Rats, Bats & Vats [Hardcover]

Dave Freer (Author), Eric Flint (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rats, Bats & Vats | Publication Date: August 29, 2000

Chip Connolly was a conscripted grunt in trouble: stuck behind enemy lines with a bunch of cyber-uplifted rats and bats. Rats with human speech, but with rat priorities: sex, food and strong drink. And the bats were revolutionaries planning to throw off the human yoke -- with high explosive. Then there was the girl they'd rescued. Rich. Beautiful. With a passionate crush on her "heroic" rescuer. Her entourage was a screwball Alien tutor, and a cyber-uplifted lemurlike pet galago with delusions of being the world's greatest lover.

Of course things only got worse. Seven rats, five bats, a galago, two humans, a sea-urchin-like alien and an elderly vineyard tractor without brakes...against several million inimical aliens. He was going to die.

Mind you, not dying could be even more terrible. That girl might get him.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Freer (The Forlorn) and Flint (Mother of Demons) join forces in this lighthearted SF offering set on the colony world of Harmony and Reason, which is being invaded by the dreaded, insectoid alien Magh'. Chip, a former sous-chef and "vat"Aa human bred for hard laborAfinds himself trapped behind enemy lines with the rats and bats of the title, genetically engineered animals designed for close-quarters combat, stealth and plenty of off-color wisecrackery. But when Virginia Shaw, a daughter of the yuppie Shareholder class, gets caught behind enemy lines with her alien tutor, and Chip and Co. rescue her, the sexual sparks start to fly. Chip and Ginny recognize that their class hatred is an obstacle to defeating the Magh'; when the two learn to cooperate, everyone soon lends a hand or paw or wing, refurbishing a rusty old farm tractor, on which animal and human careen through Magh' defenses. Although the military SF plot is peppered with its share of Dirty Dozen-esque cliffhangers, the sharpest moments in this giddy entertainment are those where the rodents blithely skewer human mores. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

On the planet HAR (Harmony and Reason), vat-grown humansDalong with genetically enhanced rats and batsDwage a seemingly endless war against the alien Magh' (or Maggots). Coauthors Freer (The Forlorn) and Flint (1632) present a seriocomic epic of military fiction, complete with suicide missions, impossible odds, and an unlikely boy-meets-girl romance. A good choice for hard-core aficionados of blood-and-guts military sf.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Baen (August 29, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067131940X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671319403
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,248,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hooray for underdogs and misfits, September 20, 2000

By 

"[e-mail]" (Yorkshire, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rats, Bats & Vats (Hardcover)

What do Shakespeare, Irish freedom fighters and wet lettuces all have in common? Nothing? Well until I read this novel I would have agreed. In this case they are just a few of the many ingredients that go to make Rats, Bats and Vats an excellent read.

Drunken, lecherous cyber-intelligent rats with a fondness for shakespearean insults; fanatical cyber-intelligent bats with a penchant for blowing things up; a vat-grown human and an heiress. Not the most likely of comrades. And yet when thrown together under trench warfare conditions, the result is an enthralling mix of realism, pathos, gritty humour and riveting, fast paced action. A most refreshing change.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the funniest "Military" science fiction I've ever read!, March 28, 2006

By 

K. Sozaeva "Obsessive bibliophile" (Athens, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rats, Bats & Vats (Mass Market Paperback)

My husband picked this up after telling me "any random book printed by Baen is good" - and, of course, because it has "rats" in the title . . . He read it and laughed his way through it and insisted that I read it, too, to which I agreed readily enough. I won't recap the story, but I will say it is a hoot and a half! The rats are hedonistic Shakespeareans; the bats are revolutionary Irish; and the vats are hapless humans who are just along for the ride. And, of course, you have the land-owners, who have the money - throw in the evil bugs from outer space and the benevolent aliens who are providing the technology to defeat them (or are they?) and you have a mix that is sure to please anyone who likes military science fiction, space opera, or just plain silliness. HIGHLY recommended!!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rats, Bats and Vats, September 20, 2000

By 

"_me_" (GetMeOutOfHere, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rats, Bats & Vats (Hardcover)

This is the best science fiction book I've read in a decade. By combining futuristic DNA manipulation with a rollicking good time, Dave Freer has produced a truly great book. The layers of complexity in this story are exceeded only by the unexpected twists and turns. The setting, a colony planet, is beautifully drawn and so realistic it's almost scary. A cloned slave-grunt soldier, the lone human survivor of his platoon, takes on giant maggot aliens in a series of battles that swing between terrifying and hysterically funny. The grunt's companions are genetically engineered bats and rats, which were designed to help fight the human war and seem to be a cross between Mafia rejects and members of a biker gang. A high-ranking, disgruntled officer takes on the whole inept army beaurocracy. The romance between a naïve rich girl and the cynical army grunt adds extra color and hilarity. Even the bad guys turn out to be even badder than the reader expects, forcing the other characters to deal with betrayal and misinformation. The happy ending is satisfactory without being sugary-sweet or predictable. There are just enough ends left loose that the authors could conceivably write a sequal (hopeful hint!). Very highly recommended.