Thursday, June 2, 2016

Review: Rat Queens #1

Rat Queens #1 Rat Queens #1 by Kurtis J. Wiebe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of the blurbs here calls this “Sex and the City meets The Lord of the Rings.” I wish I’d thought of that, though I’d probably prefer altering it to “Sex and the City meet Dungeons and Dragons.” That is, this is less a grand epic and more a chapter in a world that seems to teem ion every direction.

This doesn’t aspire to serious art, but it gets a lot right along the way. The illustrations are bold and clear, making it possible for some of the characters expressions and movements to carry the story forward.

They’re a group of four females (it isn’t clear whether they are all quite human) who’ve proved themselves the most bad-ass adventurers in town. When someone sets them up for an assassination, they have to go figure out their own kind of revenge.

Like Thraxas, this works the intersection of comedy and fantasy because it rarely settles for the too-easy gag, and it puts energy into its fantasy without getting too caught up in the logic of its own world-building. There is a feminist thread running throughout, but it serves the story and remains perpetually part of the fun.

I’ve read some others in this graphic novel fantasy genre recently, but this stands out. It’s a lot of fun, and I’m keeping an eye out for volume two.




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