Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Ratha's Creature by Clare Bell Clare Bell. MostlyFiction.com links to Amazon.com, but we wholeheartedly encourage you to buy books from your local brick-n-mortar stores and to visit your library frequently. If you happen to click on one of links and make a purchase, we earn a commission and we always appreciate your support. Thank you. and don't forget to tell your friends about us. "Ratha's Creatures" (Reviewed by Shanna Shadowfax OCT 10, 2007) “Shaking, Ratha crept forward, her torch casting orange light on the path. As the torchlight fell on the pack, they cowered . . . ‘This is my creature. I have brought it to the clan. I am Ratha, who once herded three-horn deer. Now I herd the Red Tongue.’” There are plenty of cat stories out there in the publishing universe. I can honestly say I’ve never read any cat story that’s quite like the work of Clare Bell. Don’t look for cuddly bright eyed kittens here! Part The Clan of the Cave Bear , part Jungle Book , Clare Bell’s prehistoric feline fantasy takes us into the world of a clan of sentient cats called the Named and one spirited yearling named Ratha. Back in print after many years, these works are back on the shelf and in the hands of eager readers again. This first book is Ratha’s story, her journey in discovering her own strength as she changes roles from herder, to rebel, exile and heroine. When a spirited Ratha discovers ways to handle the fire that so terrifies her people, she doesn’t realize that her actions will lead to exile, and a loss of all she’s ever known. As Ratha is forced to grow up and struggle through hardship to find her way, she must learn what road to travel, despite the price she pays to walk it. When the Clan who exiled her is threatened with being destroyed, she must decide if she will be the key to their survival against the attacks of the Unnamed. Reading this again after so many years I was pleasantly surprised to find this book has lost none of its impact and strength. Ms. Bell has created a harsh prehistoric world that her cat clan lives in. This is not a land of magic or easy choices. Each choice leads to inevitable consequences, even when it may be the right choice to make. The author’s deft handling of her characters allows for readers to suspend their disbelief and really visualize this band of sentient cats that herd animals for food. The cats still have to contend with the lack of hands and the demands of their nature, but the personalities and societal pressures are very familiar and all too human. While the tale moves quickly and is relatively short, this is not a light story—there are extremely poignant moments, and triumph is often mixed with tragedy. It’s a powerful story. It’s the story of what makes a leader and what kinds of roads they often travel. It’s the story of love and loss and betrayal. It’s a story of big cats in an unforgiving wilderness and how they survive. It is not a cute or cuddly story. It’s a serious adventure and coming of age tale that will likely appeal to young teen and young adult readers. Given some of the mature elements in the story, this may not be as appropriate for younger readers: the complex characters and mature relationships make for demanding reading. If you want to read more about Ratha and her clan, take heart! There’s more to the The Named series and they are all back in print and the brand new Ratha’s Courage is due out this month! If you like cat stories like these, you might want to check out Tailchaser’s Song by Tad Williams and the Catfantastic story anthologies edited by Andre Norton. Amazon readers rating: from 51 reviews. Read a chapter excerpt from Ratha's Creature at MostlyFiction.com. Bibliography: (with links to Amazon.com) (1986) (1989) (1993) The Named Series: (1983) (1984) (1990) (1991) (October 2007) Book Marks: Official website for Ratha and Clare Bell Wikipedia Page on Clare Bell. About the Author: Clare Bell was born in England in 1952 and moved to the US with her family in 1957. She worked in oceanography, electrical engineering, test equipment design and mechanical engineering before she wrote her first book, Ratha's Creature , the story of a prehistoric wildcat who learns to tame fire. Her stories tend to show sociological themes as well, exploring the changes that are brought about in culture through technology. Bell also enjoys creating plausible and workable alien critters (the aronan fliers in People of the Sky ). Bell has degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering, biology and chemistry and has continued working in technical areas in addition to writing fiction. She became involved in building and designing electric vehicles (EV) and spent a year in Norway working on a production EV. After moving to a remote site in California's coastal mountains, she and her partner put together their own solar and wind systems and experimented with a power-generating waterwheel. A naturalized citizen of the US, Bell now lives with her partner-become-husband, Chuck Piper, in the hills west of Patterson, California. Ratha and the Named Series. We encourage feedback about the site and/or its contents. There is also a site map . With the new Imaginator Press trade PB of