Customer Reviews

The Rats of Acomar (Tales of the Mornmist)

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

 

 

After reading Paul Kidd's other new book, "A Whisper of Wings", I did a search here on Amazon and came up with The Rats of Acomar. After the delightful experience I had with Whisper, I picked this one up at Barnes & Noble, too. Talk about a slam-bam exciting storyline that grabs you in its teeth and runs! This book is the first in a new series, and if they're all half as good as this one, I suspect it'll be one of the best sellers ever. This series is sort of like, well, a really COOL version of Brian Jacques' Redwall series... but with ten times the excitement and none of the boring food fetish that chokes his books (and their readers) from stem to stern. This story has it all... action, adventure, humor, great villains, quirky heroes and a rich, detailed world. Paul Kidd really seems to have a talent for bringing characters to life, which is only helped by all of the full-page illustrations in the book! You just never see that in most books these days. As a matter of fact, Whisper, Paul Kidd's other novel, was the only other book I've seen with that sort of thing in my last five years of reading. This book, and Whisper, are the two best Paul Kidd books I have read since "Mus of Kerbridge", from TSR. I totally recommend this book. Five gold stars!

Another wonderful offering from the master of Furry fiction, Paul Kidd brings the two contrasting worlds of Acomar and the Mornmist to life. His stories are filled with personable characters, humour, excitement and also sorrow. Although not so much of the latter in this one as his excellent "Whisper of Wings". "Rats..." is a somewhat lighter read, and very entertaining.

In the desolate plains of Acomar we have the Itheem; rats - breeding, fighting, scavenging and living a brutal and cruel, and short, existence. Amongst these is warrior rat Ra'hish, a dedicated lone-rat, who suddenly finds himself having to look after a dozen youngsters. We also have the albino Oosha and her sister Teela, two young female rats determined to find a beauty in their desolate life. And G'Kaa, warlord, who dreams of leaving the wretched plains of Acomar and invading the beautiful valleys.

On the other side of the border wall we have the Uruth, the canines, keeping their land safe from the "goblin hoards" beyond the wall. One such character is Tupan, a lively and impulsive coyote that has left her wanderer roots and sought out civilisation. Her unwilling companions in her undying endeavours to "fix things" are the grim greyhound, Surolf, and his rather friendlier pony, Hern.

Together these two very different groups will be brought together in alliance, and find out that despite outward appearances, they are not really all that different.

All in all, another grand offering from Paul Kidd. Alas, the other "Mornmist" books appear to not exist (despite having titles and ISBN numbers), so it seems Vision books have evaporated. This is a pity, because I rather liked the world. The "Mornmist" was intended to be one of those "Shared worlds" with books by Elaine Cunningham (who wrote "Daughter of the Drow") amongst others. Alas. But at least they got the first one out

In the broken wasteland of Acomar, a land teeming with starvation and death, the rat Itheem live. Their bones litter the waste, fallen in the endless battles over territory and food. In terror of the Itheem, the canine Uruth built the great wall to keep them imprisoned in Acomar. But with the rising of an overlord, G'Kaa, everything is changing. The Itheem clans are uniting, planning to take the lands of the other races. But what can a free-spirited coyote, Tupan, her greyhound companion Surolf, the pony Hern, and the rebal rat Ra'sish do to stop them? A very good read, simultainously exciting, sad, and laugh out loud funny. Terrie Smith's illustrations are excellent as well. :-)

This is a brand new book by Paul Kidd, the author of numerous popular novels. The Rats of Acomar is fast reading, with vivid word pictures of the events taking place when the mythical Rats rise up to take what they feel is rightfully theirs. I enjoyed reading this science fiction, fantasy and could readily relate to how the mythical events described, really remind one of events actually taking place in real life. Only the players have been changed. Worth reading.

Paul Kidd seems to have problems starting books; "The Rats of Acomar" is weighed down at first both by the overuse of adjectives and scene-setting description, and the initially annoying characters Tupan and Surolf. He settles down once the initial scene is set, however, and the characters involved begin to grow on you (and grow a little in general).

The world in "Rats of Acomar" is one populated entirely by anthropmorphized animals - dogs, coyotes, horses, cats, and the rats the book's central movement is about. The rats are violent and warlike, trapped in the wasteland region of Acomar by a heavily guarded wall; constant deprivation and intraspecies warfare has left them a culture and existence that would devour the land if they ever breached the wall. Naturally one rat - G'kaa - is trying to do just that.

The book is frequently lighthearted; the scenes with Tupan (a carefree coyote) and the young rats that start to follow Ra'hish (a loner rat) usually so. There's nothing that stands out about these passages, and Tupan's attitude is overplayed at first, but they're amusing enough and the book keeps moving. G'kaa is a ok, if somewhat standard, villain; a secondary villain introduced later does nothing more than nibble on the scenery.

The odd mythology of the Giants and the odd pillars in Acomar are interesting, especially as they become key to the plot; as is the insight that the rats must not only be defeated, but changed, so that the constant violence and pressure to invade are eased and removed. They're dealt with fairly shallowly, however; the book is quite short (just under 200 pages).

Once Kidd gets his writing legs, there's nothing about the book - or the accompanying illustrations - that's especially bad. It just never really gets above adequate.