Review: Apprentice Cat – By Virginia Ripple

Cover image and summary from goodreads.com, image links to goodreads book page.

Title: Apprentice Cat

Author: Virginia Ripple

Summary: Toby is a young tom who dreams of becoming an apprentice cat, a feline partnered with an apprentice human mage, at the King’s Academy of Mages. When he is partnered with Lorn Ribaldy, the nephew of known traitor Master Hecktor Ribaldy, he learns his dreams are in jeopardy. There are those who want to keep undesirables out and that includes Lorn and anyone associated with him. In a meeting with Head Master Cat Meredith and Head Master Mage Jalen, Toby and Lorn are offered a way to change their status from provisional to permanent: find out why Toby’s father disappeared during a standard recon mission for the High Council. Now all they have to do is keep up with their homework and survive a little espionage.

Genre/Pages: Fantasy/304

Rating: ★★★★★ (5 of 5)

My Review: 

I received a (signed!!!) copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review. And, honestly? I gotta say… I LOVED this book! Not quite in the way that I love the older, deeper, New Adult/Young Adult books I loved this book as I’ve loved enjoyable, exciting, Middle-Grade/Young Adult books.Virginia Ripple has some serious talent in the Middle Grade Fantasy department, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. Her writing style is fun and suspenseful, and she truly created an amazing story. The only thing I can  say I didn’t love about this book is that there were times when it was a 2-character dialogue that it got really confusing, and I had trouble figuring out who was saying what. (not a big deal, but slightly annoying at times).

I loved how she wrote the mystery, the world, and the characters. They were great characters, and I really got attached to them, maybe a BIT too much… ;). The world was fascinating, and I LOVED reading about it. She wrote the mystery in such a way, that, though you knew sorta who was behind it, you were still turning pages as fast as possible.  It was great! I hardly put it down! Apprentice Cat was a combination of Harry Potter and Warriors.If you’re a fan of either (or  BOTH!)  series’ I highly recommend you read this book. Virginia Ripple makes a great contribution to the world of YA fantasy, and I’ll definitely be looking forward to re-reading this one, and reading her next book!

Content Advisory: Some murders, characters die in unpleasant ways, they are very short scenes, however, and not the focus of the story.

To Sum it Up: An amazing mix of mystery & magic, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend it to fans of a great, clean, magical, mystery aged 8+ 

Have you heard of this book before? Have you read it? Did you like it?