'Rat Queens Volume 1: Sass and Sorcery' – Kurtis J. Wiebe (Image)

I don't know about you but Lockdown is having a real detrimental affect on my ability to focus on what I'm reading. If it's a TV show then I'm fine but it's becoming more common for me to put down a book and then realise it's been several days since I read a page. 'Space Marine' was a notable 'Did Not Finish', the other day, and while I know I'll finish 'The Hollow Mountain', I also know that it's going to take longer then normal.to do it. So, how's a chap to handle this? And how do I make this blog look like it's having attention paid to it...?

The answer is simple. It's way past time I revisited some favourite comic books of mine and one of my favouritest of favourite series is 'Rat Queens. I've only read the first three books so now is as good a time as any to read them and see what happens after that...

Who are the Rat Queens? A pack of booze-guzzling, death-dealing battle maidens-for-hire, and they're in the business of killing all god's creatures for profit. It's also a darkly comedic sass-and-sorcery series starring Hannah the Rockabilly Elven Mage, Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter, Dee the Atheist Human Cleric and Betty the Hippy Smidgen Thief.

Volume 1 sees a mystery to be solved as the Rat Queens must find out who wants them dead and when you've managed to annoy everyone in the city of Palisade, solving this mystery could take a while...

'Rat Queens' is just glorious and is a series that you really need to get into if you haven't already. It's basically the DnD game I would have played as a kid if I'd had the nerve; a full on session of getting drunk, getting high and then having to clear up the next day whilst avoiding the NPC you, ahem... had a thing with. It's just like that.

There is a plot to Volume 1 but if you blink then you'll miss it in the raucous haze of fighting, drinking and the other thing. There's not a lot to the plot and some might see that as a negative thing, not me though. The plot isn't the important thing here, this is all about introducing the characters and then just letting them do their thing. And how better to do that than to line up several obstacles and let the Rat Queens burn them down? It's entirely in keeping with this book that the underlying mystery is solved almost as an afterthought and quite by accident. Like I said, this is all about getting to know the Rat Queens and seeing them do their thing. It's a whirlwind but you get a good idea of who Hannah, Violet, Dee and Betty are and it's fun to see a group of ladies in a fantasy setting who aren't constrained by fantasy tropes. If the Rat Queens want to do something then they'll do it and to hell with any consequences, they'll worry about that once the hangover has worn off. If they don't want to do something then you'd best apologise and back the hell off... I like that attitude and I know that, for the next two books at least, there's more of that to come. I am very cool with that.

Wiebe does some sterling work with the characters then and I would say something about the artwork here but, having read into what the artist did to his wife, I won't.

So, not a lot of plot then (although there are a few hints of things to come in future volumes) but this is a book that is easily carried by our intrepid leads. 'Rat Queens Volume 1' is sharp, incisive and with a sly sense of humour that will creep up and bite you when you least expect it. It's also all about friendship too, the really strong kind where you're just as happy to take an arrow for your friends as you are helping them home after one of those parties. I can't recommend this book enough but you know all this already as you've read Volume 1, haven't you? You haven't...? Do something about that.