Reviews

The Rats by James Herbert

rice_crispy2's review

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

saraleeannbread's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

Terrifying and gross.
Nothing like Rats purposely and coordinating attacks against humans. This was a nightmare. Definitely a fun read but not 
for the faint of heart

firstknight's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

0.25

Possibly one of the worst books I've ever read.

sfletcher26's review against another edition

3.0

Old school horror. Simple, brutal and effective. Not Herbert's best but certainly the one that he will be most remembered for.

stephbond's review

4.0

Loved this, really creepy and made me nervous of opening my garage door proving what a well written book it is!

phil629's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

vivianne's review against another edition

4.0

In this horror story by James Herbert rats have mutated to the size of dogs and kill off humans. It follows multiple characters living in London trying to survive the attacks from these super rats. I read the special 40th anniversary addition which is absolutely gorgeous.

I like that it starts with the first kill, that means you are with the story from the start and see how these rats evolve. It also shows very many aspects off the story, the people who are attacked, the bystanders, the scientists etc. The book is written very good and it kept my attention. And it is very unpredictable which I liked. I could not predict what would happen next with what character. The story has a right amount off history, dialogues and descriptions. But it isn't as horrifying as I thought it would be. Which was both a relieve but also a shame. I still enjoyed reading it but I expected it to be more shocking, more atrocious. The feeling that you can’t continue reading because it is so brutal. I liked the characters but I thought sometimes they made weird choices. “The building is under attack by a thousand giant rats, lets open de cellar door because there is a sound coming from”


I am a little disturbed that the author introduces new characters and then slaughters them directly. In the beginning this woman , is introduced and I thought she had quite a special story, almost 20 pages where dedicated about how she got where she is. Then 2 pages later she is killed. I didn't really understand why he would write 20 pages about someone who is just killed on the next page. I also was a little confused about in what time the story was playing. Another thing that bothered me was that there were so many sweat animals killed by these rats. These police dogs and the pups who served as life bait. NOO so heartless!


That scene at the school and the scene in the metro!!! OMGGGG so thrilling! I absolutely loved reading them.
The ending was a little unnecessary I would have liked if it would have stayed a mystery where the rats came from. And I thought Harris was an idiot that scene. The epilogue was awesome though.

Overall a great story with good suspense. I am not going to read the sequel because I am not really interested in a continuation off this story, this book told it all. I can really recommend it to people who like horror and want to read something different.

chayaxlea's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

shane's review against another edition

4.0

I always feel so sorry for the big white boss rat. Just can't help it. I'd be standing between it and it's enemies with a big-ass sword and a double-headed axe just begging you to take a shot at boss rat. You've been warned.

Loved it. Loved the rats. Onto Lair!

killixita's review

tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5