Avast, me hearties

Avast, me hearties; shiver me timbers; splice the mainbrace. Et cetera. That's largely the extent of my knowledge of ships. Specifically piratical ones, but broadened to include any and all. Having now read The Rats and the Ruling Sea, an epic fantasy set aboard an enormous vessel, the Chathrand, I can't exactly claim to know more. What I can claim is to have now heard of the author, one Robert V.S. Redick, who I previously didn't know from Adam. Or Paul, or Clive, for that matter. And I can also claim that I'm glad of the fact too.

A freebie that I plundered from a large array of freebies at a conference a few months ago, it looked interesting so I picked it up, along with another couple that caught my eye. It would have been rude not to, right? Like most modern fantasy books, it does feel the need to be on the large side, as if a publisher isn't going to sign it if it's less than 500 pages, for maybe it would be deemed not ambitious enough, not large enough in scope. Big books don't bother me, but it doesn't have to be big to tell a good story. Indeed, many books would benefit from rather more judicious editing. But anyway, this one weighed in at a hefty 650 pages, though I can't say I had any trouble picking it up, which is always a good sign.

Unsurprisingly, I got hooked for most of the reasons I like this kind of book – interesting cast of characters, big plot that twists and turns, suspense and mystery. The world Redick has created is interesting and different from others I've come across. The seabound setting was refreshingly different, to me at least, and there were plenty of nice touches, from the well-defined human empires, to the more exotic and, well, fantastic elements. Some of the characters are well-defined archetypes, yet they were largely well developed and interesting. And the story took me to places I wasn't expecting.

My biggest problem is that it's the second in a series (of four apparently, the third soon to be released), which I hadn't realised upon starting. Oh well, I've not done that for a while, but I've already gone and shelled out for the first one (a baraginous £1.99 and it has a colour in the title, as was gently pointed out to me), so you can't ask for a lot more than that. I look forward to setting sail with Pazel, Thasha, Hercól and the rest again some time in the near future.

Book number: 7
Title: The Rats and the Ruling Sea
Author: Robert V.S. Redick
Category: Books by authors I've never heard of