building from "A Judgement of Dragons" and it's good to see it come to a resolution. Gotlieb also does an excellent job distinguishing the generations. For three books her protagonists have been male-female pairs of Ungrukh, but in manner, speech, and action Prandra and Khreng could never be mistaken for Emerald and Raanung or Bren and Etrem. Each duo has its own individual personalities, different interactions and different shadings of their relationships. Nothing is repetitious; everything is lovingly drawn. It's sad to watch the Ungrukh leave center stage-there are no Ungrukh protagonists in Gotlieb's later novels "Flesh and Gold" and "Violent Stars"-but if the story had to close, this is an excellent end