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Book Review

The Nine Lives of Chloe King: The Stolen
By Celia Thompson
Simon & Schuster, 2004

The Nine Lives of Chloe King: The Stolen is the story of an age long war between the Mai, a breed of humans with feline characteristics, and Human races. A female Mai named Chloe King is unwillingly caught in the middle of the conflict already having lost one of her nine lives. The story takes place in San Francisco, California.

The story line is very original and, although the idea of cat-like beings has been used many times in literature, Celia Thompson conveys a completely new perspective of the idea. There is a great deal of description and it will easily put many images in the reader’s mind.

Nine Lives is very suspenseful and will keep the reader interested. Every chapter concludes at the most interesting part. Some elements of the plot are very hard to predict although others are implied at the beginning.

Nine Lives may be hard to follow if you have not read the previous volume. There is not a great deal of description if you have not read the first series. This may make the novel seem uninteresting to those just picking it up from the second volume. Another small thing that may seem difficult for readers are the uncommon spelling mistakes, mostly a matter of accidental switching between two letters.

The age group of Nine Lives is intended from ages twelve and up. The genre is teen fiction.

My overall impression is favorable. Nine Lives is an exiting story that fans of the Samurai Girl series, and the previous volume will enjoy.

Reviewed by Maria Tchernikova at Monsignor Paul Dwyer High School