SPOIL-FREE SUMMARY
When Jai's parents are forced to leave the country he is sent to a boarding school. There he meets Seal and Hugo, a pair of students who think something fishy is going on regarding the principal, Mr. Drake. And then there is Kitty, a young woman who seems far too excited to see him.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Jai is the child of two indians who came to England illegally. He mentions that his parents treat him like he is made of glass, but this isn't a reoccurring theme. And he doesn't seem to go out of his way to try new things, now that he is away from his parents.
Seal is an energetic young girl who is rather bold. She has a very close attachment to her best friend, Hugo. And she can be dramatic sometimes.
Hugo shares Seal's attitude towards the school and her suspicions regarding Mr. Drake. But he is rather less dramatic then his friend.
Kitty is a young woman who takes an interest in Jai. She becomes an ally.
Roughly is a caretaker. He isn't in the story too much until we learn his secret.
Drake isn't in most of the story, but it's hinted that he may be up to no good.
PACING
The pacing is slower, although we do start at the minute that Jai arrives at the boarding school. Perhaps that worked to its disadvantage. Maybe if we had witnessed a young boy who was overprotected by his parents, and had to learn about their deportation, we would feel closer to Jai.
We get small hints that Jai is special and so is Kitty. But there is never an aha! moment where we see something earth shattering about Drake. There is no real suspense. No shocking cliff hangers.
JUST PARANOID?
When Jai meets Hugo and Seal, he doesn't quite take their claims seriously. After all, they don't really have any proof. I thought it would have been better if Jai started to wonder if they were crazy, or what he was getting into.
Also, I wanted their to be a moment where Jai was fully skeptical, and then discovered something that revealed he was wrong. But instead it's Seal who claims she has proof, but it's all just her opinion.
I wanted suspense and hints. I wanted Jai to walk away from Seal and then realize it was a mistake. Instead he just follows Seal, even though she could just as well be crazy.
ALTERNATIVE REALITIES
Turns out that there are multiple realities. But to tell you the truth, I didn't realize what time period Jai's world was. They mention gaslights, but not much else. I didn't expect their to be cell phones at a school. And I guess they could have simply not mentioned if there were computers.
So when they go to another world, and he see's technology for the first time, that was the first real time I realized what Jai's world was like. I didn't get a feel for his time period at all.
Perhaps some other elements should have been mentioned, like forms of travel such as trains and old automobiles. Perhaps the standards of health, or education. Maybe the expectations of woman. Anything. But it's basically ignored.
NOT FAIR?
Jai complains how unfair it is about his parents. I understand it's sad for him, after all, he was born in this country (they never say England, but it's where I assume the story takes place). But it is actually fair. They broke a law. They are illegals. But the book never uses those terms.
And Jai doesn't seem to have any real understanding as to the fact that his parents are criminals. Even though he reveals they told him that they were breaking the law, long ago. And just to keep his head down.
But he never resents them for what they did. Nor does he admire them for taking risks and coming to this country. He just seems to think it's unfair that illegals get deported. I wanted mixed feelings. Something deeper. But his understanding and response is shallow.
ADVENTURES AT NIGHT
In the middle of the night, a talking cat awakens Jai and drags him around the grounds. I didn't understand two things.
One: Why didn't Jai ever stop and question the cat on who she was and how she could talk? He says it feels like a dream, but I felt that was a lame explanation.
Two: What was the purpose with such odd training? To test his balance and do agility training? It never really comes in handy. Jai just vaguely recalls how he was better than he thought he was, because of this. So, I guess he wasn't that fragile. Or something.
SUNITA AT THE LAST SECOND-SPOILERS
There is one scene where Jai converses with a Hispanic girl named Sunita. She doesn't follow along with the others, but Seal doesn't like her for some reason. Perhaps she is jealous of her. It isn't expanded upon.
He only gets one more scene with her when she is leaving school. He shares his problems about his parents. I thought this was odd, because he barely knows her. And the information he volunteers is kind of personal.
The whole point is that her father works in the government. So when the book ends, Jai can live happily ever after and not have to leave the country.
CATS & DOGS
It's kind of obvious that Kitty is going to be the cat. We get weird references to her, as a human, purring. I would have liked their to be little things, like Kitty being lazy and a loner. And Roughly being energetic and friendly. And maybe protective. I think it could have been funny when they were revealed to be animals because they followed such basic images of cats and dogs. But it wasn't creative at all. It didn't feel inspired, but as if it was hastily done.
