River Rats
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
The award-winning author of the Scholarly Magic series delivers the thrilling adventure of a crew of young kids working their way through a post-apocalyptic world on a steamboat they call home . . .
No one knows for sure what caused the Flash. They just know that nothing has been the same since. Cities have been destroyed by pestilence, riots, and fires. The paddleboat River Rat, once a museum, was turned into an orphanage. But a dangerous storm forced the children to flee with the boat to safer waters, making it theirs for good.
Since then, Tomcat, Toby, Esteban, Lindy, Spike, and Jake have traveled, bartered, and performed their way up and down the Mississippi River. One rule that has served them well: no passengers. But after watching a man on shore being pursued by a vicious pack of locals, the group has no choice but to save him.
At every stop, the boat is met by the man’s tireless hunters. They want what the fugitive knows: the location of a bunker filled with guns. A currency more valuable than gold . . . and one that the crew of the River Rat might well pay for—with their lives.
“An unusual, compelling futuristic novel . . . wry, sharp, lively, and perceptive.” —The Horn Book (starred review)
“Too good to miss.” —Booklist
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
Caroline Stevermer
Caroline Stevermer (b. 1955) is best known for her historical fantasy novels. She published her first book, The Alchemist, in 1981, and soon began collaborating with fellow Minnesotan Patricia C. Wrede to create a magical version of Regency England. They published the epistolary novel Sorcery and Cecelia in 1988, and returned to the series with The Grand Tour (2004) and The Mislaid Magician (2006). Stevermer’s other novels include The Duke and the Veil, The Serpent’s Egg, A College of Magics, A Scholar of Magics, River Rats, Magic Below Stairs, and her most recent, The Glass Magician.
Read more from Caroline Stevermer
The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Serpent's Egg Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5When the King Comes Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glass Magician Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to River Rats
Related ebooks
Hidden Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hostage, The Change #2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spectacle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Heron Kings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Other World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gilded King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Star's End Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gaslight & Grimm: Steampunk Faerie Tales Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Traitor's Son Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Revolution For Vengeance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Embers at Galdrilene: Dragon's Call, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRadiant: Towers Trilogy Book One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Thief Who Knocked on Sorrow's Gate: The Amra Thetys Series, #3 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Vines and Vices: All the Queen's Knaves, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reason For Vengeance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Princess of the Chameln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Relic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tides Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Gutter Mage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blackthorn Winter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Warrior of the Third Veil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Phoenix Feather III: Firebolt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Tale of Two Thieves: A Villainous Affair, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTowers Fall: Towers Trilogy Book Three Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Silver Skin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queen of Angels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMedair: The Complete Medair Duology in One Volume Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fire & Ice: Icefire Trilogy, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Labyrinth of Flame: The Shattered Sigil, #3 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Child of a Hidden Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
YA Science Fiction For You
Uglies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Monster: A Printz Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Do-Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pretties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Toll Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thunderhead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Giver: A Newbery Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cinder: Book One of the Lunar Chronicles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gleanings: Stories from the Arc of a Scythe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scarlet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UnWholly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Renegades Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Defy Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Supernova Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Restore Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Library of Souls: The Third Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Giver Quartet Omnibus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girls with Sharp Sticks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Are the Ants Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5InterWorld Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Reveal Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UnSouled Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Heir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UnStrung: An Unwind Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for River Rats
35 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Straight-forward post-apocalyptic, kids on a riverboat adventure. Not very deep, but fun.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5After the Flash, a group of young people appropriate a working model of an old time Mississippi paddlewheeler and survive by delivering mail and making music up and down the river. Superstition dictates that passengers are bad luck, so everyone on board must work their way. When the group pulls an old man fleeing hounds and cudgel-waving "Lesters" out of the murky river water, they begin an adventure which all of them might not survive. Stevermer's tone is reminiscent of her work in the Bordertown anthology The Essential Bordertown -- in fact, although missing the fantasy element present in Bordertown, Stevermer's characters would fit right in among the Bordertown kids. (There's even an allusion to "Stick Wizard," one of the numbers performed by the River Rat's crew.) Stressing independence, teamwork, honor and trust, and the importance of depending on your friends, this is a great short novel which reads fairly quickly.