After wandering about the New World and resting from her ordeals with Lizzie, Johnny and her new goddaughter, cat is ready to get back out in the world and find an occupation. After all, she can’t rely on others forever and she dearly misses the paint and organized chaos of Drury Lane. So she and Pedro, the inseperable duo wows the strict theatre manager, Mrs. Peabody and join her troupe for their Carribean tour.

Their first stop is Santo Domingo. . actually no. The island is near a powder keg as the rebel leader and former slave, Touissant gathers slaves, mulettos and others to fight against the white plantation owners for freedom and right. Bloodshed will occur soon so the theatre company moves on but it lights a spark in Pedro. He has been happy but the news of the rebellion has sparked an epiphany that he should do more with his freedom than just show his talents on stage. He wants to help his race. A noble goal but Cat fears for his safety and dearly hopes their time in Jamaica will quell these fires.

As you can guess, when they land in Jamaica, trouble finds her first in a variety of manners from the return of Billy Shepard to Master Hawkins to maleria and her own recklessness.

Let’s get the big elephant out of the way: Billy Shepard. Golding does quite an interesting twist to Shepard’s character, not quite a redemption but not the twisted sociopath he was portrayed in the first three books. Well, maybe a bit sociopathic but it’s better hidden now which just makes it unnerving as he and Cat sort of create a truce. Or at least acknowledge how they “get each other”. It’s a true cat and mouse game here as Billy will force kisses on Cat against her will but also shows genuine concern when she is kidnapped and indentured. Cat starts to soften toward Billy but then is reminded of his heinous manipulative nature when he forces her to become a slave owner to Jenny or else he’ll send her to the fields.

If Billy hadn’t done that, Cat wouldn’t have gotten into a fight with Pedro. We, readers are very familiar with Cat’s righteous hatred of slavery and how owning someone else is just wrong and inhumane and Cat hates how Billy cornered her into it. But Pedro is angered with his closest friend because even though she promises she’ll find a way to get Jenny’s free papers from Billy, he thinks she’ll fall into the slippery slope of enjoying a slave doing everything for her and use racist justification that Jenny “needs” her care and protection rather than freedom.

Golding is quite realistic in her portrayal of slavery showing different views. There’s the obvious racists like Master Hawkins and his overseer that enjoy raining pain and humilation on their slaves because they believe in the racial superiority and inferiority.

There’s Georgia Atkins, a quadroon who can pass but is unlikely to be considered respectable due to her heritage. She is quite comfortable with life as it is and even believes that slaves need white masters to protect and care for them because they’re too uneducated to do anything else.

Of course, there’s Billy, now a slave-owner who treats his slave well enough but that’s because it is only about profits and margins for him and he has no care for their humanity or just the morality of the institution.

Golding even touches on the apathy of the rest of the island as Cat wonders how the white society can so easily ignore the humanity of the auction block at dock corners. Jamaica is made of two societies as Cat continuously notes the white side while the slaves and African Americans are hidden behind huts and such so there forced labor is hidden from view.

She also learns more than she thought she would about Jamaica’s inner workings when Pedro goes missing. Cat’s sure that he’s gone to Santo Domingo but ends up in the debt of Billy and the hands of Hawkins in her panic to find him before a bullet finds him first. This is spoiler-free as ever so I won’t reveal what else happens but I must say the Jacky Faber similarities reach a peak here from the condemnation of slavery to piratical dealings to the theatre play and Cat’s burst of temper.

As for Cat here, she is thown around quite a bit, moved by her emotions than her brain which leads to some hard lessons about recklessness. But it was also a joy to see Cat find a sense of home and purpose as an actress, giving her a goal in life after all her time in the background of Drury Lane.

She also learns a bit of white saviorism as her clinginess towards Pedro is yes motivated primarily by concern for his safety as they’re the closest each other has to family but maybe she has been overlooking that as a free boy, he has a right to make these choices.

I admire the latest Cat Royal adventure for how it changes the stakes and Cat’s world in a real permenant way showing he constant changing nature and growth of Cat and her friends and I’m sure others will enjoy it too.

Now here are some critic highlight:

“She is a tyger burning bright in the forests of literary night” -William Blake

“What clearer evidence could one wish of the inequity of the slave trade” -Thomas Clarkson, Abolitionist

“A tissue of lies from start to finish: the black slaves of Jamaica are much better off under the enlightened rule of white masters. How dare she suggest otherwise!” -Bryan Edwards, Jamaican Planter and Historian

On reflection, I think I’ve heard quite enough from this representative of the swinish multitude” -Edmund Burke, Politician