Customer Reviews

Ratha's Challenge: The Fourth Book of the Named

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've recently been trying to find books I read as a child and finally completed my 'Ratha' series. This and 'Ratha and Thistle-Chaser' are the books in the series I never had the opportunity to read, mainly because I was already in my teens & early 20's when they were published (1990 & 1994).

Some technical notes:
After having read Jean M. Auel's "Clan of the Cave Bear" series and the "Prehistoric America" series by W. Michael & Kathleen Gear, it was strange to see so many similarities between the "Ratha" series and the human series. Themes of loss, exile, abandonment of children/offspring and evolution not just on a personal scale but as a species crop up in all three of these storylines. It's also nice to see Clare Bell's evolution as a writer over the decade it took to write the final chapter in the "Ratha" books. Her style improved immensely without changing her characters' personalities for the worse.

On a more personal level: I'm a Pagan, and follow many shamanistic practices, so "Ratha's Challenge" rang my bells in that sense. The clan of collectively-dreaming cats was fascinating to me and I felt their loss of their leader in my heart, and I was probably as relieved by the outcome of things as they were. Ratha has been a part of me for a very long time - she's impulsive, outspoken and a bit abrasive, but she is usually willing to listen to good advice.

I don't know if I would have gotten as much from this book at 7, or 12, or even 15, but as an adult with a more evolved spirituality, I was able to laugh and cry with joy while reading it. On a side note, unlike the first two Ratha books, I could definitely recommend it for someone who really isn't interested in the mating habits of fantasy prehistoric cats.

This book was very good, as all the series is, but it just wasn't as good as the third book. I think Clare Bell tried to be just a little too psychological, bordering on mystical, and lost a few of her readers. Also, this seems to be half of a book. Why wasn't it longer, so we could find out how everything turns out?

This is a good closer if it is the closer of this series which I hope not! Although in my opinion not quite as good as Ratha and Thistle Chaser it was excellent.

I loved this book. It was thoughtful and stayed true to the emotions of the story. It was an honest story of forgetting prejudices and forgiving differences in a fantasy form. It was also astory of bonding and learning to deal with yourself. The charcters are cats 25 million years ago. They are intelligent and human and yet believable as cats.

This book is the fourth in the Named series and I think it's pretty good. My only complaint is that there isn't another sequel and this one kind of leaves you hanging. Do the two clans get along ? Do Thistle and her new mate become the leaders of the clans? I wish I knew. I would love it if there was a seaquel that gave the ansewers.

I've read all of the books in this series, and I think all of them are equally...superior! Clare Bell certainly has a knack for writing - these Ratha books all comprise of a wonderful mixture of all fiction genres!

In this series, Ratha is the clan leader of the Named, a clan of prehistoric cats closely related to the sabertooths. By bringing fire into the clan, she changes the way of the named, and causes some problems as well. All the books have excellently connected problems and incidents, and I think that these Ratha books are the best of its kind.