A Judgment of Dragons
{4.5/5} “He dealt food supplies and gave medical attention when requested to all comers among the world’s million and a quarter inhabitants: big red cats, leopard-sized and -shaped; nearly half, mostly female, were telepathic… No one thanked the suppliers. GalFed had plenty of use for half a million telepaths, and one day payment would fall due.”
A Judgment of Dragons by Phyllis Gotlieb, published in 1980
Khreng and Prandra, telepathic cats from Ungruwarkh, have come to Earth. They have with them their brain in a jar, Espinoza. When they land, something goes wrong. They eventually realize that they have gone through a Qumedni time-vortex — they are now in early 19th century Poland. Espinoza suspects that the Qumedni, possibly a renegade, is here with them.
This novel is the 1st in Gotlieb’s Starcats trilogy.
Prandra and Khreng are terrific characters — smart and witty, going around doing what good they can do.
It’s about aliens who run into dangerous beings, on Earth and other places. They invent clever solutions to their problems, and the dialogue between them is delightful.
This is the 3rd book I’ve read by Gotlieb. I previously read her great novels Flesh and Gold and Violent Stars.