Ratha's Challenge, Book # 4 of the Named, I am overjoyed to announce that. the entire Named series is back in print! This may be the most gorgeous Lew Lashmit cover yet! Available now from PawPrint. For a larger view, click here. Next Event. Next Event. Complete Events List. User login. Navigation. New forum topics. Random image. Join other Named Series fans on the Ratha Series Forum. Hunt up information in the Fire Den, read the new Twitter creation, "Ratha's Island", or strut before the clan to introduce yourself in the Fire Dance. Ratha's Creature. There's an art in the Ratha's series that is hard for me to find in other books. What they don't know we(the reader) might know, but what they do know we(the reader) might not know. It becomes immersing to have to figure out what some words mean, how they came to call something a "creature" even if it's not living, and how they function as a 'family'. Each character has a personality that isn't shoved into your face, they aren't cardboard either, you learn as you go instead of being given everything in the first meeting with the characters. All of my Ratha's books were lost in moving, I will be buying them each one by one again. When I have this review will be updated/retouched upon. ( ) Ratha’s Creature was a great read, and truly different. I don’t find many books where the main character is full-blown animal (aka, no shape- shifting abilities), and it brought me back to the time when I used to roleplay as a wolf. Upon first getting this book, I wondered what the “creature” part of the title meant, and during the part it was revealed, I had to remind myself that we’re in the mind of an animal who has never seen the likes of what Ratha encounters, which only makes sense! It was actually very refreshing to step outside my boundary and read something so… “innocent.” It made me think about how animals might refer other things that we know of. (continued via website) ( ) Ratha is a young female in a tribe of intelligent, talking big cats who call themselves The Named. The book follows her growing up & negotiating the tumultuous power struggles of her world. For some reason, from the brief description I'd read of this series, I expected the characters to feel like 'aliens' - but overall, I thought this felt more like an animal story. I'd recommend it more for fans of animal stories than pure sci-fi fans (think Tad Williams' 'Tailchaser's Song', for example). The first issue Ratha encounters is a gender issue: she is picked by her mentor to be trained to be a scout, but female cubs are generally not given this training. I felt this aspect of the book was the weakest, as it echoes the many, many, many fantasy books where the young woman has to overcome sexism to follow her dreams. However, in nature, among big cats, female felines are certainly not at all prevented from hunting and scouting. Actually, they are often the main hunters. The author put quite a bit of effort into emphasizing that her characters think 'like cats', but I felt that portraying a research-based, inventive feline-influenced society fell by the wayside. However, I did like the interesting dynamic that Bell sets up between the intelligent cats and the non-talking (non-sentient?) cats. The portrayal of the social confusion, rumors/stereotypes and emotional turmoil this rift causes is done quite nicely. I also liked the idea of a group of predators discovering the benefits of herding and protecting prey, and enjoyed Ratha's innovative and fumbling attempts to harness fire for her species' benefit. The book follows a plotline of conflict, exile, then return, and allows Ratha growth in maturity and experience along the way. There are 5 books in this series, so there's plenty to-come after this one for those who want to find out more about Ratha and the fate of her tribe - but this installment ends at a satisfying juncture. A copy of this book was provided to me by Netgalley and Open Road Media. Many thanks for the opportunity to read. As always, my opinions are solely my own. Ever finished a book and were just like “Uh?” That was Ratha’s Creature for me. While well written and engaging I’m not sure what the point was. The book is about a clan of intelligent cats living in a prehistoric world. The cats have learned to herd wild game for domestic use. This allows them to develop a more sophisticated society, language and laws. When we meet Ratha she is a young cat learning how to catch wild game and tame it to add to their herding stock. Ratha is more intelligent than even most of the clan cats, and has a fatal flaw of being too honest. Basically she can’t keep her mouth shut when she should. It’s gets her into trouble with friends and enemies alike. I would say this is a coming of age story except that she doesn’t really ever seem to grow up emotionally. She may be super intelligent and a great survivor, but she never learns how to filter her thoughts so as not to offend everyone around her. It makes her hard to connect with as a reader, and leads to tragedies that could have been avoided. Ratha is the cause of most of her own problems. Even when warned by her friend Thakur she can’t seem to act any differently than her impulses. Is the author implying that no matter