Although this novel is relatively short, I had a difficult time finishing it.

While the world building is detailed, it felt like there just wasn’t enough information given to me. Maybe it could have been accomplished if the book were longer? I did like the knowledgeable fox who questioned why he was the only one and what his origins were.

I feel like this had the potential to be great, sadly though, this book was not for me.

The book cover is gorgeous. The premise of this novella was intriguing, the writing was good and flowed easily, and the world created had a touch of whimsy (really enjoyed the talking animals), however I did not connect with any of the characters. The ending was quite abrupt and I felt as though there wasn't enough time to delve into the characters enough to care much about the quest taking place.

There is a lot of punch packed into this little novel. The story itself is interesting and entertaining. The characters are engaging and relatable. What makes this book so great is the multitude of options for interpretation, symbolism and representation. This is something you can think about, peel back a layer and think about all over again, almost endlessly.

Quintus, our narrator, is a fox - and he's the only knowledgeable fox in the world. He is a navigator, and helps expeditions travel and explore using hidden paths. We join Quintus after he returns from a first, tragic journey. But he is soon pressed into duty for a second expedition, with a terrifying goal. The story alternates chapters between past (first expedition) and present (second expedition), while Quintus aims to discover important secrets about his past.
This novella is pure joy and loads of fun!

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for this e-arc.*

From the bright colored cover to the story about a Fox who leads not one, but two perilous expeditions, I was hooked from the summary. Though it's a quick read, I did find the story a bit slow on the off-set and a bit complex for a novella. However, honestly, it was deep and engaging once I really got into. I wanted to know more about our main character and some of the others along the way and I wanted to delve into this world and it's knowledgeable animals. If this is just a taste of what may come in the future, then I am excited to know more. However, if this is the only morsel we get of Quintus, I will be a bit sad not to explore it further. There is good world-building and fairly well developed characters, but I also think it was a bit much for less than 200 pages. I would have loved to see a bit more of a focused story for these pages but I do hope we get more tales from this world from Mr. Rowe.

I'm either at a point in life where I have an unmet need for fantastical stories with talking animals written for adults, and Christopher Rowe has seen this void and wrote a perfect novella to fill it, or it's the kind of book that just by dropping into your hands at the right moments creates that need and ignites the craving for more. Either way, just to give you a picture of how much I enjoyed reading this: every now and then I kept pausing to scream with delight CARTOGRAPHER RACOONS and AMBASSADOR BISONS at my partner, and taking a pause just to grin about how happy that makes me.

I think the best thing about this novella is that the tone chosen is not lofty or preachy, even if the questions it asks are serious. None of that Coelho or Jonathan Livingston stuff for me, please and thank you. <i>The Navigating Fox</i> is an adventure, a caper -- I mean, the story opens with the hero infiltrating a hearing about his own misdeeds and catapulting himself into the proceedings on a grand chandelier -- and one that manages to do an excellent job at sketching out the world that tantalizes you with the visions of more. Half a kingdom for more stories set in the universe where humans co-exist with 'knowledgeable animals' - animals made sentient by an alchemical process - and there is so much nuance to the inter-cultural and inter-species interaction, it could easily fuel a fantasy trilogy or two. Which is what I'm hoping we will get one day from Christopher Rowe, because I, for one, would definitely love to spend more time in this world.

My thanks to Tor Dot Com and #Netgalley for an advance copy of this delightful novella.

3.5

Thanks to the author/publisher for providing me with an ARC for an honest review.

A good and really quick read about Quintus Shu'al, who's a sentient fox. In a world where certain animals are "knowledgeable" (in this case, it means being as sentient as humans), Quintus is the only knowledgeable fox, and so, he wonders about his origins and why that is the case. His willingness to find out about that leads to an expedition unlike any others, where he must lead a ragtag group to the gates of hell...

As previously said, it's a good and really quick read. A lot of readers can probably read and finish this in one sitting, thanks to the novella-length size, the fast-paced plot and the easy-to-go-through prose. However, it's also one of those books where I feel like it would've been better if it was a full length novel, or at least a few dozen pages longer.

