Nightshade City
Author: Hilary Wagner
Series: Nightshade (#1) ?
Publisher: Holiday House
How Received: ARC at BEA
Comes Out October 1 2010
Deep beneath a modern metropolis lies the Catacombs, a kingdom of remarkable rats of superior intellect. Following the Bloody Coup, the once peaceful democracy has become a dictatorship, ruled by decadent High Minister Killdeer and his vicious henchman Billycan, a former lab rat with a fondness for butchery. Three young orphan rats--brothers Vincent and Victor and a clever female named Clover--join forces with Billycan's archenemy, Juniper, and his maverick band of rebel rats as they plot to overthrow their oppressors and create a new city--Nightshade City. This impossible-to-put-down fantasy explores timeless themes of freedom, forgiveness, the bonds of family, and the power of love.
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I LOVE stories told through animal points of view. In my opinion, there aren't enough of them. The Warriors series by Erin Hunter is my favorite of all time - it does such a fantastic job of connecting you to the characters and tying in a fantastic plot along with it. This is followed by the Sight series by David Clement-Davies, which has some of my favorite plot points ever.
Needless to say, I have a very high standard for books set in an animals point of view.
Nightshade City is interesting - obviously you're not going to like it if rats skeeve you out, but I've always been a big fan of all animals. I didn't connect to these rats as well as I hoped, despite the fact that they were portrayed as little tiny people. They all had short scenes as they jumped back and forth between characters.
However, I did LOVE the setting. That's a big deal when it comes to animal set books, and I thought Hilary did a great job at creating that. Watching Nightshade City develop was fantastic as well, though I wish we had seen more of that. (The sequel, perhaps?)
The only note I have is that the pacing seemed a little weird. I can't explain how, but... it was weird.
Overall Rating & Final Comments: 6/10. No charrie connection and weird pacing, but a fantastic world and an interesting plot.
Nightshade City comes out October 1, 2010. Don't forget to pick it up or pre-order it!