The Copper Cat Series Is Essential Reading for Lovers of Old School Sword & Sorcery

The Copper Cat books are wonderful adventure stories reminiscent of table-top RPGs. I immediately feel for Wydrin, the infamous, snarky rogue known as the “Copper Cat,” and her fighting partner, Sebastian, an exiled holy knight; their strong personalities carried the story quite well across a wide-ranging plot. The Iron Ghost is a bit of a different beast, delving more into worldbuilding, but the pacing is just right.
The first novel sees Cat and Sebastian working as sell-swords when they are hired by a mysterious nobleman to guide him into the long abandoned Citadel, where the world’s last mages lived and died.
(If you haven’t read book one, stop there: here be spoilers!)
The nobleman turns out to be the presumed dead Lord Frith, bent on finding the power of the mages so he can revenge himself upon the people who tortured and killed his entire family; the trio ends up sticking together, even after they succeed in surviving the Citadel. Unfortunately, in the process of looting the place, they awaken and release an angry dragon goddess who had been trapped there by the mages of long ago. They split up to pursue separate quests but discover later that the dragon can only be defeated if they work together.

As The Iron Ghost opens, it’s been many months since the dragon incident, and the three friends are now working under the name The Black Feather Three. Lord Frith is now the world’s only mage, which makes them a formidable gang, and has attracted the attention of people far and wide who want to hire them to solve their problems. Tamlyn Nox of the Skalds hears of the rumors of their success, and upon the urging of the Skald’s new Prophet, hires them to find and return their precious Heart-Stone, which has been stolen by the Narhl. The three step in, not realizing they’ve been brought into the middle of a culture war between the Skalds and the Narhl, who are battling over whether or not this Heart-Stone is the literal sentient soul of the mountain or not.
I loved this novel. It’s a very smooth read, and I found myself turning the pages late into the night, unable to sleep without seeing what happened next, especially when it came to the Skalds and the Narhl. These disparate groups of people are very well thought out, and I found their opposing viewpoints both fascinating and relevant to the culture wars that often permeate the real world, (consider what’s been happening at Standing Rock). The author is sensitive to both sides of the argument, and when a whole new threat to both communities emerges, it leaves the reader eager to see if differences can be set aside in order to save as many lives as possible (I mean, it’s fantasy after all). Will the snarky Copper Cat, the grumpy mage, and the sad knight make good mediators, or will they escalate the situation beyond repair?
I can’t wait to see what happens next!
The first two Copper Cat books are available now.