Review by Karl Verhoven

Finder is a continuing source of imaginative reinterpretation, and a startling example occurs to open King of the Cats. In Jaeger’s world the equivalent to Disneyland is such a coveted choice of destination that a trip there is a once in a lifetime opportunity, the lucky ones selected by lottery numbers. Jaeger’s accompanying one fortunate family to see they arrive safely, but isn’t considered the type to be admitted himself.

The conflation of amusement park with holy pilgrimage marks this as more satirical than Sin Eater, and indeed Carla Speed McNeil enjoys the poking at Disneyland with a sharp stick over the early chapters, but she has something of greater depth in mind.

The title references the Nyima, seen in Anvard during Sin Eater merely as exotic presences in crowded scenes, but here they come into their own. The Nyima are humanoid lions. The females walk upright, but the males resemble the lions of the African veldt, and they’re one of several tribes explored. As before, Jaeger adapts to his circumstances, or as much as his distinctive eyes permit, and as before McNeil ensures the joy is in just following Jaeger around seeing what he sees and reacting to it. He has a mission and we’re not entirely sure what it is, so in the meantime we learn more about others and their customs and traditions.

Just as Sin Eater was SF once removed, King of the Cats briefly becomes a very individual form of heist story, and then wanders elsewhere. McNeil gives Jaeger his full range of expressions from grumpy to surly, while relishing the incongruous amusement park setting being the ridiculous centre of important events. “I’m too weird to be a tourist and not weird enough to be an employee”, is Jaeger’s astute observation.

Fun and engaging, McNeil’s plotting makes brilliant use of misinterpretation, especially with regard to Jaeger cutting his hair, and builds a complex situation to a beautifully plotted resolution.

Talisman is next on the Finder menu, available either as a second hand individual graphic novel or combined with this in the first Finder Library.