I absolutely adored Nilanjana Roy’s The Wildlings, so you can bet I gasp-squee’d with joy when I saw the ARC of its sequel and conclusion The Hundred Names of Darkness at a recent Penguin Random House Canada event.

Book table at the Penguin Random House Canada Blockbuster Books event

It’s a story about alley cats in a Delhi neighbourhood called Nizamuddin. A house cat Mara serves as their Sender, which means she can use her whiskers to travel across great distances and communicate with other cats without ever leaving her house. In Wildlings, Mara’s powers prove instrumental in the Nizamuddin cats’ battle against a group of feral cats threatening to take over their territory.

Hundred Names of Darkness takes us deeper into Mara’s psyche. Human habitation threatens the neighbourhood hunting grounds, and Nizamuddin cats are struggling to find enough food to survive. The clan faces the very real possibility that they may need to find a new neighbourhood to call home. Traditionally, such big change is guided by the clan’s Sender, but all too aware of how odd her clan views her status as an indoor cat, Mara keeps herself apart. While Senders in other cities patrol their streets at night, ensuring the well being of their clans, Mara remains terrified of venturing beyond her home, and knows very little of the struggles her clan faces.

A parallel storyline involves a golf course a few neighbourhoods away, where cats, peacocks, bandicoots, rats and other wildlife live together in relative harmony, with plenty of hunting to be found. When a rogue bandicoot amasses an army to rise up in revolt and there aren’t enough cats and peacocks to defend the space, the delicate balance between the species is threatened, and the animals face the risk of humans taking the territory back away from them.

The title of the novel comes from a feline myth recounted midway through the book, about a powerful cat who travelled the world and, feeling empty, decided to seek out the cat who lives on the other side of the night. A battle with darkness itself ensues, and provides a beautiful metaphor for what it is Mara has to do in order to conquer her fear.

Original cover (Aleph Book, 2013)

New cover (Penguin Random House Canada, 2016)

If I loved The Wildlings, I adored Hundred Names. What a thrilling and beautifully written conclusion to the Nizamuddin cats’ tale! It’s fantastic to see Mara grow up, from a frightened kitten who broadcasts her thoughts to random neighbourhoods, to an adult cat who embraces her destiny and explores the full extent of her powers. I also loved seeing old favourites again, the warrior queen Beraal now a doting mother, the trouble-making Southpaw now a full fledged hunter with a strong sense of duty to his clan, and warriors Katar and Hulo now aged and while still strong, definitely weatherbeaten. We also meet Hatch, the child of Wildlings’ Tooth and Claw and a cheel afraid to fly. His muttered “whatever”s bely the depth of his fear, and I loved seeing Mara draw from her own experiences to help him face his fears.

Mara’s Bigfeet play a somewhat more visible role in this story, and there are a lot more references to Indian food and to other Delhi neighbourhoods, which I loved because it gave this story a much stronger sense of place than Wildlings. Whereas Wildlings felt like it could have been written about one of many other neighbourhoods, Hundred Names gave a much clearer picture of Nizamuddin, and its use of human markers made the place feel more tangible to its human readers.

I also loved meeting Senders from other neighbourhoods. These scenes give Mara a chance to learn more about her role as Sender, as well as situate the Nizamuddin cats among a much larger community of cats across the region. And I absolutely loved learning more about Mara’s mother and the circumstances in which she ended up at the drain pipe where her Bigfeet found her.

The duology’s story seems to grow up in this instalment much like Mara does. Whereas the conflict in Wildlings is tough and exciting (feral cats encroaching on territory!), the conflict here feels more subdued, wistful, un-winnable without necessarily being hopeless. It’s time for the Nizamuddin clan to move on, and fight though they might, there’s a sense of inevitability about it as well, for how much can they really fight against human progress? If Wildlings is about fighting for what’s yours, Hundred Names is about knowing when the fight is over and it’s time to move on. The ending is filled with hope, but the taste is bittersweet, and even Mara’s exploration of the extent of her powers is tinged by the realization of the responsibilities that come with the role of Sender.

I can’t say enough good things about this book and this duology as a whole. If you loved The Wildlings, you’ll enjoy this book and delight in returning to the company of Mara and the Nizamuddin cats. If you haven’t read The Wildlings yet, I highly recommend giving it a try if you like cats and stories of magic, friendship and the importance of home.

As an aside, in my review of Wildlings, I mentioned my disappointment that the Canadian edition didn’t include the beautiful illustrations that I hear were in the original edition. Hundred Names also likely misses out on many of these sketches, but I thought the two they did include are beautifully evocative. You can almost feel the softness of the cats’ fur. (If anyone sees this edition still in print, I’d love to know!)

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Thanks to Penguin Random House Canada for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What better book for my first ever midnight release party than the new Harry Potter? I should thank fellow blogger Michele (@JustALilLost), whose tweets about her Slytherin outfit and matching grey lip colour made me so curious about what was going to happen at the #IndigoMidnightMagic event that I decided to attend myself. So I dug up my Slytherin necktie, invited my sister who was a fellow Harry Potter fan, and set off for what I hoped would be a fun, magical evening.

And am I ever glad I did! The entire lower level of the store was decked out with magical activities. I joined a really long line for tarot card readings (“Are you headed to Divination?” a costumed employee enquired). The waiting was at least as entertaining as the actual reading. An employee with a crystal ball asked if I wanted to test my powers of divination by reading my future in her ball. I gamely said that the crystal ball revealed a large golden owl flying quickly towards me, to which she predicted that I would soon have news of a large fortune coming my way. “This is a fun game!” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe they’re paying me to do this!” Her enthusiasm was infectious, and I loved seeing a staff member geeking out over the whole thing as much as I was!

