Petra and the Sewer Rats by GJ Kemp blogtour

‘You saved one girl, Papa,’ Petra said. ‘Just one girl. The rest are living in the alleys. Starving, freezing, no clothes and with no hope whatsoever.’
‘I still don’t understand why this is bothering you so much?’ Ernest said.
Petra turned her head and stared out of the window.

A privileged woman who knows little of the real world gets thrown deep into the underbelly of the town of Fairacre. A town ruled by men.

A story of discovery and determination, Petra and the Sewer Rats is a tale of a young woman who dares disobey the town’s rules to save its unwanted orphans. Will Petra’s father, Ernest, still love her? Will her best friend, Nat, stay by her side? Or will they abandon her when she needs them most?

Author Bio

Finding the love for writing later in life, GJ spends most of his free time going for walks and dreaming of story ideas. He hopes to one day have a small place on the oceanfront where he can walk his dogs on the beach.
For more information please visit gjkemp.co.uk

My Thoughts

I enjoy the storytelling of this author. I feel that I am immersed in the characters and that you are seeing and feeling what they are.

This is my second book that I have read by this author and while it doesn’t have the same charming feel of what I fell in love with it does have a wonderful quality to it.

Petra is rash it always seems and does stuff that she probably shouldn’t. She also feels very young and naive about the world around you. It makes her somewhat of a wild card for me as I do love that type of character a lot of the time but I also find her annoying at times as well.

From what I see in this world women are like in many fantasy stories second class citizens which tends to annoy me and pushes the main characters that are women to be much stronger and also pushes them to succeed in the male dominated era’s.

In many ways this feels very realistic in the way people’s reactions were in the past. It is very true for fantasy books as well. I think the misogynistic approach to fantasy where men are the strong ones who run the world is a great tool for storytelling. This author makes the old style feel like new as well.

Petra is a great example of were character for me surpasses the story. Its one of the best feelings to have since I love the strong characters who grow.

The story has a lot of great points including that there is a lot of darkness in this misogynistic world. I love seeing just how dark and seeing how Petra is pushing to find out what is wrong and how to fix the things that she feels are unjust. While naive to think she can change the world it also shows the quality of this character despite her faults.

Fay and Harriett broke my heart when they were telling the story of them being the girls who are we abandoned and are forced to live in the alleys.

I really like Harold as he shows a lot of love despite the fact that he isn’t supposed to really be there the way he is. The secret he has shows that he is probably the best of the men in the city of Fairacre. He also is impulsive as well and it really shows what he is capable of. Roof walking may sound fun but definitely is a skill more for a thief then an upstanding citizen.

Nat is not my most favourite character as she seems to be the goody goody which just makes me want to tie her up and go do something naughty. It seems to push Petra to do stuff that is a lot further than maybe she would have went had Nat just been there to support what she was feeling and wanting to do.

Ernest makes me upset while he seems very nice and a good father I have to think what would make him want to move his daughter and the rest of his household back to Fairacre especially with the way that they treat girls. It is scary to think that he might be doing it to further his own ambitions and career but he really does seem to care for his daughter.

Overall I enjoyed the book and found that the story and characters worked well together. I am looking forward to more from this author.

My thank you to the author and publisher and to Anne Cater for allowing me an advanced reader copy and to join the blogtour.