Rats and Gargoyles (Paperback)

Gentle writes well. She uses language beautifully. Even when the plot had lost me, I still enjoyed the images she presents.

The setting is a sort of seventeenth -- maybe -- century European one, only with human-sized rats in charge of humans, and gods (Decans) over all. The gargoyles of the title are the Decans' bestial acolytes. Alchemical and architectural concepts, including illustrations from alchemical texts, give the world-building depth. There's no real discussion of how the rats got to be in charge, and little about rat society, which seems very human-like, but I didn't find that to be a major flaw.

Characters stand out in their refusal to be stereotyped as fantasy heroes. Casaubon, the large and personally unhygienic Lord Architect, is perhaps the best and I was happy to see that he "gets the girl" in the end -- the "girl" being the rather deadly scholar, sorceress and swordfighter White Crow. There are probably too many characters, over all, but I can't name one of them as being unentertaining.

The plot is utterly confusing. The world, at the will of one of the Decans, is going to end. The characters have to stop that from happening. Meanwhile, humans are rebelling against rats, humans are rebelling against Decans, rats are rebelling against Decans and rats are rebelling against their own monarchy. It's a wonderful chaos, and I became quite lost at various points. It's also true that the plot goes on for perhaps too long -- in particular the post-saving-the-world portion (though it included some lovely images). But the end is wonderful.

I'd recommend this to anyone who doesn't mind being somewhat befuddled and wants to read original, gorgeously written fantasy.

In this novel, Prince Lucas comes incognito from Candover to the city in order to attend the University of Crime. On his first day, he meets Zar-bettu-Zekigal, a Katayan princess and Kings' Memory, follows her through a shortcut in the catacombs, is separated from her and imprisoned by the Order of Guiry, escapes from his cell, meets his landlady Evelian and her daughter Sharlevian, and consults with the White Crow.

Zar-bettu-Zekigal goes with the black Rat-Lord Plessiez to a meeting with the Master Falke of the House of Salomon. While they are talking, Captain-General Desaguliers, a lean black Rat, intrudes on the meeting with his armed cadets, implies that it is a treasonous conspiracy against the Rat-Kings, but allows it to continue. An agreement is reached just before the Acolytes tear the roof off the hall and starting killing the participants.

Casaubon, a Lord Architect and scholar-soldier of the Invisible College, has been summoned to the city to build war machines for the Rat-Kings. He is surprised and delighted to find the White Crow there, for she is a fellow scholar-soldier and he has been looking for her.

This novel is much like Dumas' Three Musketeers tales, but is filled with magic of several flavors. It is replete with obscure symbolism, political satire, and ineffable purpose. The author draws upon her studies in history to imbue the story with the proper ambiance and character. For example, the legal trial and execution of the sow for murder at the very start of the story sets the tone of irrational logic that prevails throughout.

The various forms of magic presented in this novel were precursors to the natural science and technology of the 18th century. In fact, the earliest version of the Royal Society of London was called the Invisible College. Much of the technology as well as the practice of experimentation had already been developed by alchemists and other students of such magic, so subsequent developments in natural science were mostly on the theoretical side. During the next century, many plausible explanations for physical phenomena were proven to be false and were replaced with other notions which emerged from the experimental data.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys fantasies with a historical setting and rationale.

If you have the time and the lack of distraction to really get into this book, I recommend it. However, if you like fantasy novels such as the Dragonlance books, you probably won't like this book because it applies some real science to a fantasy setting, rather than the standards of magic found in many fantasy novels.

The characters are interesting, especially because the role of the women in this novel isn't that of the damsel-in-distress, which was refreshing. I especially liked the character of Zari because she was just so... well... different.

So, I recommend this book, but only if you want to read a book that engages you and makes you think. If you are looking for a "pulpy" book to kill time on an airplane or in a bus station, this is a bad book for that purpose. --Kim