A magician also stopped by and did some card tricks. The best part was where he had a blank deck of cards that he suddenly transformed into a real deck of cards, and then transformed again into a deck of cards with the same face on it. “You look very confuzzled by all this,” he told me. “Would you like to help with my next trick?” Of course I did! So I said a magic word and changed the colour of his handkerchief, and then he did more tricks with cards and candy, and the whole experience was just an utter delight.

Waiting in line for Divination

My tarot card reading was a lot of fun as well, and well worth the wait. Having ascertained my financial security with the crystal ball earlier, I asked the tarot card reader to tell me about my romantic fortune. The first card he turned over meant enthusiasm, and the second card was The Lovers, so I take that as a good sign.

Behind Divination (see that crowd gathered behind the table?) was Ollivander’s Wand Shop, where the store had laid out wooden sticks with gobs of glue and a range of art supplies so you can create your own wand. That was a bit crowded and the paint took forever to try (though thankfully washed off easily), but it was well worth it and I ended up with a coppery brown wand with silvery black knobs.

And check out that Sorting Hat! Indigo had printed off Pottermore questions in a quiz format, and a costumed staff member tallied up your answers to tell you which House you’re in. I snuck a peek at the tally sheet and noted I appeared to have tied in two of the Houses, but after a few added computations, the Sorting Hat staffer declared me… a Ravenclaw!

From the tally sheet, I also found out that I scored lowest at Hufflepuff, which made me cheer and made the staffer protest that she actually liked Hufflepuff. (Again, I love how geeky the booksellers themselves are! I can only imagine how exhausting it must have been to plan and run the event, so I love that they are still big enough fans to defend the Hogwarts’ Houses.) The staffer also admitted I was really a “Raven-rin”, since I was borderline Ravenclaw and Slytherin, so my green and silver tie was appropriate.

Overall, I’m so happy that I went! I devoured the book in a single day, and it was even more amazing than I’d hoped. I will refrain from posting a full review or revealing even the most minor of plot points, partly in deference to #KeepTheSecrets and also because I recommend going in completely cold like I did. But I will say that the story is captivating, magical and moving and that reading the script made me wish I could see it live as I can just imagine how incredible some of the scenes will play out onstage.

You may also want to check out this video of the photo shoot with the original London cast of the play. The characters we knew and loved from the books have grown up, and I enjoyed having these actors in mind as I read.

Happy (magical) reading!

When Beth moves to Washington, D.C. with her husband Matt to support his political aspirations, she gets quite a bit more than she bargains for. They befriend another ambitious couple Jimmy and Ashleigh, and unfortunately for Matt, Jimmy has the charisma and political It factor he lacks. Jimmy’s rise to power and Matt’s continued dissatisfaction with his life impact upon both marriages, and for Beth, who never wanted to move to Washington in the first place, she increasingly has to ask herself, is it worth it?

I had so much fun reading Jennifer Close’s The Hopefuls. I enjoy political drama (hello West Wing!) and the story begins at the cusp of Barack Obama’s successful campaign for presidency. In the midst of the social satire (an anecdote about driving a senator is really thinly veiled bragging), the hope engendered by Obama’s presidency is at the heart of Matt’s ambition. To Beth’s dismay, she can see why Matt wants to enter politics; with Obama’s administration, there is an overwhelming sense of hope, a potentially once-in-a-lifetime chance to make a difference, and no loving wife can deny her spouse that.

Yet Close also does a great job of depicting Matt’s selfishness around his ambition, his obsession with working at the White House taking precedence over everything else in his life, including his wife. While Obama’s optimism gives heart to Matt’s ambition, the heart of the story really lies in the marriage between Beth and Matt. Their story reminds me somewhat of Jim and Pam’s relationship in Season 9 of The Office. Just like we sympathized with Jim for pursuing his dream and with Pam for being left behind to raise the kids, we end up sympathizing with both Matt and Beth as well. I cried at the breakdown of Jim and Pam’s marriage in The Office (and bawled at their inevitable reconciliation, damn you Office team), and while I didn’t get quite as emotionally invested in The Hopefuls, I love how real their marriage feels. Close does a great job infusing tension and affection in the most mundane actions, and it’s almost tangible when the moments of affection begin fading away.

Unlike Jim’s new company in The Office though, Matt’s successes are few and far between, and even when he does succeed at something, his hold on it is clearly very tenuous. Beth raises a good point when she says that his friend Jimmy’s life may not be as amazing as he presents it to be, but we can hardly blame Matt for not being consoled by that, particularly in a city where ambition drives practically everything.

The other key relationship in the story is between the couples, which I honestly found disturbing, though not necessarily in a bad way. Beth seems to really like Ashleigh and Matt and Jimmy certainly get along well, but Matt’s jealousy adds a Talented Mr. Ripley / Single White Female feel to the whole affair, and I kept expecting him to suddenly lose control and come after Jimmy with a kitchen knife.

Spoiler alert: that didn’t happen. Close’s imagination is somewhat less melodramatic than mine, thank goodness. There is a betrayal though, and honestly, I wasn’t a huge fan of that twist. Where most of the novel felt fresh and real, that particular incident just felt stale and predictable. Now to be fair to Close, that may be because I’m not a big fan of that twist in general, and also to be fair, it did seem inevitable. Still, I expected more. I expected the big climax to surprise me like the novel about political machinations in Washington surprised me with its heartfelt depiction of a regular marriage. Perhaps I may have preferred Matt going all Tom Ripley after all.

Overall, the novel was a fun read about a crumbling marriage, set against the backdrop of high power politics in Washington D.C.

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Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.