Eye of Cat

Despite the fact that his protagonists often seem cut from the same cloth (loner who lives outside society, brought back in by an old connection for one last job, extremely competent, laid back, fond of wry humor and understatement, often a smoker), Roger Zelazny is one of my favorite authors. In Eye of Cat, the paint by numbers protagonist is William Blackhorse Singer, Navajo shaman and tracker, who has spent much of his considerable lifetime hunting alien beasts to fill a sort of zoo on Earth. (Ok, maybe "paint by numbers" isn't a fair characterization of Singer. Much of the novel is spent on his mental state/mystical experiences, which does set him apart from other Zelazny characters) He is the last surviving member of his clan, and no longer fits in with his society due to having lived around one hundred seventy years, owing to both advanced medicine and the time dilation effects of relativistic travel. (This is very significant, since family and clan are very important to the Navajo. One of the harshest criticisms one can make of a Navajo is "He behaves as if he had no family.")

The hook for Singer's one last job is pretty standard sci-fi fare: there's going to be an assassination attempt at a summit between humans and aliens, and the security forces all pulling out all the stops to combat it. Singer is merely one of many lines of defense. Since the potential assassin is a shapeshifter, Singer's mind turns to Cat, a shapeshifter he had captured years ago, who he has long suspected of sentience. (Singer reflects on this prior to visiting Cat -- while he realizes he may have done a great wrong, he would have preferred to live his life not knowing, in ignorance and cowardice) Cat agrees to stop the assassination, but his price is Singer's life -- during Cat's imprisonment, his planet's star has gone nova, so Cat is alone in the universe. (This part seems a bit fishy to me. Cat has been at the zoo for ~50 years -- I'd imagine a star ~50 years away from going nova would have already changed significantly, to the point where life that evolved millions of years ago would be under significant pressure, and possibly in a hostile environment. Even adjusting for relativistic travel, I have trouble imagining where even a star ~200 years from going nova would be comparable to the same star millions of years previous)

After the assassination attempt is resolved, we get the real plot -- Cat hunting Singer. Most of the novel is devoted to the hunt, with everything prior serving to set the scene. While the chase continues, we delve deeper into Singer's mental state, and he's forced to come to terms with his past, his ancestry, and his potential future. There's also an increasingly important side plot involving psychics hired to help stop the potential assassination. All in all, it's not my favorite Zelazny novel (that would be Lord of Light, or one of "Home is the Hangman" and "The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth" if we're counting novellas.) Regardless, very fun, and Zelazny remains one of my favorite sci-fi writers. His language can be as evocative as Bradbury's.