sashas_booknook 's review for:

The Cat Who Saved the Library by Sōsuke Natsukawa

3.0

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This was such a cute, fun little fantasy adventure that speaks about the importance of books and literature in the human world. I received this one from Pan Macmillan and these are my honest thoughts.

I had with this book and character. I enjoyed Naname and how driven and passionate she was about books, especially at 13 years old. She loved books with her whole heart and it was beautiful to see her determination and strength to combat the disingenuous ‘villain’ of the story. I think she was characterised fairly well and I could definitely see improvement in the author’s ability to really set the scene and give depth to the characters. I loved how we saw Rintaro, from the first book again, and that he developed a connection with Naname and helped her in the adventures and tasks. The overarching messages came through so clearly and I really liked the way the author was so explicit in her adoration and passion for books. It was lovely and you really felt a sense of belonging through reading the book.

Now my problem lies in how these books are marketed and their target audience. The main character was a 13 year old girl, and whilst it tackled big issues, I think it’s still more appropriate for younger audiences. Whilst everyone can obviously read whatever they want, it think it would be more successful if it was directed to younger adults. The writing was also lacking a bit of emotion and connection to the characters. I found this in the first one, but I needed some deeper emotions to come through so I could connect better to the character. Emotional things occurred, but I don’t believe it was translated well for the readers to have that big emotional hit.

Overall, this is a cute fantasy adventure book that has the potential to be more meaningful and powerful for the right audience!

This one releases today and is available wherever you buy your books :)