Great New Reviews for The Rats and the Ruling Sea

With one month to go before Book II hits the shelves in the United States, it's great to see that the book's generating some excitement on line and in print. Along with Fantasy Book Critic's #2-for-the-year ranking, a number of other reviews of The Rats and the Ruling Sea [U.S. title: The Ruling Sea] have come out recently. Here are some highlights:

• Publisher's Weekly: "This exciting follow-up to 2009’s The Red Wolf Conspiracy features enough plot twists and double-crosses to satisfy the most demanding lover of suspense. The powerful Nilstone, most recently held by a living statue who was once an insane god-king, is sought by a wizard who wishes to destroy humanity by sparking war between empires. The whole world believes the ship Chathrand to be sunk, but it secretly survives and carries the Nilstone to the fabled lands of the south beyond the Ruling Sea, while a ragtag group of conspirators battle not only the wizard but their own empire and captain in a desperate attempt to preserve the world. Vivid characterizations and Redick’s brilliant depiction of the microcosmic world aboard Chathrand will captivate readers." [link]

• Only the Best SF/Fantasy: With this book Mr. Redick continues on a high level with his a mouth-watering universe full of mystery and wonder . This is one of my top fantasy reads of 2009. [Full Review]

• Bookgeeks: "All hands on deck for Robert Redick’s excellent follow-up to his debut, The Red Wolf Conspiracy....What is so clever about this book is the choice of setting – the Chathrand is a huge ship, which provides lots of scope for hidden meetings, factions, whispers of mutiny, and characters not to see each other for days at a time. On the other hand, it is still a ship sailing in to peril, so to whatever extent the characters may dislike one another, they are sometimes compelled to co-operate." [Full Review]

• Walker of Worlds: "The world building and characterisation that Redick gave in the first book was something that hooked me and...made me want to read The Rats and the Ruling Sea so much. Despite being longer, this book is just as enjoyable and opens up some very interesting situations by the time the last page is turned... This is one series that I'm thoroughly enjoying." [Full Review]