It was the third Burday of Tammerly and the sun didn't rise. As a result people didn't know what to do; they just stood around the streets lighting bonfires in the middle of the town squares. No one quite understood what was going on until Leaflorne; a scroll keeper from the Quentaris library found a prediction in The Mythical History of Quentaris. This document stated that the darkness as the beginning of a period known as The Three Day Dark, a time of fear that would precede an even greater horror due to befall the city.

When, a few days later, the sun returned to the skies above Quentaris people's lives quickly returned to normal. So when two young children are found huddled together in a ditch no one suspects anything is wrong. Even the fact that the children seem only able to communicate with each other in a language that sounded strangely like rats squeaking.

The following morning the people awake to find the whole city over run by rats. But these were no ordinary rats; these were the size of dogs and intended to eat anything in their path including children and babies. Despite the town Watch managing to prevent the rats from destroying everything a feeling of dread came over the city. For this was only the end of the first prophecy. The Mythical History of Quentaris seemed to hint that there was a lot more to come.

The Plague of Quentaris is the latest book in The Quentaris Chronicles and follows the lives of the occupants of the city as they battle against a terror prophesied in a collection of ancient scrolls. I have read most of the earlier books in The Quentaris Chronicles but I was struck by the dark and violent nature of this particular book. For a start there is a plague of rats that is over running the city and attempting to eat babies and children. Add to this the attitude of many of the town's people to the two strange rat-like children and the mob mentality and you have a very dark story.

As with the other books in this series the writing is totally faithful to the original Quentaris concept and slots beautifully into the collection. I am a big fan of The Quentaris Chronicles and I have not been disappointed so far.

A superb original story.

Synopsis
On the last night of the Three-Day Dark, some said they saw a shape in the starry sky. A black void, where no star shone. A void in the shape of a rat.

Is this a warning of fantastical events to befall Quentaris? What part do the rat children, Anton and Vega, play in this horror? Is this the final calamity that will destroy the mighty city?

Gary Crew is one of Australia's most awarded authors, winning the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year four times. He is internationally acclaimed for his fantasy novels and illustrated books, including the best-selling Strange Objects and The Watertower