I’m linking up with Top Ten Tuesday, which was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Check out upcoming Top Ten themes on Jana’s blog,
I love books with animal companions, and I’ve done a few lists in the past—check out Best Books of 2019 With Dog Companions and Unusual “Animals” In Books—and today I’ve decided to share SFF books with cats in the story. Now, I’m not a cat person, but I’ve noticed that cats seem to be just as popular as dogs, so why not give them the spotlight for a change? These are all books I’ve read, and yes, I’m sure there are some obvious choices that aren’t on this list. I’m also covering lots of genres, so there’s something for everyone! I’ve listed these in alphabetical order, here we go:
The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher. I read this book ten years ago (!) but it’s one of the first books I thought of with cats central to the story. In this book, cats can talk, although they speak Cat not English. The cats were some of my favorite characters in the story, especially Bridget’s cat Rowl.
Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart. In addition to being one of my all time favorite books (seriously!), Assassins Anonymous has a cat named P. Kitty who ends up on a plane to Singapore at one point.
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman. This highly entertaining fantasy includes a cat named Bully, in addition to a host of wonderfully developed characters.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. This was a DNF for me, but I had to include it on this list because of Princess Donut, Carl’s awesome cat sidekick. Princess Donut was definitely my favorite part of what I read before I called it quits.
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward. This is Catriona Ward’s best book to date, in my opinion, and one of my favorite horror stories. The cat on the cover is Olivia, who lives in a house with her owner Ted. But that’s not the whole story, and neither Ted nor Olivia are exactly who you think they are.
Pet Sematary is one of Stephen King’s scarier books, and one I read quite a long time ago. I chose it because of the cat on the cover, and I’ll admit I don’t remember the details about the cat, but if anyone’s read it recently, let me know!
Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente. I honestly didn’t remember the cat in this story, but a Google search reminded me that this whacky tale includes a talking, sentient Maine Coon named Capo. The book itself was just OK for me, but talking cats make everything better:-)
Starter Villain by John Scalzi. In this very funny spoof on supervillains and the corporate world, Scalzi populates his story with sentient cats and dolphins who are also clones. Bonus points for a great cover!
Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton. Buxton is a genius when it comes to portraying animals in her stories, and here she tells parts of her story from various animal points of view, including an often-pregnant cat named Al Pacino.
The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong, among its wonderful cast of characters, includes a stray cat named Fidelitus who joins our band of travelers during their journey.
I remember really liking The Aeronaut’s Windlass, and like you it’s ages since I read it.
I’ll have to go read why you DNF’ed Dungeon Crawler Carl because it’s a series I’ve been curious about having seen nothing but great reviews.
The one with the cat named Al Pacino made me laugh. Now I want a cat to name them that haha
Being a little bit more of a cat person I appreciate this list. 🙂 All I’ve read from it are Pet Sematary and The Teller of Small Fortunes. I’m sure I’ve read others with cats but off the top of my head I can’t think of one.
This is a fabulous list I can’t believe I forgot how many of these books had cat companions!
I need to get to Starter Villain! I liked the cat in Blacktongue Thief too but don’t remember what happened to him! Mogget was my favorite OG cat companion
Starter Villain is amazing! This is a really fun list. I’ve read Pet Semetery (definitely not fun or cute) and Teller of Small Fortunes (adorable). I feel like I’ve read other books with cat companions recently… and I’m totally drawing a blank. Love the topic!
amazing that you were able to combine scifi and cats.
Ah, yes, Olivia!
No scifi for me though I have a two-tailed cat: https://wordsandpeace.com/2025/05/27/top-ten-books-with-animals/
Fun list! I always like seeing what books you put up on list, etc even though I think we have the most opposites in book taste…lol. I hated Needless Street and you loved it. 🙂
First one that jumps to mind is Mogget from Sabriel et al. I’ve not read many of these – but a few on my TBR 🙂
The Last House on Needless Street sounds good.
It’s generous of you to give the spotlight to cats Tammy! And the teller of Small Fortunes is on my list as well.
Yes, Starter Villain got such an awesome cover! I’d also include Lying Cat from Saga.
I suppose cats deserve attention too I love other people’s cats a lot but I’m allergic to cats so I don’t think I’d want one. I’m interested in trying The Cinder Spires series and I keep hearing amazing things about Dungeon Crawler Carl and the cat in that one! 😀
Cats do seem to be popular animal companions, especially in the SFF genre. I’m more of a dog person, but I do like how independent cats are.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Funny. I’ve read the first and last book on your list. I’m not too enamored of cats as a sidekick, at least for myself, because I am extremely allergic to them.
Anne – Books of My Heart
I love a list with cats on it! I haven’t read any of these but there are a few I’m going to check out.
YES! Starter Villain was my favorite book I read last year. He is hilarious and the cat on the cover looks like one I used to have.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
I did not know The Blacktongue Thief has a cat companion. I’ve had that book sitting on my shelf for years after winning it. Now that I know this I’ll have to try & make time for it, haha!
First thing I thought of was Dungeon Crawler Carl! Donut is the best cat companion!
Oh I love this topic! I didn’t realize The Aeronaut’s Windlass had cats–let alone that they could talk??–so now I’m that much more curious about checking it out, haha. Princess Donut is also a great one to include. I also completely forgot that Space Opera had a cat, either, although now that I’m thinking more about the book, I think my memory of it is generally quite fuzzy, lol. I really need to read Starter Villain still!
Fidelitus was sooooo fun! And this is a great theme for a list!! Also, I am not the biggest Butcher’s fan but I need to read this series!!
Ah I do like cats so I should slowly up some of these books on my list haha.
I’ve only read two off your list, and obviously there’s more I’d like to read.
Lynn 😀