Catseye

[marycatelli]

Catseye by Andre Norton

Troy Horan lives in the Dipple, where the refugees of the war were dumped -- and left when the peace treaty signed away their worlds.  His father had enlisted in the war, and his mother died when the Big Cough struck.  Troy is still trying to eke out a living as casual labor, rather than sign a contract that lets him be shipped off in cold sleep, or join the Thieves' Guild.

Luck strikes.  His rural background lets him get a job at Kyger's an animal store catering, like so many businesses on this world, to the wealthy and powerful of many worlds.  Even if his first task on the job has him spotting a man he knows joined the Thieves' Guild, and their vehicle being attacked as they returned to the job with their exotic pets -- Terran cats.  And there had been something odd about those cats during the attack.

He needs the job.  He keeps his head down, doing, for instance, nothing more than notice that not all the spacers who came to see Kyger had brought an exotic animal to sell.  But he learns more, and more, about what happens here.

The rest of the tale involves foxes as well as cats, a location where an alien civilization had lived, a three-way quarrel where Troy asks which rule will be applied to him, the immense importance of promises and the little consideration owing to an oath-breaker, a large offer to Troy, a man who was poisoned and his pet, and falconry.  Among other things.

Comments

[mythusmage.livejournal.com]

I remember that book. It helps to remember what Norton went through during the war,(WWII) and the things she heard from friends and acquaintances informed a lot of the world building she did in the book. That and what her access to information (she was a librarian at one point) told her.

[marycatelli]

It was, I think, among the first SF books I ever read. I don't think I can remember the first time I read it

She had her facts.

OTOH, even in The Prince Commands, she had her basic plot down flat. Here is an Andre Norton story; stuff marked "usually" or "may" happens in about two-thirds, three quarters of them.

A character, usually young, is in a place where he does not fit in. Under some pressure, he is precipitated out of it into another place, though usually he has some choice in the matter. There is also a problem in this new place, which may or may not send him onto another -- which can even lead to a chain of places he goes through.

If old enough, he may meet the Love Interest along the way.

Finally, he hits a place where he and the Love Interest resolve their subplot if there is one, and he (with Love Interest if there is one) resolves the problem.

If this makes him welcome there, he (and the Love Interest) will settle down there, in a new place where they fit.

If it does not make him welcome there, he has a Love Interest, and they go onward. This may lead to a sequel where they continue the chain of places until they do find a place where they are welcome and fit.

I don't think it's so much predicated on World War II as it's the natural thing for her to subject her protags too.

[mythusmage.livejournal.com]

Since her work at the time was aimed at the adolescent market, she told her stories for that market. Young people feeling adrift in a changing, and perilous world, knowing that even greater changes were coming, and that their lives were going to be irrevocably changed. Her basic message was, "Yes, changes are coming. Dangerous changes. Keep your wits about you, use your skills wisely, and as others help you you help them, and you should come out fine."

They were very much change of life stories, and told with an optimism that likely helped a lot of kids.

[marycatelli]

Parts of it are more precise than are needed for that -- after all, much SF was directed at that market at that time.