how “cultured” a cat may get they are still “wild”? I find that hard to believe. What Ratha does learn is bitterness and that leads her to revenge. Even when Thakur sacrifices himself so she can live she hates him for it. It’s just really weird that in such a well written book the main character and plot can be so messy. ( ) I first read this book when I was younger, and the only thing I could remember about it was that all its characters were cats and that one of the prominent characters died horribly and tragically of a crushed ribcage. I made the mistake of trying to hunt the book down via Google searches, and, after turning up nothing but veterinary information and things too horrific for me to want to remember clearly, I finally turned to the catalog of the library I used when I was younger. By searching for "cats fiction" and limiting my search to the library's young adult location, I found the book in a couple minutes. My younger self had a greater tolerance for tragedy than I do now. Although I wouldn't say that this book ended very badly for Ratha, the main character, there was still more death and pain in this book than I remembered. By the end of the book, Ratha has experienced being an outcast on at least two occasions, her clan has nearly been wiped out, several cats have died horrible deaths, and Ratha's children turned out to be a huge disappointment to her. My younger self lapped this kind of stuff up. I, as I am now, had to push myself to make it to the book's ending. I had originally planned on reading the second book in the series, but now I'm not so sure. It's not that Ratha's Creature was a bad book, it's just that I don't think books like this are a good fit for me anymore. Even though all the tragedy, pain, and death weren't my cup of tea, the book did have long stretches of things I really enjoyed. After Ratha became an outcast from her clan, she had to learn to live on her own. At first, she wasn't very successful. Ratha is smart, and her ideas about hunting seemed logical enough to her, but they weren't quite good enough. She's more than capable of learning from her mistakes, but her mistakes meant starvation. Her miserable situation forced her to accept the help of one of the Un-Named, a cat she decided to call Bonechewer. I loved reading about Bonechewer teaching Ratha to hunt and take care of herself. I had forgotten almost all of the events in this book, so I was able to almost read this as though I were reading it for the first time. I kept reading because I was interested in finding out more about the Un-Named and, after Ratha got pregnant, I wanted to see her cubs and how things would turn out for them. Before Ratha was kicked out her clan, I wanted to see her triumph over Meoran's hidebound "females can't be herders" ideas. I also enjoyed reading about Ratha experimenting with her little flame - from her perspective, the flame was a living creature, and that was how she treated it. However, just about every event in the book had some sort of painful/tragic aspect, which got to be almost too much for me. I am amazed that the only thing about this book that stuck with me over the years was the cat who died of a crushed ribcage. That is by far not the only thing I would have thought would make a big impression on my young mind, which just goes to show you how many things you probably don't have to worry will scar your kids forever. I'm now convinced that it is absolutely impossible to predict what will stick in the minds of young readers and what won't. I remembered the cat with a crushed ribcage, probably because it was part of the tragic ending of a semi-romantic storyline. I did not remember that Ratha went into heat, that Ratha had sex (Bell doesn't give detailed descriptions, but there's enough there to make it clear that Ratha did have sex and that it hurt), that one character died horribly of a flaming stick jammed into his lower jaw, that Ratha almost killed one of her own cubs, and that Ratha's teacher, Thakur, had his eye on her as a potential mate. This book was darker than I expected. I knew that it would have some dark moments, because I remembered the crushed ribcage bit, but I hadn't expected it to be quite this dark. Even the adventure and action scenes are tempered by the knowledge that characters are getting hurt or dying - this is not the kind of book where action scenes are intended to be cool. I'm glad I reread the book, because I'd forgotten enough for it to still be an interesting read, and it gave me a new appreciation for the kinds of things that did not have a lasting effect on my younger self (I'll try to keep that in mind if I ever have kids of my own). However, I don't think I'm going to hunt down the next book. There's only so much death, destruction, and tragedy I can stand. (Original review, with read-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( ) Ratha's Creature is an intense, emotional roller coaster of a book. It's the coming of age story of a remarkable adolescent, but it's also a story of the eternal battle between social status quo and social change. Ratha is a remarkable character that you can't help but like in spite of her shortcomings, and teens will identify with her struggle to make sense