Tailchaser's Song

By: Tad Williams

Narrated by: Alex Kydd

Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

More than 35 years ago, a young author surprised and enchanted audiences with his first novel - the story of Fritti Tailchaser, a courageous tom cat in a world of whiskery heroes and villains, of feline gods and strange, furless creatures called M'an.

The book was Tailchaser's Song, the author was Tad Williams. The legend was born.

©1985 Tad Williams; Introduction copyright 2000 by Tad Williams (P)2021 Tantor

Good first novel

Tailchaser's song is a rather good, if not great, book. It has some very interesting and very creative ideas, however it does lack a little in some of the characters and character development. Basically, it has the feel of an author's (good) first book.

Cat lovers delight!

I had my reservations but this book exceeded my expectations. Being told by a wild cat's view, with their own culture is a great tale.

beloved story from many years ago brought to life!

beloved story I read many years ago brought to life!
I would only change the volume of the individual "speakers" as there were so many instances where Pouncequick would say "oh Tailchaser" at what felt like a shout as I listened to the overall story at a reasonable volume.

A favorite story...

I have loved this story since I discovered it in elementary school, but I agree that this narrator wasn't the best choice for it. I'm sure he is good at what he does but is not a good voice/reader here. I was very happy to begin Tailchasers story but I will not be continuing it. I will simply reread it myself rather than allow it to be changed in my mind by an incorrect narrator.

good narration of a classic

i liked the various voices done here. I find it a bit weird as an adult to come back and hear the descriptions of the cats read out loud 😅 the whole book just strikes an odd chord to me now.

I also can't stand how he uses poor Pouncequick as a punching bag throughout the entire novel! Oh the poor little guy!

Overall though Tailchaser takes a lot of inspiration from various authors like Tolkien and Eliot and the cats are just .. so catlike sometimes. I'm surprised how serious and dark the book gets towards the end, especially in the cat version of h&!l. It's a classic and the audio is a good way to revisit the story

Fantastic and Magical

I read the paperback copy of this when I was just a kid and then I just listen to the audio version as a 33-year-old adult. Just as magical as I remember. The author will take you on a journey into a magical world. Nothing can really explain it, but read this book. Listen to this bookwill sit within your heart for the rest of your life.

Finally an audiobook

I found this book many years ago. It is my go-to book when I need a warm fuzzy blanket wrapped around me. I am on my second copy of the book, the first is falling apart. When I saw that there was finally a recording, I was overjoyed.
The story is wonderful, a cat’s biggest adventure with many vibrant characters.
Recording is good but not perfect. I sped up to 1.2x and found it agreeable. Occasionally volume dips, not sure if that’s editing or narration.
Overall enjoyable and will keep it in my library for those rainy days and Mondays.

Not well written

I wanted to like this book as I love cats. However, there were so many inaccuracies that I just couldn’t do it. The first error was that tortoise shell cats are male…they are never male. I liked the concept of the book but it wasn’t well written from a cats point of view.

The narration really kills it...

The story itself is great! I was not expecting the supernatural turn of events, and kept trying to think of what natural predator was taking and killing cats.
The narrator though....everything sounds like it was recorded on cheap equipment. He has very little range in character voices, and gave the villians overly cartoony sounding ones. His manner of speaking made this book such a slog to get through, I nearly stopped listening entirely. Reaching the supernatural aspect of the story is all that kept me going. Now I'm just left dissapointed at how great this could have been with a more talented narrator.
This is one you'll enjoy more reading normally, unless you're not particularly bothered by poor narration.

Classic

The narrarator didn't fit the story, but it was awesome to reread this fantasy classic. Now I remember exactly what I loved about this book when I was younger.