With characters and worldbuilding that is so unique, it feels like a missed opportunity to not delve deeper into them (unless there's a sequel on the way, of course). Both the characters and the worldbuilding are done in a way so you only really know the absolutely necessary stuff. I think this sort of storytelling works really well when the characters and/or the worldbuilding is more generic (and usually the focus would be on the plot), and not when both of them are so unique and interesting like in the case of this book.

However, despite all that, I think this is still a good read and one that I definetely didn't regret picking up.

A very different and very whimsical book albeit the serious events and existentialist questions.

Quintus is the only knowing fox in a world of knowing and talking animals amongst humans. He is also the only fox able to navigate the silver road, and in his quest to find out exactly how he came to be, must lead another expedition along to life's end.

This book is very difficult to describe in entirety without spoiling too much since its novella sized. The world and story is incredibly intriguing and I found myself wanting to know more.
Despite this there are some sections that seem just a bit stilted and you're left wondering what you missed.
A small thing that can make this book a bit hard to read are the names, they are roman inspired and therefore not your everyday, flow of the tongue names, which honestly halts the reading flow when bombarded with many different characters.

That said, its fun and inspiring reading the hows and whats of the sly and cunning fox and the naivety of some religious followers. It’s a colourful tale of finding your place and purpose in life, even if it’s not what you originally set out for.

This was a really interesting book, I've never come across anything like this. It's short, more of a novella, and tracks several journeys of humans and 'knowledgeable animals', led by our titular navigating fox. I found the magic system and world very intriguing and I think the author could easily come back to this world for another story. Perfect for fans of SFF. The prose I found interesting as well, it made the book feel like a relic from another time.

This book was really creative... the world building and writing were a bit stilted... I spent half of the book confused and then it clicked and I predicted some of the ending, but not all. I would have preferred a more clear writing style and more background on why/how animals became knowledgeable, and a history of the silver roads and what they were/why they were special. The author set this book up nicely if he wants to have prequels or sequels, so I do hope to see more of these, but I would prefer the fox to sound less pompous in future books. I did enjoy the story and would recommend reading it if you like fantasy and can get on board with talking animals as part of society. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This was great! If you like talking animals, this novella is full of them. The story is told by a navigating fox. He’s leading an expedition of humans and talking animals over the Silver Roads. He tells of this expedition and the previous one, in which he was the only one to return.

The author created a fascinating world, drawn clearly despite it being a novella. The navigating fox himself is delightful. I loved this book. I highly recommend it. I definitely want to read more by this author. It comes out September 26. Thank you to Tordotcom and NetGalley for the eARC.

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

Quintus is the only known navigating fox. In his world, where humans live alongside animals who are "knowledgeable" and "voiceless," an Empire with a distinct Roman flare rules a portion of the world. Quintus can navigate paths that are unseen to others--and his last mission, a year before, resulted in no survivors. When he is called to task on that, he is enlisted to lead yet another expedition, this one to the very gates of Hell. The story takes on a back and forth format between the two expeditions, as what happened in the first trip is gradually revealed.

The world here is so fascinating. I'd love to read more works in this setting. It feels like we're given the bare minimum of worldbuilding, enough to tantalize. The format of the book initially baffled me but I soon found the groove. This is a quick read, engrossing all the way through, with an ending that has a definite sense of rightness to it.

Christopher Rowe has written a novella that opens a fascinating world. The Navigating Fox is a mix of quest fantasy and talking animals and somehow it all works together.

You're told as much as you need to know about the world and the quest to start with, without bogging you down in exposition. I found it a little hard to get into, but once I really dug into it, I couldn't put it down. It's very hard to describe this without going off on tangents (the buffalo! The Gates of Hell!), you really need to read this for yourself.

Take an afternoon, a cup of tea (or beverage of choice) and maybe a cookie or two and immerse yourself. You won't regret it.

