Ratha's Creature has an interesting premise. There are prehistoric cats divided up into two tribes so to speak - The Named and Un-Named. The Named are a tribe that has developed a system to herd animals and keep for food. The tribe trains cats to be herders and keep the tribe alive. Females are typically not allowed to be trained under the cruel leadership of their leader named Meoran. The main character/cat is Ratha who is a female that is an exception to the rule when her teacher Thakur promised great things from her. On top of training the cats and herding their herds they also have to be on watch from the Un-Named who are constantly trying to raid and kill their food supply.This first book is Ratha's story, her journey in discovering her own strength as she changes roles from herder, to rebel, exile and heroine. When a spirited Ratha discovers ways to handle the fire that so terrifies her people, she doesn't realize that her actions will lead to exile, and a loss of all she's ever known. As Ratha is forced to grow up and struggle through hardship to find her way, she must learn what road to travel, despite the price she pays to walk it. When the Clan who exiled her is threatened with being destroyed, she must decide if she will be the key to their survival against the attacks of the Unnamed.Ms. Bell has created a harsh prehistoric world that her cat clan lives in. This is not a land of magic or easy choices. Each choice leads to inevitable consequences, even when it may be the right choice to make. The author's deft handling of her characters allows for readers to suspend their disbelief and really visualize this band of sentient cats that herd animals for food. The cats still have to contend with the lack of hands and the demands of their nature, but the personalities and societal pressures are very familiar and all too human.The writing is elegant and the detail absorbing; Clare Bell is clearly a talented author if she managed to explore so many morals and evoke so many emotions in her readers in such a relatively short novel.While this book is relatively short, this is not light reading. There are extremely poignant moments, and triumph is often mixed with tragedy. The book moves fast--but the tale never stumbles over itself in the telling. I was intrigued by the complex characters, especially Ratha. Ratha herself is stubborn, headstrong, rash, and yet ultimately endearing, and her adventures bring a brisk, thrilling pace to the plot. Despite the anthropomorphic qualties of these prehistoric cats, I was surprised to find them entirely palpable; their human-like charactersitics do not overshadow their animal instincts, which only deepen the characters and make them all the more enthralling. Ratha's Creature is a book that demands and audience mature enough to handle its themes - graphic battles and one mating sequence. This is a book that does not shy away from the harsher side of nature, and brings forth a world where trials and tribulations can be rewarded with both great victory and great loss.
Ratha’s Creatures Review by Adonijah EmanuelRatha and her clan (the Named) are a clan of a strong, self-aware, cheetah like prehistoric big cats. They have laws, languages and traditions and live by herding the creatures, dapple backs (horses) and three horns (deer), they once hunted. Surrounding the Named are the more numerous non-sentient UnNamed, who prey on the clan’s herds. Mating between Named and UnNamed is forbidden, since the clan believes that the resulting young will be UnNamed animals. Ratha, a young female, bucks the clan tradition of male dominance by training with the herding teacher, Thakur, to become a herder. All the herders are male except for Fessran , a strong-willed female who became a herder before Meoran took over leadership. Attacks by the UnNamed are driving Ratha’s clan close to the edge of survival. Only her discovery and her use of fire (“ The Red Tongue” and the “Creature” of the title) offers the clan a chance to survive. Meoran, the tyrannical male clan leader, oppose Ratha and drives her out of the clan. In exile among the UnNamed, Ratha meets a lone male and discovers that the clan is wrong about some of the UnNamed, he speaks very well and is as bright as any clan member. She dubs “BoneChewer”. He teaches her to hunt, the two mate and she has his young. When the cubs don’t develop according to her expectations, she realizes that they are probably non-sentient. She flies into a rage, attacking BoneChewer, biting and crippling the female cub, Thistle-Chaser and abandoning her mate and the litter. Returning to the clan at Thakur’s bidding, Ratha re-acquires “her creature”, the Red Tongue. With it, she overthrows and kills Meoran. When the UnNamed attack again, she, Thakur and Fessran lead the clan in striking back with a new weapon, fire. The enemy flees in terror. After the battle, Ratha emerges as clan leader. She makes Fessran chief of the FIrekeepers, those who build and tend fire for the clan. The Firekeepers also wield torches in battle. Ratha gives the Red Tongue each a torch, and they fight the UnNamed. At once a wonderful fantasy and an intricate allegory. The great wild cats, a mixture of human intelligence and animal instinct, lend the story a visceral power that is impossible to ignore. A highly remarkable book.I GIVE IT 5 STARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What do You think about Ratha's Creature (2007)?
As a twelve year old, I picked this book up from our local library where it was sectioned in "Children's Fiction". Initially, as I enjoyed The Sight, Fell and Warriors very much around that age, I thought this book would be somewhat similar.While the beginning and some parts of it was somewhat boring, descriptions where Ratha tamed the fire and how time spent with Bone Chewer was thoroughly enjoyed by me.It surprised me how much I wanted Ratha and Bone Chewer to be together.It's funny how many b
—Opal Lee
The rest of this review can be found @ http://clockworkorigin.com/rathas-cre...Ratha’s Creature was a great read, and truly different. I don’t find many books where the main character is full-blown animal (aka, no shape-shifting abilities), and it brought me back to the time when I used to roleplay as a wolf. Upon first getting this book, I wondered what the “creature” part of the title meant, and during the part it was revealed, I had to remind myself that we’re in the mind of an animal who has never seen the likes of what Ratha encounters, which only makes sense! It was actually very refreshing to step outside my boundary and read something so… “innocent.” It made me think about how animals might refer other things that we know of... (continued via website)
—Sympathy
I'm still not sure how much I really enjoyed this book. There were several very good things about it. 'Ratha's Creature' fills a niche in the vast void of animal fantasy books for young adults and teens. The author did a splendid job of representing animal behavior, instinct and species characteristics, which in itself, is deserving of five stars. I have read far too many animal fantasy stories that suffered from a lack of research into their subjects. This book is a very nice change of pace.However, I found it lacking in the characterization department. The lead changes her mind and goes through mood-swings so fast that it leaves the reader dizzy. If the same amount of detail would have been paid to characterization as animal traits and the like, 'Ratha's Creature' would stand beside 'Watership Down' as an animal fantasy classic. I wish my library had the rest of the series, as I am interested to see what happens in the future books.
—Dassi
