The best parts about The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa ©2021 are the title and the cover art. The worst part about The Cat Who Saved Books is the contents.
Rather than spend my time writing a summary, here is the book description from Amazon:
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.The description sounds enticing, but the weak plot is confusing and the characters are so underdeveloped that I never bonded with any of them - even the cat. I bought this book for my husband since he loves cats and books about cats. He read all of it (because it was a gift) but was unimpressed. I wanted to read it to see if it was appropriate to pass on to my bookworm granddaughter who reads fantasies. I was captive in an airport and on airplane. Lack of any other reading material is the reason I read as much as I did. I only got halfway through the book before quitting and I rarely stop midway in a book. To be more forgiving, perhaps I can rationalize that something was lost in the translation from the 2017 copyright. I would have given The Cat Who Saved Books zero stars, as I do for books I do not finish, but the cover and title deserved at least one star.
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 bestsellers. Their adventures culminate in one final, unforgettable challenge—the last maze that awaits leads Rintaro down a realm only the bravest dare enter . . .
★☆☆☆☆ Awful but I read most or maybe even all of it
Bummer! Viv is reading the Harry Potter series now (finally) and she's on book 4. She reads so fast, though, that I'm sure she'll be through all 7 books soon and ready for new materials. Sounds like she should skip this book, though!
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