After The Spear Cuts Through Water, three journeys with someone to look after
Jun and Keema help a captive goddess escape, with the heirs to the Moon Throne in pursuit. If you kept reading to see what travelling together would ask of them, try a book where the duty changes. A captain takes in a child, a man looks for a home for his cat, and a robot sets out to learn what people need.
Stay with Simon Jimenez for a family formed across years of space travel. Choose The Travelling Cat Chronicles to see a search for a home partly through the cat’s eyes, or A Psalm for the Wild-Built for a shorter journey built around a conversation.
The Vanished Birds
A solitary ship captain takes in a mute child with extraordinary power, drawing them toward a scientist whose search spans a thousand years.
The connection
In another novel by Simon Jimenez, a mysterious child comes into a ship captain’s care. Space travel separates the captain from people who age while she is away. The family they form has to contend with who can share the same years.
What changes after The Spear Cuts Through Water
The five-day flight from the Moon Throne gives way to a makeshift family spread across space and years. Choose this if the attachment formed on the road mattered to you more than the revolt.
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The Travelling Cat Chronicles
Nana the cat and Satoru cross Japan in a silver van to visit three old friends, though Nana has not been told the journey’s full purpose.
The connection
Satoru, who once took Nana in as a stray, now asks an old friend to take the cat. The two set out in a silver van across Japan. Nana has a voice of his own, so you can see some of the arrangements from the side of the traveller being looked after.
What changes after The Spear Cuts Through Water
The stops are visits to old friends. The question is where a cat will live next, and the people Satoru turns to carry memories of him that Nana cannot share.
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A Psalm for the Wild-Built
Centuries after Panga’s robots left for the wilderness, a tea monk meets a robot that must ask what people need.
The connection
Dex leaves the city to serve tea in the villages. A robot arrives to honour an old promise to find out what people need. Each comes to the encounter with a reason to pay attention to somebody else.
What changes after The Spear Cuts Through Water
The robot’s promise calls for questions and listening. Choose this short first volume of Monk & Robot if you want to follow two travellers figuring out what help might mean, with less danger than the escape from the Moon Throne.
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We checked the publishers’ descriptions on 9 November 2026 and read passages from the published openings of The Travelling Cat Chronicles and A Psalm for the Wild-Built. Use each book page to check the Kindle edition and market.