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Cons: very long chapters, slow pacing, some confusion about the world and untranslated terms
After a lifetime of following the rules and causing no trouble, the God-Emperor's brother and prophet, His Imperial Highness Nur-ul-Shuruq Faraj al-Nadhir, sneaks away from the palace in which he lives to visit the proprietor of a bathhouse from his prophetic visions, in the Catsprowl for a night of unbridled passion. When his lover is forced to resummon his cat familiar, Faraj ends up accidentally summoning his own spirit-summoned familiar, a pregnant cat. But the palace doesn't allow cats, especially not ones tied to the soul that can be used to harm or spy on members of the royal family.
The book's stakes are fairly low, trying to change things so cats - or at least Faraj's familiar - are allowed in the palace, and hiding the identity of Faraj's low class lover, so he can't be used against the prince. As the book progresses, there is a decent amount of talk about political maneuvering, especially around the various priests congregating in the city. There was one fairly tense dinner scene, but for the most part the book maintains a low key, cozy feel to it.
The world building is such that the place feels lived in. There's a real ambiance to it based loosely on medieval Egypt. I absolutely loved the catfolk and the complex mix of gods and goddesses worshipped. The author sprinkles in a lot of untranslated terms that are mostly understandable from context. Though it did take me most of the book to realize that kulhad were cups holding chai, rather than denoting a drink. Some things about the world weren't really clear to me. I was confused by whether the priests of Upaja and Bastet worshipped in the same temple or had their own distinct practices. I also questioned a few aspects, like the priests of Upaja were said to carry no coin and collected alms so they could cook and provide food to the poor. These priests are also said to be rotund and when the High Priest serves Faraj he has access to high end snack foods. While the citizenry apparently joke about their weight, no one accuses them of eating the offerings themselves thereby taking food from starving supplicants. When orders devoted to poverty start having overweight clerics, that's usually a sign of corruption and lax devotion.
There is a vocabulary and condensed character guide at the end of the book, though a lot of terms, like kulhad and haveli aren't included. Though the guide is mentioned in the table of contents, I didn't realize it was there until I finished the book. The guide does go over a bunch of terms and the identities of the priests, so it's a good reference. There are also recipes and some other end notes.
The prologue contains an off page gay sex scene. There are mild flirtations and some foreplay, but there's nothing detailed beyond kissing. Later in the book there's some more flirtation and innuendo, but it's otherwise a tame book.
For some reason the first chapter is called a prologue. Prologues are generally set off from the text by time, distance, or character point of view. So it's really strange that the author put the events that kick off the plot in one. Apparently some younger readers are skipping prologues these days, feeling they're unnecessary, and will find themselves very confused if they do that with this book as chapter 1 picks up the morning after.
The early chapters are very long and while the conversations feel realistic, they often stall the story's momentum. The prologue and first chapter set-up the scene, but then it takes several chapters for Faraj to arrive back at his palace and anything new of interest to happen. Scene changes were nice, and the first few pages of each chapter were interesting, but quickly got bogged down in long-winded chatter. I found on the whole that the second half of the book was much more engaging as it brings in a lot of political intrigue. There may be too much intrigue if you're looking for a relaxing cozy, as it made me think about justice, laws, and fairness in society.
There are some sweet scenes of people preparing food together and seeing the kittens of the Catfolk ask Furaj for treats was fun. Faraj and his lover, Asharin, are both very kind and I was hoping to see more of them together in this book. My favourite character was the heretical Archivist Najra who steals every scene she's in.
Overall, while I thought the book had some good points, like interesting characters and detailed prose, the length of the book became a hindrance for me.
