Eye of Cat

by Roger Zelazny

Hardcover, 1982

Status

Available

Call number

Fic SF Zelazny

Tags

_hardback, __find, !dunno, Fic, SF

Genres

Collection

Your library

Publication

Ultramarine Publishing Company (1982), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 217 pages

Description

William Blackhorse Singer, the last Navajo on a future Earth, is called upon to aid in protecting an alien diplomat from a powerful and hostile member of his own species. With the aid of a shape-shifting alien known as ""Cat,"" he carries out the mission, with one condition: when the mission is over, Cat wants a return bout with the man who captured him, a chase with Singer as the hunted instead of the hunter... Eye of Cat (1982) takes a twist on the hunter turned hunted. William Blackhorse Singer is hired to protect an alien diplomat, then enlists the assistance of a shape-shifter he captured years earlier. The creature will only help on the condition that it gets a chance to try to trap Singer once the mission is completed. Roger Zelazny was a three-time Nebula Award and six-time Hugo Award-winning author of science fiction and fantasy classics, including the short stories ""24 Views of Mount Fuji, by Hokusai,"" ""Permafrost,"" and ""Home is the Hangman."" Zelazny was the bestselling author of the ten-volume Chronicles of Amber series of fantasy novels, as well as the novels Lord of Light, and Psychoshop (written with Alfred Bester). Zelazny's novel Damnation Alley served as the basis for the 1972 cult film of the same name, starring Jan Michael Vincent and George Peppard.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Prop2gether
Eye of Cat by Roger Zelazny is an interesting work by an author I was introduced to long ago and was the “out of the bag” choice for my RL book club in June. The book is dedicated to Jim Chee, Joe Leaphorn, and their creator, Tony Hillerman. It is essentially a chase on several levels—literal
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 through travel doors from place to place—visceral through the emotions of the characters—visual through the poetry and language—of one man, Billy Singer, a hunter, and his once-prey called Cat, who is now hunting him. This is not a reading for the faint of heart, but not because of blood and guts. Instead, the reader must be able to focus on the storyline through the Navajo religious themes and folklore and the interruptions caused by a group of psychics trying to save Billy. The plot starts simply enough—Billy, a celebrated hunter who has managed to catch most of the zoological examples of life in the known universe, is asked to help save the life of an alien diplomat threatened by an assassin from his planet. Psychic humans are also recruited for the job, but Billy is extremely reluctant to take on the task, believing that his best bet to catch the shapeshifting assassin is with the assistance of another shapeshifter Billy caught years before, Cat. Cat has been presumed to be non-sentient, but Billy is suspicious that he captured a thinking being and locked it up. Billy is alienated from his Navajo heritage merely by being the last of his family and Cat’s planet was destroyed. Cat wants revenge and agrees to help Billy provided that Cat can then hunt Billy down. That deal is struck, and two-thirds of the novel is the chase after the assassin is caught. This is an extremely difficult book to read because of its style, but if you can get into the rhythm, I think it can be enjoyed for the language and greater question of who are we at our core.
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LibraryThing member jimmaclachlan
I don't normally care for stories with pure Native American Indians in the space age of the future who use their in-born skills to track aliens & such. Kind of hoakey & goes against my philosophy that we'll merge into one race (the sooner, the better), but that's the plot here & it's done as well
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 as any I've ever read. Zelazny put his unique touch on it, which is all that saves it from 2 stars.
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LibraryThing member TCWriter


Eye of Cat is a science fiction novel featuring one of Zelazny's best-ever characters. Billy Blackhorse Singers is a Navajo tracker so far removed from his time and people that he finally strikes a terminal bargain; he offers his own life in sacrifice because he finds little reason to live it.

He
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 does this to gain the help of an extremely dangerous extra terrestrial lifeform (named Cat) he once captured for an interstellar zoo. He suspects the animal is intelligent, and when it turns out he is intelligent (and vicious, and bent on revenge), Singer offers Cat his freedom in return for help - and a chance to kill Singer.

Singer recruits Cat to help him stop an alien assassin, and after the two successfully prevent the assassination, the book kicks into high gear.

Singer offers Cat his life, but Cat doesn't kill him, instead insisting on a hunt.

Singer decides he's not finished, and the two begin a cat and mouse game that finishes in the half-real, half-mystical badlands canyons of Singer's youth.

Rich in imagery and stunningly characterized, the book's only flaw is the growing reliance on symbols, which renders the last quarter of the book somewhat difficult to decipher.

Still, a brilliant - and often underrated - book from Zelazny.
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LibraryThing member fuzzi
Eye of Cat is a work that is hard to define, with much mystical and spiritual observances by the protagonist, a Navaho who hunts aliens. Billy enlists the assistance of "Cat", a shapechanger, to find another alien loose on Earth. Cat is a extraterrestrial creature Billy successfully hunted years
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 before, who agrees to assist but for a deadly price.

I liked quite a bit of this story, especially the game between Cat and Billy, but the mystical interludes dragged it down for me.
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Language

English

Original publication date

1982

Physical description

217 p.; 8.5 inches

ISBN

0671255193 / 9780671255190

DDC/MDS

Fic SF Zelazny

Other editions

Eye of Cat by Roger Zelazny (Hardcover)

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Rating

½ (107 ratings; 3.6)

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