SEAL'S GOODBYE
Seal ends up having to say goodbye to Hugo near the end of the book. In the small time they have together, Seal seems emotionally reliable on him. Basically he is her only friend. And they do everything together. So much so that when they have a disagreement later, it tears Seal apart. She becomes distraught, causing a scene and embarrassing Hugo.
So when she says goodbye, probably forever, and barely shows any emotion at all, I was confused. It could be chalked up to character growth, but it just doesn't show. Seal doesnt' change much throughout the story. She is always stubborn, bold, and emotional. So becoming stoic didn't suit her.
SEAL'S SKILLS-SPOILERS
When they first cross over to another world, Jai is watching Seal and one horse. She vanishes, and suddenly there are two horses there. Kitty points out that she can shape shift, which is rather amazing. But when Jai asks about where she went to, Seal just plays coy.
Then she goes back home without discussing it. I found this rather unbelievable. The Seal I know would brag about it and be excited. Or at least ask why she could do this, but not Jai. They were told that going through the portal may change them, but Jai doesn't seem any different.
JAI'S REALIZATION
Jai makes a discovery about himself but then has to decide if he wants to follow after Kitty and Roughly. He does, and this proves important, but his realization that he isn't the fragile child his parents think he is kind of comes out of the blue. I mean, so what if he spend two nights learning to balance and be slightly more athletic? That doesn't mean anything. But it's supposed to be a dramatic revelation.
CLIMAX
Kitty and Roughly realize that they made a big mistake. So they go after Seal. Jai realizes he should go after them, and does so. He ends up saving them after an incident and they go back home. There they find Seal and confront Drake.
ABOUT THE BABY-SPOILERS
There is a story we get told in the beginning about a baby that died in a chest. Turns out that chest is the portal to another world. And Kitty says that originally a baby was born with amazing gifts. And since then, whenever it passes, another human is born with those gifts. I didn't quite understand it.
Where did the gifts come from? Why could they only be in one person at a time? Was the person reincarnated over again? Or just the abilities? Did the owners have any certain traits in common? Some way of identifying them? Because Kitty just seems to have lucked into finding one with a special item.
A SPECIAL ITEM-SPOILERS
Jai finds an item that Seal drops, so when he sees Kitty, he has the item. Then she suddenly treats him special. Seal is quite attached to it, but I honestly forgot about it. I thought Seal was just a naturally emotional girl. And that's why she loved it. There was no waiting for Kitty to find out about it, no waiting for hints to be dropped and the pieces to come together. So when they did, I was like, oh, yeah. I forgot about that thing.
I was probably just dense, but I wanted more hints. And the only hint I got about Seal besides owning that item, was that she was an orphan. I felt like so little thought was put into her, and the puzzle in general.
THE TRUTH-SPOILERS
It turns out that it's Seal that's from this other world, and not Jai. But Jai doesn't seem to have strong feelings either way. He just says he feels relief.
There is no let down that he isn't someone special. Nor any jealously that it's actually Seal. Nor any anger that he was dragged into dangerous situations by people who basically had no idea what they were talking about. It was just kind of like, oh. I am glad this is over with, then.
I just think the story would have been better if Jai had wanted to be from another world. Maybe he resented his parents for being illegals, for putting him in this situation where he would have to leave the only home he had known.
Or they should have emphasized his love for his family, and he could have fought the idea that he wasn't theirs, harder. But he just thinks its sad if they only had him so they remain in a foreign country.
So when he found out, he would have been so happy to remain and to see his parents again. And he wouldn't care about leaving the country and about any hardships he had to endure. Because he loved his parents, flaws in all. But I never got any strong feelings about his parents either way.
CONCLUSION
Jai and Seal are likable enough, but they never feel fully fleshed out. The side characters are even less developed.
The idea about an evil boarding school where children get brainwashed isn't exactly original, but it could have been interesting.
The villain essentially has no real motivation. He is just some criminal from another world who did bad things, and is still doing them. Just because.
And the relationships feel rather weak. Seal never bonds with Jai and becomes emotionally attached to him like she had Hugo. And her attachment to him magically disappears when she gets a new identity.
I give “Under the Cat's Eye” two stars.
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