The Foul Mouth And The Cat Killing Coyotes (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
King Henry Price, both as a student and as an adult, is rude and obscene and funny and even though very much a fictional character, also very fully developed and a real personality. Because of the rudeness, I would never recommend this to anyone who is genuinely offended by or even uncomfortable with foul language. I'm not, being much more offended by hate language and things meant to hurt someone's feelings than I am by the F bomb, and I found this book and the one before it, to be entertaining and a lot of fun.I enjoy the story being told in two time frames, both in the school days at the magical, but not Hogwarts, asylum, and in the adult world where King Henry must make a living and deal with such things as finding his missing sister married to the Head Were-coyote. This series was recommended to me when i was lamenting being done with the most recent Dresden Series book, and there is a sense of familiarity in the use of magic to fight off supernatural crime. It is a fun and energetic story, if you like magic and mystery and a certain sense of honest cynicism. Oh how I love the King Henry Tapes series. Reading the second volume was like coming back home, I promise... And it featured all the great stuff that made me fall for our foul mouthed hero back in book one. If you’ve not read about it, go here and check my review.So, The Foul Mouth and the Cat Killing Coyotes picks up right after The Foul Mouth and the Fanged Lady let off. I’ll be completely honest: it took me a few pages to get back into the dynamics for these books and to remember exactly what had happened, but once I did? I devoured the story!King Henry thought he was done telling us about his messed-up teen age years. He thought he had spilled his feelings, he had matured, and that was it. Boy, was he wrong: he didn’t have to talk a little about himself... He had to tell everything! So he does. He tells us about another episode that also changed him: no in the shattering, emotional way the even in book one did (not sharing in case you haven’t read) but in fundamental ways nonetheless. We’ll get to see his priorities, and we’ll get to see what it means to be an Artificer (and how exactly he discovered that one).That’s for young King Henry. But, do you remember how there are two sets of tapes? The ones about the beginning of it all, spoken while he was still a brash, scarred young man; and the ones where he remembers about being brash and brazen after he becomes infamous.The second set doesn’t tell special anecdotes that might enlighten us about being a Mancer or about growing up. It’s telling how King Henry became as well-known as he is... step by step. In book one we had Annie B., a stolen artifact and a lot of vampire politicians handled with the King Henry special care package: punch first, ask later. It showed us that in spite of his choice of words, King Henry could be trustworthy, had a heart in the right place and was capable of compassion.We’ll see another growth spurt in his character in this newest adventure. We’ll start with him not being the hero: he doesn’t help ladies because he’s a hero, but because he hates bullies. Except, those bullies are not what they seem. They come with strings attached, enough of them that King Henry could weave a whole tapestry. And while the consequences might or might not seem that big and important in the big scheme of things, this installments gives us action, fun, character development... and a lot of pieces set for upcoming titles, if I'm not solely mistaken.His reaction to the situation was so genuinely his that it warmed me in spite of the swearing. No matter how many times he drops the f-bomb, or calls witches with capital b, or makes gross and coarse comments... this dude has a soft spot in my heart. Because, you know? He might be delinquent kid he is, but he calls a pot a pot and a kettle a kettle. And when he acts, there’s logic to his actions. You can agree or not, and you can follow his lead or cringe at the mess he’s going to make of things, but he’s consequential with his actions and that’s something that makes him real.Should you read this series? Yes. Immediately. As in, drop your TBR and grab it. There’s bad language and coarse jokes on racial stereotypes and on sexism, there’s a spoken quality to the narration that sometimes butchers grammar (just like a man with King Henry’s background would butcher grammar, no more and no less) and there might be a real typo here or there in between the characterization, but I’d like to ask you to actually embrace that because it makes the character and the series unique.Recommended hands down!
What do You think about The Foul Mouth And The Cat Killing Coyotes (2000)?
Just finished this second installment of King Henry and can't wait for more. Very enjoyable reading!
—Lendy
A page turner with real character. This book as it all and does it well.
—Maggie_1123
It was an enjoyable read but not as good as the first book.
—feast1