I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest opinion.

I tried picking up this book a few times but unfortunately I couldn't maintain my interest. I feel like I don't know enough about Roman society to be able to easily become engaged in the story being told. I'd frequently stumble across a term I didn't know and have to Google it before proceeding and eventually just gave up. The writing style was fine, I just didn't have the patience to keep going back and forth between the book and Wikipedia. The cover is stunning though!

The Navigating Fox takes a large world, combines it with a unique magic system, and then provides only snippets of both amidst its quick plot line and small page count. While this may be unsatisfactory for some readers, for others it can be enjoyable to extrapolate in a genre that tends to rely heavily on specificity. The prose throughout accented the mysterious nature of the story well, creating an almost dreamy quality to the chapters as you try to figure out more about the world alongside the titular navigating fox.

In this novella you jump in time between two expeditions, both of which have underlying context that builds up to a big reveal. The world contains humans and what are called knowledgeable creatures, animals that have the powers of speech and reason due to magic that was created and quickly outlawed. The navigating fox is in search of who made him knowledgeable and gave him his unique powers.

While I loved the setup of this story and appreciate how much thought seemed to be put into the formulation of the world's magic system and different cultures, the execution felt a bit lacking. Where I was hoping for everything to tie together, I was instead left with more mystery. It will be interesting to see whether this book is followed by a sequel, and if so, I hope to return to this world and learn a lot more about it.

Overall, if you're looking for a quick read and something a little different, consider picking up The Navigating Fox. It will at the very least be something new, and could possibly spark a love for fantasy that strays from the norm.

The Navigating Fox is a whimsical novella featuring humans, animals able to speak, and “unknowledgeable” animals who are silent. After leading an expedition to its doom, Quintus agrees to guide another group to the Gate of Hell to redeem himself and uncover his origins. Quintus is the only speaking and navigating fox and is the only one able to access roads that shorten trips that would take months to days or even weeks. This story takes us along two expeditions, the one that led to the disappearance of all members sans Quintus, and the motley crew traveling to Hell. The prose is lyrical and the world was original, however little to no world building is involved and the plot was so short I felt that not much happened. This is a twist close to the end, but the consequences aren’t explored or even theorized. I think people who enjoy eccentric fantasies and appreciate shorter stories would enjoy this. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a book I enjoyed as much as I hoped, but I think that’s mostly due to my personal tastes. Objectively, this is a good fantasy with an original plot and creative elements.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tordotcom for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review!

The story follows Quintus Shu’al, the world’s only navigating fox, who now must lead an expedition to the gates of hell in order to redeem himself after a previous expedition failed.

Overall, The Navigating Fox is an interesting read. The prose is distinct and helps carry the feeling of being in a unique fantasy world. The novella offers a glimpse of many interesting aspects of this world and the different cultures residing within it. I particularly enjoyed learning about the bison ambassador, Walks Along Woman, and how her culture contrasted with that of Aquacolonia. However, I found that in later chapters some new threads are introduced that really don’t get as much attention as they needed. I read a fair number of novellas and am used to not getting as much exposition as I would in a novel, but in this case, it did take away from the novella a bit for me.

Overall, I would still recommend The Navigating Fox if the blurb catches your attention and you are generally a fan of fantasy novellas.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book! It took me a while to get into it, but once the action picks up it's really entertaining. The characters are fun and I loved the main character especially.

Definitely recommend getting through the beginning to read the rest of the book!

Quintus Shu’al is the world's only navigating fox, on a journey to repair his reputation after an ill fated first journey to the Gates of Hell. 4/5

The novella was fast paced, in some places a little too fast, and I found myself rereading pages to make sure I grasped what was happening. All together though? It really was a fun read. Humans and animals coexisting, some with voices, some without, all following the world’s only Navigating Fox to the Gates of Hell.

The Navigating Fox by Christopher Rowe, a good book. It was fairly unique and unpredictable, with good characters and a nice storyline.