Felidis By: Tanith Lee Star Rating: Sensuality Rating:

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Synopsis

Radlo is on a journey when a passerby stops him on the road to warn him not to go into the forest. He says an evil young woman with the eyes of a cat and covered in fur lives there. Thinking the man is mad, Radlo continues on his way, and when he reaches the other side of the woods, he finds a village. There, the people seems to like the cat-girl. Annoyed by all these tales he's not even sure he believes, Radlo goads his way into meeting the cat-girl, and is shocked to find she's real. Felidis looks exactly like the man on the road said, and she lives with dozens of cats, one of whom appears to be her favorite. Fascinated by her, he spends the night at her house, intending to leave the next day, but soon, one day turns into several, and several days into seasons. Radlo can't seem to bring himself to leave Felidis and thinks he may be falling in love with her, but she says that she has no interest in marriage. After spending so much time with her, Radlo knows that she is a witch, but he has no idea how she works her magic. Before he finally leaves, Felidis offers to grant him a request in exchange for all he's done for her. If she won't give him her love, Radlo wants to know how she does magic, but the truth may surprise him.

Review

Felidis is the story of a young man named Radlo, who is on an unspecified journey. A passerby on the road warns him not to enter the woods, because a frightening young woman who is covered in fur like a cat lives there. Not to be deterred, Radlo continues on, and when he comes to the other side of the woods, he finds a village where everyone seems to revere this cat-girl. They take him to her, and fascinated, he stays with her for several seasons.

This short story is written more in the style of old-fashioned fairy tales told mostly from the POV of the narrator. This made it harder for me to become engrossed in the story, because I felt like it was being told to me rather than shown. The opening pages were a little confusing, and it took me a while to figure out what was going on. For parents or educators who might be concerned about content, Felidis does contain a few mild bad words. Radlo also euphemistically implies that Felidis is healing her clients in a more intimate way than just giving them herbs or potions. This is why I gave it a half-heart on the sensuality rating, but it will most likely go over the heads of younger, less sophisticated readers. I don't think I've ever read any stories with Familiars in them, so that part was interesting, and I also enjoyed the twist at the end. Overall, I would rate Felidis as an OK read, but not one that really stood out to me. Felidis can be found in the anthology Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron.

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Tanith Lee @ Wikipedia

Tanith Lee @ Daughter of the Night