The Rats: The Skaven Come Out to Play

Truth be told I picked this book up in Prague out of general curiosity and a meme. Not the worst outcome for basically what amounts to an impulse purchase.

On my way to my dad's this weekend I finished The Rats. It took roughly a week, which is probably the fastest I've read a book since the seventh grade. It wasn't a hard read, and it's pretty short, clocking in at about 200 pages if I recall correctly. I liked it for its grim story filled to the brim with horrific imagery, but at the same time the protagonist was in my opinion the weakest part of The Rats. It was like the author couldn't decide where the story should focus on: the city or the protagonist. I walked away from the book with essentially positive indifference, and as always I'll say why below.

In a nutshell, The Rats is a horror movie turned into a novel. Hell, it reads like one too, with frequent cutaways from the main character to other citizens of London who almost always meet untimely and horrific ends, all from rats. Yup, this book ain't for those afraid of vermin. These guys are pretty scary because as opposed to simple individual rats, they roam in hordes hundreds strong with equal amounts cunning and determination. As the story progresses their attacks become increasingly bold and brazen, to the point where London must be evacuated from the vermintide (nice). There's a ton of body horror involving rats in this book, and coming from a person with a strong stomach it's probably going to turn people off of it. Don't get me wrong, I really liked the horror of this book, and it feels sort of like Warhammer Fantasy, though you would replace the Skaven with just small-dog-sized rats. There's also a fair bit of sex in The Rats as well, so it's not really something those on the younger side should read (though the length and other factors could have fooled me). The book is all well and good, but the main character is what holds the  book back for me. I think it's the first time I've ever called a character a Gary Sue, but he pretty much is. An art teacher in a lower-class London school, he lives in the wealthy part of town with his beautiful girlfriend. He's also "The only one willing to act" (Thanos), and pretty much the only character that keeps their head on when shit hits the fan. On top of this, once the government gets their rear in gear, for some reason they keep him around as a consultant, which makes next to no sense. He dutifully tells them that a bite from one of the rats kills within 24 hours, and he's had a few encounters with them, yet for some reason this seems to warrant him becoming a big part of the operation (though an unacknowledged part). It's just a big case of "What..?" that is the most noticeable blemish on an otherwise solid first book by the author (it was written in the seventies). Now I'm not saying that a main character doesn't fit here, but it would help if he was more an average Joe trying to survive instead of being almost an action hero.

That's really all I have to say about The Rats, it's an engaging horror tale that I liked, but did not leave much of an impression on me. As I read the foreboding epilogue (straight out of a horror movie) and closed the book, I had a feeling of "That's it huh?". It's part of a trilogy with Lair and Domain being the other two entries. I might pick them up at some point to see where the story goes (and they're likely decently brief as well), but I'm in no big hurry, just something to add to the potential bucket list. If you want a scary read about big hungry rats, The Rats is a good read, and is indeed engaging, but it's not anything revolutionary.