A review by otterno11
River Rats by Frances Collin, Caroline Stevermer

2.0

In spite of a promising premise, a band of orphans delivering news and entertainment up and down a toxic, post apocalyptic Mississippi River in a restored riverboat, the plot and characters of "River Rats" seem sadly bland and plodding. The orphans feel interchangeable and I never really got into the motivations of any of them, most of all Tomcat, the first person narrator who seems only to exist to be present at the events. The rats find themselves breaking an arbitrary rule when they rescue the flighty "old guy," King, from the river and find themselves in a race to a storehouse of guns hidden by a mysterious rock star, but it turns out to be predictable and progresses as slowly as the river itself. There was never any sense of danger, no matter how many thugs or "wild boys" the rats encounter or how sinister the plague ridden ruins of the Twin Cities are described, and no sense of urgency in the plot.

It feels as though the author, trying to keep the story to "young adult," holds herself back on developing a lot of the darker threads she hints at, or exploring the implications of some of the more interesting themes. While it is refreshing to see a more positive take on the "end of the world," it all feels a little toothless for a post-apocalyptic setting, and even juvenile lit can have a little more bite. Still, there were some fun scenes, and as a Minnesotan, I had to picture King

(a.k.a., the Pharaoh)

, as being none other than Prince.