Paperback, 128 pages
Published April 8th, 2014 by Image Comics (first published March 26th, 2014)

“Who are the Rat Queens?

A pack of booze-guzzling, death-dealing battle maidens-for-hire, and they’re in the business of killing all god’s creatures for profit.

It’s also a darkly comedic sass-and-sorcery series starring Hannah the Rockabilly Elven Mage, Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter, Dee the Atheist Human Cleric and Betty the Hippy Smidgen Thief. This modern spin on an old-school genre is a violent monster-killing epic that is like Buffy meets Tank Girl in a Lord of the Rings world on crack!”

~My thoughts~

This is one crazy, sexy and cool graphic novel! Four bad-ass women who are fighting monsters, crime and idiots within the boundaries of the city of Palisade by using a mixture of magic and amazing physical combat skills. Each of the girls has her own distinct personality and skill but they all have one thing in common: they can kick some motherfucking butt!

There’s a lot of swearing going on so if you are a person with a profanity filter-preference, by all means, don’t buy this book! Even though there aren’t any explicit sex scenes in it (a couple of kisses here and there is all), you can tell these girls are very open when it comes to their sexuality. It felt a bit like Sex and the City, but with less shoes and more swords.

The world building is the kind you find in a typical role-playing fantasy world. I love the little D&D references at the end of most chapters.

“Shut the fuck up Gary! +5 on attack rolls against dudes named Gary”

(Ehm, hello Cardhunter!)

The illustrations are gorgeously colourful, just the way I like it.
One thing I noticed, though, is that the cover is cool and all but has nothing to do with this particular story, so that’s a bit odd. But yes, all in all, I can highly recommend this novel. It’s funny, it’s different and it contains scantily clad feminists. It’s getting 4 brownies based on my level of enjoyment. Can’t wait until volume 2 arrives in my mailbox! Especially with the little cliffhanger going on there in the end…

Links to the book:

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Goodreads