Mar 17, 2025
I kinda figured Sprout wasn't going to ever truly settle down. Time and time again, people have just screwed her over and caused her nothing but pain. she tried mixing, but nobody ever really gave her a chance beside her new mother. At this point, her kind and innocent soul has been broken hard by war and the segregation that followed. If you do a sequel, I'd definitely be curious to see how Sprout grows from here and what she does!
As for the story: Ahh, Stew, you took me for a ride with this one! I think you did a great job setting up just how dystopian and war-torn that world is. So many times I was like "Yep, that's exactly what people would do in that situation, for better or worse," so it felt very real. I had no idea a story about cat people could be pulled off in such a serious way, but you nailed it. It's even better that the cat people act like cats and aren't just a reskin of a human, which is ironic in the context of Sprouts story.
As for the characters: I felt something for all of em. Sprout definitely was my favourite, and I loved Ares too. He just had such scumbag charm that I loved to hate him.
The others were great too and had such fun dynamics with each other. With how many of them tragically met their end trying to get that nuke to the Federation, It made me think of an old movie where the Earth's core stopped spinning, so they had to take a team down there to blow it up with a nuke to get it moving again. Like, the entire crew died, minus two people, and I used to cry about it as a kid. With Oliver, Lea, and Apollo, their deaths really brought out that same feeling in me.
As for the setting: Definitely hit the right notes to feel war torn and ravaged. The cities I felt were the most memorable, especially when Sprout reached the federation, probably because of how impactful and full of life they were. We got to see a lot of human vs Niko-mimi activity in each of them, so that was very interesting to me and built up a lot of tension.
Over all, the story was tragic in a great way. If you make a sequel, I'll definitely read it! Thanks for writing this, Stew!
