**FELINE FICTION FIX** Book Reviews with Amber at The Mewton-Clawson Library #336 featuring **DOT SLASH MAGIC** by Liz Shipton **PLUS** Friendly Fill-Ins

Hello, meautiful library guests 

and 

Welcome to the Mewton-Clawson Library at BBHQ 

Thank mew for joining me in the stacks today, and I know I said we were going to Valley of the Kings last week, but I thought the Valley of the Queens should come first! MOL 

🦞 My Egyptian Adventure #3:- Lobster Lunch with Royal Spirits 👑

Location: Valley of the Queens, Luxor

Time: Midday, with the sun casting golden halos over sacred stone

Dahlings, today, I dined where queens once dreamed, at the Valley of the Queens, a place so steeped in history, even my whiskers tingled with reverence. Nestled in the Theban hills, this sacred necropolis was the final resting place for royal women of the New Kingdom, including the famed Queen Nefertari, whose tomb is a masterpiece of colour and devotion. I felt her presence in the breeze, and I swear she approved of my ensemble.

I arrived in full regalia, a diamond necklace that sparkled like the desert sun, and a silk wrap in Nile blue that fluttered just so, until it blew away, lost to the sands of time. My table was set on a stone terrace overlooking the tomb entrances, each carved with hieroglyphs that whispered tales of love, legacy, and divine protection.

And what a feast it was:

A silver platter overflowing with lobster, shrimp, oysters, and caviar

  A chilled flute of Catnip Champagne, bubbles rising like ancient prayers

  A stack of books on Egyptian queens and feline mythology, because one must dine with dignity

  A scroll tucked beside my paw, filled with notes for my memoir, Amber of the Nile

I lifted a shrimp with my fork (yes, I do use cutlery when the mood strikes) as I gazed across the valley. The silence was profound, broken only by the soft rustle of wind through stone. I caught my reflection in the champagne bottle and whispered, “Amber, mew are history.” And in that moment, I was.

The tombs may be sealed, but today, they bear witness to a new kind of royalty: one with fur, flair, and a passion for seafood.

Mood: Reverent, radiant, and regally full

Quote of the day: “To dine among queens is to remember that elegance never fades, it simply evolves.”

Well, that's this week's travelogue done. Next week, I’ll definitely be sharing the Valley of the Kings. Expect reverence, great dining, and dazzling accessories.

Before I forget, it's my 23rd Birthday today, but wait, the pawty is tomorrow because we have a rather special book review today.

Anyhoo, let's look at this week's top book pick.

Today, the P.A. is also joining in Friday Fill-ins Blog Hop with the pawesome 15 & Meowing and Four-Legged Furballs.

1. My hometown is __________.

2. October is a good time to __________________.

3. If I saw the ghost of _________, I would _________.

4. You couldn’t pay me to wear a _________ costume.

The P.A.'s answers are...

1. My hometown is not the place it once was, you know, funny thing, I've always loved my home city, but since covid, it's unrecognisable and I don't like it at all anymore. 

2. October is a good time to begin a new B Team Adventure, and yes, it's being written right now, so you will be reading PAW'S OF DESTINY very soon!.

3. If I saw the ghost of Basil, I would say, "Dude, what took you so long?" LOL (Yep, I still miss him terribly!  And I've seen many spirits/ghosts throughout my life, but never him ... yet). 

4. You couldn’t pay me to wear a _________ costume. You couldn't pay me to wear any costume right now ... call it my bahumbug time of life! LOL

Mewton-Clawson Library Copy

Dot Slash Magic

by

Liz Shipton

      

Here's a little snippet of the book blurb:      

A deadbeat coder with a savage sense of humor, twenty-four-year-old Seven Jones has been bumming around Europe since high school, stringing together freelance web work. When a bad breakup derails her life, she’s forced to return to community college in San Diego to pull it back together. The last thing she expects to find there is an underground magic club.

Skeptical, Seven joins the motley crew of magic weirdos and discovers a complex hidden world, where magic is wielded by artists and athletes, and only the most committed and passionate succeed. Without an artistic or passionate bone in her body, Seven struggles to find her own power…until she figures out how to channel it through an artificially intelligent assistant.

