Wanted to like it but it didn't quite work for me, I'm afraid. This lack of lighter characters makes the violence and dark magic (somewhat of a Jarvis trademark) just seem gratuitous. The main problem is that Fleabee is the only sympathetic character compared with the rats (who have always been two-dimensionally nasty villains, even in the first series) and she's just not interesting enough to carry a whole book on her own. This book is set just before Jarvis' legendary Deptford Mice Trilogy, which I love, but has none of the magic. Fleabee's Fortune tells the tale of a young ratgirl who lives in the sewers of Deptford but doesn't share the same love of violence and evil as the other rats.

Robin Jarvis was my favorite author when I was a young teen and I never quite got around to reading all his works, this one included. But if you're a fan, this is an intriguing start to a series that never quite went anywhere in particular but had great potential. So this is probably still the worst place to start on the Jarvis canon. Having said that, they will probably only be appreciated if you have read any of the original Deptford books. Reread in 2018: While I was less impressed with this back in 2013 (a year which marked my return to reading Robin Jarvis books), reading it this time round there are more subtleties than I realised.

Fleabee's Fortune by Robin Jarvis