of the world around her and find her place in it. Recommended for mature teens due to violence and adult situations. Into the Wardrobe. The she-cub Ratha and the other wild cats in her clan are called the Named. They are not just talking animals in an alternate prehistorical world. No, no, no. The Named are truly animals, but at the same time they are intelligent and have self-awareness. The Named have laws and customs. They have a society so advanced that they no longer hunt for their food. They herd dappleback horses and three-horns (which I assume are deer). Ratha's Creature is the first book of the Named by Clare Bell. Readers are introduced to Ratha as a yearling and accompany her as she grows and matures. While still a yearling, Ratha discovers fire. The Red Tongue becomes her creature. But the others in her clan do not understand fire and so fear it and fear Ratha for being able to control it. Meoran, the leader of the Named, fears the most because he sees that Ratha can overthrow his rule by wielding the fire. Out of ignorance and rage, the Named cast out Ratha from the clan. Ratha is forced to fend for herself in the wilderness, hunting for her own food and protecting herself from enemies such as the primitive Un-Named cats. I took my sweet time reading the clear and very vivid writing in Ratha's Creature . Still it seemed like some of the important scenes were a blur - like the characters were not given enough time to understand what was happening to them and the readers were not given enough time to absorb what was happening before they were all rushed to the next scene. On the flipside, Ratha's Creature is a page-turner that will not once bore readers. Moreover, the Named and their society are very, very interesting. Ratha is absolutely fascinating. She is strong-willed, independent, clever (maybe too clever for her own good), imperfect, and very complex. She questions authority. She is sometimes rash and always adventurous. A strong female main character indeed. Equally fascinating are the many parallels between Ratha's coming of age and a human's coming of age. Ratha's growing awareness of herself and her body, of others, and of the world around her mirror a young adult's development. Ratha's discovery of fire and the subsequent disownment from the clan is an interesting take on the man vs. society theme in young adult literature. I can't help but be curious and even anxious about the future of Ratha, the rest of the Named, and the Un-Named. I am eager to read Clan Ground , the second book of the Named. Ratha's Creature. Twenty-five million years in the past, a clan of sentient, prehistoric big cats called “the Named” have their own language, traditions, and law. Led by Meoran, the Named herd horses and deer for food. They keep order and peace, fending off predatory raiders—the UnNamed—from all sides. But, the battle has taken its toll, and the Named are skirting the edge of survival. Much to the displeasure of Meoran, a young female named Ratha discovers a powerful defense against the UnNamed. She calls it “the Red Tongue,” and it is a creature of incredible power. Red Tongue is fire, a force of both life and destruction that must be at once nurtured and tamed. Sensing that Ratha’s mastery of fire threatens his power, Meoran banishes her from the clan. As she travels out amongst the savage UnNamed, Ratha learns about both them and herself. But, her tribe needs her. Can she return? Will the Named survive constant attacks without the Red Tongue? Will the power of the Red Tongue change the clan forever? Acclaimed author Clare Bell crafts a serious coming-of-age story filled with adventure, triumph, and heartbreak. Perfect for readers of Jean M. Auel’s The Clan of the Cave Bear , Ratha’s Creature will have readers hooked and clamoring for more stories of these big, noble cats. Об авторе. Born in England in 1952, Clare Bell immigrated to the United States in 1957. She worked in oceanography, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering before she wrote her first book, Ratha’s Creature (Atheneum-Argo Margaret K. McElderry, 1983), about a prehistoric wildcat who tames fire. She continued to write fantasy and science fiction for children and adults. She says, “I am still fascinated by prehistoric animals and big cats, as showcased in the five Ratha novels. . . . My stories show sociological themes, exploring how culture changes through technology, even one as crude as fire. The central theme of my fiction is evolution, a result of my being influenced early by the works of C. S. Lewis, Olaf Stapledon, and Arthur C. Clarke.” Bell has multiple science degrees and works in technical areas in addition to writing fiction. She built and designed electric vehicles, and worked in Norway on the Ford Think EV. She also raced EVs in the Arizona Public Service Company–sponsored Solar and Electrics competitions. Her electric Porsche 914, race number 13, was a top-placing competitor. She helped lead the Women’s Electric Racing and Educational Team (WE’RE-IT), with the Porsche and a converted Rabbit (number 6) Hop-Along. After moving to the hills west of Patterson, California, Bell and her husband, Chuck Piper, installed their own solar, waterwheel, and wind systems.