Unfortunately, there is nothing the magical community hates more than AI, and when a student mysteriously turns up dead, blame falls on Seven. But Seven isn’t buying it. Is her “creepy artificial magic” really summoning monsters, like her peers claim? Or is someone trying to frame her?

FYI ~ I was given a copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review

📚 This Week’s Paw-Picked Read:- Dot Slash Magic

Hold onto your whiskers, reboot your wand and spellbooks because this week’s read had me meowing in binary and casting firewalls with flair! Dot Slash Magic is a tail-twitching techno-fantasy romp that blends sass, sorcery, and savage satire into one gloriously glitchy reality. Oh, and there's a small smattering of spicy romantic entanglements, so don't be surprised, I did warn mew.

🐾 What’s the Story?

Meet Seven Jones, a snarky, sleep-deprived coder with a suitcase full of sarcasm and zero patience for magical nonsense. After a breakup sends her spiralling back to community college in San Diego, she stumbles into a secret society of wand-wielding weirdos who treat magic like an Olympic sport meets interpretive dance. Seven’s got no rhythm, no passion, and definitely no wand; instead, she created an A.I. assistant with attitude, and that’s where the chaos begins.

When a student turns up mysteriously dead and fingers point to Seven’s “creepy artificial magic,” she’s forced to fight off mythological monsters, dodge magical purists, and question whether her A.I. is summoning more than just sass. With only Logan (a cinnamon roll with secrets) by her side, Seven must prove she’s not the villain … even if she’s not entirely sure herself.

Of course, we can't forget the cat, a sweet kitty with a huge secret. His name is Neo, and while he pops up periodically throughout the story, it's not until mew get to the final chapters that Neo is truly revealed.

#SHOCKER #DIDN'TSEETHATONECOMING

😻 What I Loved:-

💻 Seven’s voice is razor-sharp and hilariously funny. I spat my catnip tea out more than once.

🧙‍♀️ The magic club? A glorious mess of chaotic energy, egos and existential dread with more rules than a dictatorship.

🤖 The A.I. assistant Dot is a scene-stealer, equal parts helpful and hilariously unsettling.

🐉 The monsters? A mythological menagerie of nightmare fuel and legendary delight.

🎭 The parody bites hard, skewering tech culture, gatekeeping, and magical elitism with claws out.

📖 My Final Thoughts:-

Liz Shipton has conjured a spellbinding plot that’s as clever as it is comedic. The story is a genre-bending joyride through the tangled wires of true identity, creativity, and what it means to be truly human (or artificially magical). It's a thrilling page-turning, helter-skelter of a read with a magical system/world that's utterly exceptional, and I devoured it in two days, tail flicking with anticipation at every page.

(And this week, Reginald tried to optimise my spellcasting with his own recently procured A.I. familiar. It summoned a floating toaster offering shape-shifting, colour-coded waffles to match the Library Archive file tabs. We’re still negotiating its terms of existence.)

I also purrchased the audio version so I could relive this furbulously enjoyable adventure all over again with all its magical mayhem, and I have to say the narration is supurr, especially Dot!

DOT SLASH MAGIC

A Byte-Sized Masterpiece of Magical Mayhem!

Unputdownable, unfiltered, and utterly unforgettable.

I REALLY HOPE THERE'S A SEQUEL! (SOON!)

Author website

Paperback: 400 pages

Audio: 14 hours 41 mins

My Rating Scale

Ratings of:

Dot Slash Magic

Overall Enjoyment

 Other Fun Blog Hops to Join Today

          Brian's Home   Catblogosphere    Feline Friday   Nature Friday    Flashback Friday   Friendship Friday   

I'm off to prepare for next week's review, as mew know the drill, so many books, so little time!

I always look forward to your company every Friday throughout the review season as I share a specially paw-picked book just for mew, my epic readers!

Don't forget if mew are looking for great books with cats, check out the Book Review page, just click the link here or at the top of the page, as that's the place to visit to get your feline fiction fix.

Until next week...

Keep calm and read more books

Amber 

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