"Wonderous fantasy"

Princess Harueme was the half-sister of the deceased Emperor Shirakawa; aunt to also dead Emperor Horikawa; and great-grandaunt to Emperor Sutoku. These connections enabled Harueme to live a luxurious life at the emperor's court for the past fifty years. Now she recognizes that not only is she old, but she is dying in spite her great grandnephew's efforts to provide the best medical care available. Harueme knows she must leave the court before she dies in order to avoid a stain her relative's rule. While packing for her move to a convent, Harueme finds several unused notebooks that demand she fill the blanks with words.

Harueme scribes the story of a tortoiseshell cat living in a ramshackle estate until a fire destroyed her home and killed her relatives. The sole survivor is a feline who feels lonely as she also lost her FUDOKI, for there is no one to share the chronicle of all the female cats who resided in her home. She sets out on a journey to find a home for her Fudoki and a name for herself.

Kij Johnson's second fantasy based on Japanese myth is as good if not better than her delightful debut, THE FOX WOMAN. The themes of this powerful tale are life, dying, death, and love, but these subjects are deftly placed in two potent subplots. Harueme's story contrasts with that of the nameless cat as both face death and a loss of home with dignity and courage. The two stars enhance this fabulous thought provoking fantasy that deserves strong readership. With a fox and a cat in her menagerie, fans will wonder which animal from Japanese myths Ms. Johnson will star in her next novel.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted October 24, 2003

Summary

In her skillful debut novel, Kij Johnson took the classic Japanese myth of the fox who dared to become a woman to win true love and created The Fox Woman, a luminous, lyrical tale of love, desire, joy, and the nature of the soul. Set in the same universe as The Fox Woman, this time Kij Johnson takes on another animal totem and enters the world of the creature who comes to be known as Kagaya-hime, a sometime woman warrior, occasional philosopher, and reluctant confidante to noblemen. And who may or may not be the figment of the imagination of an aging empress who is embarking on the last journey of her life, setting aside the trappings of court life and reminiscing as she follows the paths that are leading her to the nunnery and death. Fudoki is the tale of a being who starts her journey on the kami, or spirit road, as a humble-if ever a being such as a Cat can be humble-small tortoiseshell feline. She has seen her family destroyed by a fire that decimated most of the Imperial city. This loss renders her taleless, the only one left alive to pass on such stories as The Cat Born the Year the Star Fell, the Cat with a Litter of Ten, the Fire- Tailed Cat. Without her fudoki-self and soul and home and shrine-she cannot keep the power of her clan together. And she cannot join another fudoki because, although she might be able to win a place within another clan, to do so would mean that she would cease to be herself. So a small cat begins an extraordinary journey. Along the way she will attract the attention of old and ancient powers, including gods who are curious about this creature newly come to Japan's shores, and who choose to give the tortoiseshell a human shape. And who set her on a new kami road, where Kagaya-hime will have to choose a way to find what happiness she can. Weaving a haunting story of one being's transformation and journey of discovery with the telling of another's long life set against the backdrop of the courtly rituals of Imperial power, Kij Johnson has written a powerful novel about the nature of freedom and the redemptive power of transformation--if only one is brave enough to risk it all.