Queen Rat was first published in 2012 by Murky Depths, but it’s just been released as an ebook. And as it’s been sitting on my TBR pile for a while, I thought it was an opportune time to review it. The story is a slab of steampunky fun aimed at older children or young young-adults. It’s the story of Princess Ratiana Clementine Saint John, who prefers to be known as Rat.

Rat lives on the submersive Victoriana, a floating undersea colony of pirates and ner-do-wells ruled over by her eccentric (if we’re being charitable, barking mad if we’re not) parents. She is destined to marry Prince Simeon of the Aesthetes, another submersive tribe, but only if they can overcome the Rites of Mind, Body, and Soul…and Possible Death. How Rat and Simeon manage to overcome their differences and work together forms the core of the book, which is bubbling over with big splendid ideas, almost too many ideas for its short length.

Each of the four nations of undersea-dwellers is well defined, and each of them have their own distinctive traps and puzzles for Rat and Simeon to cope with: tests of strength, intelligence, courage and, most perilous of all, dancing ability. And with every test Rat and Simeon’s relationship develops, as they learn more about each other, and how though they come from very different worlds, they’re more alike than they first realised.

The characterisation is brilliant – raggle-taggle Rat is funny and charming, but it’s some of the minor characters, like her parents, who really steal the show. A few, like the terrifying ladies who take charge of the dancing challenge, could have stepped straight from the pages of a Roald Dahl book.

However, the book is too short; it’s so tightly focussed on Rat and Simeon that there’s not enough room for a wider look into the deeply fascinating world Kim Lakin-Smith has created, nor the calamity that brought about this strange undersea setting full of conflict and division and giant wandering submersible cities. I suppose this makes sense in a YA book which is essentially about relationships, but the fantasy fan in me is always greedy for more and Queen Rat, while very good for what it is, is a light snack when it has the potential to be a three-course meal.

Share

By Hierath

Joanne Hall lives in Bristol, England, with her partner. She has been writing since she was old enough to hold a pen, and gave up a sensible (boring) job in insurance to be a full time writer, to the despair of her mother. She dabbled in music journalism, and enjoys going to gigs and the cinema, and reading. Her first three novels, which made up the New Kingdom Trilogy, were published by Epress Online. Since then she has had to move house to make more space for manuscripts. Her short stories have been published in several anthologies, including “Dark Spires” and “Future Bristol”, as well as a number of magazines. A collection of short stories, “The Feline Queen” was published by Wolfsinger Publications in April 2011. She is also the founder of Bristolcon, Bristol’s premiere (and only) Science Fiction convention. Her blog can be found at www.hierath.co.uk, and she’s always happy to hear from readers.

One thought on “Queen Rat by Kim Lakin-Smith”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.