InfiniteTypewriters reviewed The Company of Cats by Savannah Dawn
A retelling of a fairy tale
3 stars
Content warning Only spoiling the first two (of seven) chapters
This is an entertaining-enough novelette (approximately 14,000 words) about an apartment full of cats and their maid.
It's a retelling of an obscure Italian fairy tale called "The Colony of Cats". This version claims to be science fiction. It makes an early reference to rich people living on a satellite and everyone else living on the surface. That's about the extent of the science fiction. Otherwise, it's basically a story set in an alternative timeline where animals talk.
Lizina Russo is 21 years old, working for minimum wage cleaning windows at an arboretum. She's also taking cybersecurity classes, hoping to get a better job. Her dyslexia makes it difficult. Her unrealistically bitchy mother seems determined to sabotage those goals.
Lizina gets so frustrated with her mother that she looks for a job as a live-in maid, which would allow her to move out from under her mother's domination.
She gets hired by a clowder of 15 cats living in an expensive high-rise apartment. The robot vacuum cleaner does most of the cleaning. Lizina's main job is to cook the cats' meals. This gives her enough time to continue studying for her cybersecurity exams.
It's a light, breezy, and fast read. I don't regret reading it. It's just not a very substantial or especially convincing story. It's based on a fairy tale, so the fantastic premise is understandable. But to make this science fiction, the author should have explained how and why animals obtained the ability to speak. It would have been simpler to call this a fantasy story set on an alternate Earth.
It's a slim paperback that costs $7. The story is not worth that price. You can buy the ebook for $2, which is what I did. That's a reasonable price for what you get. (BTW, the ebook is not available on Amazon. Buy it from whatever non-Amazon ebook retailer you can find. I got my copy through Apple Books.)