Author: Marc Andreyko
Publisher: DC Comics
Rating: WORTHY!
Nicely illustrated by Shawn McManus.
I picked this up in the library because it looked really interesting, and I was not disappointed. Unfortunately, this is book four in a series, which I didn’t realize until after I’d read it. It did give me the distinct impression that it was part of something ongoing, but that said, it was possible to enjoy this without having read the earlier stories – although now I really want to read those earlier ones!
I always appreciate a story with a strong female characters, and this one has them in droves. By strong female character I don’t necessarily mean one who can literally kick ass, although those are fine; I mean characters who are self-motivated, independent, and who don’t wilt away. They don’t need men, but are happy to have them around, and they can take care of business, which is actually what they’re primarily focused upon.
In this aptly-named tale, rodents (which look like rats to me, so I’m going to refer to them as rats!) are human-sized and intent upon assassinating various lead females in the series, but those females are not going down without a fight. In fact, they’re not going down at all, and the fight goes right back to the rats, which are routinely defeated. The big question is where these rats are coming from? Who is behind this bizarre rat infestation?
I don’t know how you feel about rats, but I love them. My wife has kept pairs of pet females rats for some time and I absolutely adore them. They’re lovable and hilarious, and so tame. Once you get them home and acclimatized to you and your smell, they are more than willing to climb all over you, ride around on your shoulder, climb up your pants leg, and eat out of your hand. They love to scamper around on the floor investigating everything, but will come when you call them – usually. But I digress!
One of the most interesting characters for me got short shrift here – it was one of the ‘evil step-sisters’ and she was totally kick-ass. Hopefully I can learn more about her by reading other volumes in this series. In addition to her, there were lots of other interesting characters, including a blue guy from Indian mythology (that’s India, not native American) with whom I wasn’t familiar. We met the three blind mice, and a fairy godmother.
The art work was gorgeous in this volume: colorful, well delineated, evocative, lively, and very functional. It was a real pleasure both to read and to look at. I recommend this.
