M/M Challenge Review: The Cat in the Cradle by Jay Bell

Dylan is the son of the Blue Oligarch – the ultimate master of blue magic. An Oligarch is made by his possession of a loka. There are only 10 loka’s in existence and each color wields a different type of magic – and are the most powerful sources of magic in the world.

Dylan and his trusty talking cat, Kio, decide to head off to visit their friend Rano. Dylan’s ready to get out of the Lakelands and get away from his father. Not that he doesn’t get along with his father, but Dylan is almost 17 and is ready to do some things for himself without his father’s help. So Dylan and Kio head off to the see Rano whose father is the Yellow Oligarch. But when they arrive Rano isn’t there. They have a nice dinner with the Yellow Oligarch and head to bed. In the middle of the night they hear an argument going on in the Oligarch’s study. Instead of staying in bed they go see what the problem is. What they find is a flying stone beast attacking and killing the Oligarch and then coming after them. They are saved by Dylan’s father who transports them back home. But things are not ever to be what they were before. Dylan’s father, Jack, has done some scrying and discovered that his life is in danger. He gives the blue loka to Dylan for safekeeping and sends him to the Red Oligarch. Only that’s not necessarily a safe place either. The Red Oligarch, Tyjinn, is just 19 years old and as much as he wants to keep Dylan safe – especially after they are attacked – he’s not one to sit down and wait for things to happen. Dylan, Kio and Tyjinn take off on a trip to discover exactly what’s going on with the Oligarch’s and their lokas.

The story unfolds that one Oligarch is collecting lokas. When they have 5 lokas they can use the magic of all of those lokas and therefore have ultimate power over everyone in all 5 lands. Dylan, Kio and Tyjinn travel to many lands and talk to many Oligarch’s seeking support and assistance against this impending danger before one person can be all powerful.

During this trip Dylan finds himself attracted to Tyjinn. He had had one sexual encounter with Rano previously that had not ended well and Dylan is hesitant to start a relationship with anyone else for fear of getting his heart broken again. Tyjinn though, knows that Dylan is the one for him and tries to get him to see things from his point of view. While separated for a time Dylan comes to see that Tyjinn is the one for him as well. But will they live long enough to see their relationship come to fruition?

I was contacted by Jay Bell and asked if I’d like to review The Cat in the Cradle. I read a little about the story and decided that even though fantasy and YA are not normally my thing it did have the m/m aspect to it as well. It was just too intriguing to pass up. Well, I’m so glad that I took Jay up on the offer as I ended up thoroughly enjoying the book.

One of the reasons, I think, that I don’t read fantasy all that much is the explanations of new worlds seem to be quite complicated to me. Unless they’re done extremely well there’s usually a large info-dump where my brain attempts to soak up all the information needed to keep reading (and yeah, the old brain doesn’t always work that way!). Lucky for me TCitC wasn’t like that. The story was very fluid and the speech in the story felt pretty contemporary so I had no trouble following along with all the wonderful new aspects of the 5 lands that I was given. They mystery aspect of the story was well done as well as I didn’t figure out who the baddie was until much later in the book – actually right before it was revealed.

As for the m/m relationship it was very sweet. It flowed side by side with the greater story and was interwoven wonderfully. The story included Dylan’s uncertain but growing feelings for Tyjinn as well as his reluctance to actually come out.  Dylan felt that he would be shunned or ostracized by his friends and family and that was one thing he couldn’t handle. Though Dylan was only 16 it seemed his thought processes were pretty mature about the situation – but not to the point where I thought his character was more mature than he should be.

The Cat in the Cradle ended up being a wonderful story and one I recommend. This is Jay’s first published novel but I hope it won’t be his last – if he keeps writing books like this one he has a great career ahead of him.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention…The Cat in the Cradle print version has chapter illustrations by Jay’s husband, Andreas, and they are great. Unfortunately the ebook doesn’t come with the illustrations so Jay and Andreas put together a sketchbook of the illustrations that is available for free via Smashwords.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

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