The Twyning by Terence Blacker This is the story of Efren, a young ratling born into the Court of Tasting, in the kingdom of rats below the city. The kingdom is in turmoil after the death of the old king, assassinated by a human scientist, Dr Henry Ross-Gibbon. Obsessed by an ambition to exterminate all rats, the doctor is assisted by Dogboy, an abandoned thirteen-year-old with a gift for understanding animals.
Soon a war to the death rages between the rat kingdom and its mortal enemy: humankind. Hurt and alone Efren finds shelter with Dogboy and his friend Caz, a runaway eleven-year-old girl. And between these unlikely allies a spark is ignited - first of communication than of hope. Earlier this year I reviewed The Grim Company and The Rook for the publisher Head of Zeus, and they kindly provided me with a copy of the The Twyning saying that it wasn’t your average fantasy story. They are right. When I first thought of a story about rats, I thought they would just make a...