In Delhi, if you walk down any dark alley at night, you’ll meet them. Pair of amber eyes glint from a broken wall, a tail flicks like a sharp sword through the darkness, and suddenly the alley belongs not to you, but to them. The Cats. Mysterious, aloof, swift, fearless, hungry, playful, and strangely regal.
Nilanjana Roy’s The Wildings feels exactly like these cat encounters, sudden, half-real, half-mystical. It pulls you into this hidden realm, a feline society as fierce and fragile as our own, living in parallel with the human world.
She gives each cat in her novel a voice so distinct that you begin to recognize them as old acquaintances. There’s Mara, the orphaned kitten, stumbling into a community of feral cats; Beraal, the seasoned queen, scarred by battles but wise in leadership; Southpaw, a feisty little fighter with heart bigger than his size; Hulo, restless and reckless; and Miao, the philosopher with the patience of age. Together, they are not just strays in Delhi’s alleys; they are a society, bound by their own codes, loyalties, and wars.
At the heart of the story lies the idea of senders, these are a rare variety of cats gifted with the ability to project thoughts, emotions, and visions across great distances. It is telepathy woven into feline instinct. Through these mental transmissions, the Wildings connect, argue, share fears, and plot their survival in a city ruled by hidden rivalries.
The fantasy novel is so deftly written that it stops feeling like fantasy at all. You begin to believe that when two cats lock eyes across a courtyard, something wordless, something vast is passing between them. Prabha Mallya’s stark, delicate illustrations make the city’s shadows even more alive, each sketch a glimpse into their secret world.
The Wildings is irresistible not just due to its feline cast, but how Nilanjana uses them to mirror human conditions and emotions. Power struggles, friendships, betrayals, and resilience; these are the stories of all societies, just played out craftily in fur and claw. It’s fantasy rooted in reality, magic stitched into the feline characters we can relate with in our world.
Her sequel, The Hundred Names of Darkness, plunges even deeper. With the elder Miao gone, the community must decide who will lead them through looming threats. Mara, still uncertain of her gift as a Sender, begins to grow into her powers. The cats now face not only rival clans, but the human world that creeps ever closer, construction, cruelty, indifference.
Where the first book dazzled with the discovery of a secret society, the second weighs heavier with questions of leadership, loss, and resilience. The wildings must not only defend themselves but also preserve their identity in a city that is erasing their spaces. It is a story of survival, but also of inheritance, the passing down of memory and courage from one generation to the next.
And here is where these books leave their lasting mark, close the books, step outside, and suddenly every cat you see, seems to know more than it should. The casual flick of a tail, the unblinking stare from a wall, the way two strays pause and lock eyes before slinking away, it no longer feels accidental, what if it isn’t random at all? What if they are already sending to one another, weaving a silent web of thought above our heads, while we walk blindly through their world?
Links to the Author and Illustrator:
Leave a Reply