My dear bookish friends,
Are you a fan of action-packed fantasy stories with great characters? Then The Rat King by Emma Miles might just be THE book for you! Please keep on reading to find out what it’s about and what I liked about it, but here is a sneak preview of some of the points to sum it up:
+ A cool city map
+ Great adventure and lots of action
+ Characters are very well done
A huge thank you, as always, to TheWriteReads and the author for my ebook and spot on this tour, none of which influenced my review or rating in any way.
About the Book
Being the son of a Coven Lord is a far and desperate cry from luxury and safety. Every day Rothfel must prove he is worth the food his father puts on the table, and avoid the notice of Lord Atise’s brutal bodyguard, Bicken. When his only friend, a lowly slave, is cruelly taken from him, Rothfel finds himself alone in the sprawling, chaotic city of Letniv.
Yearning for friendship, love, and approval, he is offered a hand from the unlikeliest of places…
But who is really worth his loyalty?
Akimas Atise, his distant, cold, and terrifying father?
Golghen, the mysterious chameleon of Letniv city; king of liars, king of thieves?
Gentle, brave Leida; slave, concubine, descendant of the free women of the north?
Or Zephyr? Ghost, murderer, and devoted follower of the King of Rats.
Rothfel is only ten, but his choices, his love, his loyalty… will change the Land Beneath the Sky.
The Rats of Letniv is a prequel to the Fire-Walker saga and Land Beneath the Sky companion books.
My Review
With over 500 pages, The Rat King is quite a chonky read! It took me a little while to get a handle on this one; we are thrown right into the action and at first I was a bit confused about the setting, the characters, who is related to whom etc., but if you stick with it things start to make sense. I guess in a book of this length it is okay to take a little while to get into it! In the end I can safely say the best thing about this book is the characters.
The first one we are introduced to is the main character, the ten year old Rothfel. He is the son of ‘a coven lord’, and his mother is mysteriously absent. At first it seems like he is in a pretty privileged position but the reality is quite different, which we will soon find out. The background of his family is a little complex and Rothfel is not exactly safe and secure in his position within the family. When he is introduced to the Rat King, Golghen, he embarks on a very different path. Those two aren’t the only characters we get to know though, and the author managed to make each of the secondary characters as strong and interesting as the main ones.
All in all, The Rat King is an exciting and captivating fantasy story with great characters to empathise with and latch on to. Once you start reading you want to follow Rothfel on his journey and find out if he will be able to change the course of his life and perhaps turn it into a bit more of a self-determined one.
If you like fantasy stories with a young and likeable hero, a historical touch, an interesting city-setting, and a great list of strong secondary characters, then I’m fairly certain you’ll like The Rat King. There are vague similarities I felt to Oliver Twist or The Lies of Locke Lamora, so if you like those then you will probably like this one too!
4 stars from me, and I am looking forward to read more by Emma Miles!
Thank you all so much for reading!
xoxo
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Captivating and action-packed fantasy with great characters!
