Rat Queens, Volume One: Sass and Sorcery by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch
Series: Rat Queens #1-5
Rating: ★★★★☆
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. This modern spin on an old school genre is a violent monster-killing epic that is like Buffy meets Tank Girl in a Lord of the Rings world on crack!
From the beginning, when I saw these character introduction pictures, I knew this was going to be a fun ride.
This collection is full of irreverence and fun. Absolutely little regard for anything “serious” resides within these pages. The story is pretty simple, even straightforward if you’ve played any sort of RPG, or quest-based game. What really makes this un-put-downable are the characters. They are so full of bad-assery that I love them all!
The variety and nods to characters and archtypes made me smile the entire way through. The nods to gaming are actually everywhere and I LOVED it. It’s has a tongue-in-cheek silliness to it that made me laugh out loud more than once.
“Nice one, Gary.” Heh.
This is a quick read at 128 pages. There’s plenty of action, and tons of humor. I can’t wait to pick up the next collection to see where the Rat Queens take us next!
Must check this out. Those old RPGs were always asking to be sent up. The one I invented with a friend of mine specifically riffed on AD&D, doing over the sillier conceits…
I definitely think you’ll like this one then! It’s so much fun that I couldn’t stop reading over my lunch, and now want to stop and get the second volume right away 🙂 Let me know what you think if/when you do read it!