Audiobook Review – The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa, Narrated by Kevin Shen (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 5 hours and 7 minutes
Publisher:‎ HarperAudio
Release Date: December 07, 2021
ASIN: B08V3LXB2G
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed Audiobook from Library
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookstore he inherited from his beloved bookworm grandfather. Then, a talking cat appears with an unusual request. The feline asks for — or rather, demands — the teenager’s help in saving books with him. The world is full of lonely books left unread and unloved, and the cat and Rintaro must liberate them from their neglectful owners.

Their mission sends this odd couple on an amazing journey, where they enter different mazes to set books free. Through their travels, the cat and Rintaro meet a man who leaves his books to perish on a bookshelf, an unwitting book torturer who cuts the pages of books into snippets to help people speed read, and a publishing drone who only wants to create best sellers. Their adventures culminate in one final, unforgettable challenge — the last maze that awaits leads Rintaro down a realm only the bravest dare enter….

An enthralling tale of books, first love, fantasy, and an unusual friendship with a talking cat, The Cat Who Saved Books is a story for those for whom books are so much more than words on paper.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on audiobook from the library.

Thoughts: This was okay. I enjoyed the overall premise but found parts to be a bit preachy and on the nose. Then towards the end of a lot of the preachyness is kind of retracted. This wasn’t as magical or entertaining as I expected. However, I did enjoy watching the main character figure things out for himself.

This books follows a bookish shut-in high school student name Rintaro Natsuki. His grandfather has died, and he is being forced to move in with a distant aunt, this will involve him leaving the bookstore his grandfather owned. Suddenly a talking cat shows up and asks for Rintaro’s help with stopping books from being damaged. Rintaro ends up journeying through a strange magical labyrinth of books and confronting evil book owners. During these quests, he learns more about himself and those who care about him.

This was a simple story. I really loved the talking cat but wished the cat was in the story more. It was nice to see Rintaro grow as a characters and start to take some direction with his life.

I realize that the story structure follows some classic Greek mythology structures (four labyrinths, etc). I found it to be a bit preachy and pretentious. There is a lot of talk about the evils of people who only read books once or read them too quickly or read books that don’t contain any substance. I rarely read a book twice unless it’s one I really love or really got something out of. I also enjoy reading lighter books at times. I thought this discussion was a bit heavy-handed. However, at the end, the story this is is abruptly turned around and we are told that people should just read whatever they want to read and connect with each other. This made me feel like a lot of the beginning of the story was being taken back.

The writing style and story structure is incredibly simple and predictable. I also struggled to figure out what audience this book would be good for. It is a book about loving books but spends a lot of time insulting people who love books and then says everyone should love books. I thought whatever message was being delivered here ended up very convoluted.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this was okay. I listened to it while driving during a road trip and didn’t really have anything else to do. I liked the talking cat and liked the main character growth. The magic and fantasy was very light. The plot and writing style were very basic. The message ended up fairly confusing and convoluted. This isn’t an awful book, but it isn’t a great one either. I personally would skip it, however, it isn’t a huge time commitment to read it if you enjoy books about books.