Domain

3.5/5The first two books of James Herbert's Rats trilogy were frightening and grotesque, fascinating for the horror lover in me. However, after finishing Book 2, the concept of flesh-eating rats had gone ever so slightly stale (there are only so many scenes where someone's eaten to death before it stops being so shocking), so I decided to give the series a break.I decided to finally pick up Domain, the finale of the trilogy. And wow, does Herbert ramp it up.The story begins with a devestating nuclear attack on London. This book was published in 1984, and no doubt tension from the Cold War between Russia and the States inspired the premise for this book. Think flesh-eating rats are bad? Try that on top of a nuclear holocaust. Radiation, a destroyed city, and a handful of characters battling to survive.Culver is our main character, a helicopter pilot with a natural desire to help others fueled by a dark past. Dealey is a government official. Helping each other in the initial attack, they find themselves in a government-operated shelter. Safety is in reach, but that's not to last, either.There was a lot I liked about Domain. I loved the brief introduction to characters, a glimpse into their lives before they were killed in the initial attack. Though some may argue that it's a waste of time learning a character's names and background right before they perish, I found them to be more interesting than the story's main characters, almost like Herbert had put more effort into developing them than Culver, Kate, and Dealey, three of the main people of the story.The despair and dangers of a nuclear wasteland were also marvellously portrayed. Survivors dying of radiation sickness, feral dogs, bloated insects, survivors who have turned to primal violence, and the terrible lack of help or authority figures upon whom they can lean.A downside of this book is that it could have been about a third shorter without the many "fluff" words that perhaps weren't as taboo in the eighties - "began to (verb)," a personal pet peeve of mine - appeared over a hundred times in the book, disturbing the prose. "Seemed to" was the second worst offender. However, these aside the prose was lovely, even though sometimes it went on and on and on. The book could have been cut without the wordiness that sometimes caused me to skip pages to find the next scene.This didn't ruin the book, though, as there was so much more that was good about Domain than these small offenders that make my inner editor cringe. Though there's an overwhelming sense of hopeless despair, the book is well balanced with a satisfying ending.I recommend the first in the trilogy, The Rats, to those who love horror. Since it's different characters each book, you can really read them in any order. As for Domain, I give it three and a half stars!

After reading James Herbert's The Rats I looked at the two other novels in the series and choice to read Domain next as I liked the idea of post apocalyptic, horror novel set in the ruins of London. However while the idea was interesting the story wasn't that good as I thought it was going to be.Domain starts off when tension between Middle East and USSR causes a full nuclear war and England for no reason is hit with nuclear war heads turning most of London into a toxic wasteland. Those who are lucky enough to survivor flee to the underground and find a fallout shelter within the subway system. After spending weeks in the shelter the main character and two others hit outside for the first time and see what radiation has done to both animals and people.However after returning back from the outside when one of the engineers who was bitten by a rabid dog one of the survivors takes control of the group but doesn't kill or force anyone to do what he wants as he and the others want to leave the shelter and go outside but nobody else does anything to stop them or take away their weapons. The following night a massive thunder storm causes the underground and sewer system to flood and only a few people make out alive while everyone else drowns.This is where I stopped reading as I got bored with Domain as it has a few scenes with the killer black rats and none of the characters interested me and they were all flat, boring, unlikeable. I strongly felt Herbert got idea from the film called Threads as some of the scenes felt they were just taken out of Threads and put into Domain but adding a horror to it however not going over the top with it like most other writers would do.I was thinking this would be about people trying to stay alive in the ruins of London while fighting gangs, mutated animals, people and the killer black rats but I don't get any of that! What I got was just slow, boring drama set mostly in the underground of London with hardly any scenes with killer black rats. This is one of the most disappointing sequels I have ever read! Hell some other English horror authors like Shaun Huston, Guy N Smith or John Halkin could do better then what James Herbert wrote here.

Monster rat movies were some of my favs as a kid. A few that stand out, Deadly Eyes (duh), Ben, Willard, Graveyard Shift. There was one Italian rat movie that was kind of crappy but had an awesome ending, The Night of the Rats. Set in a post-apocalyptic future (Nukes. In the 80's it always was.) a small band of survivors try to fend off these killer rats while hiding in a bunker. While reading Domain it felt like I was reading a vastly superior novelization of that movie and in doing so inadvertently tying together Deadly Eyes and tNotR for me.Anyways, it was a great read. Very bloody, at times extremely grim but all the while still keeping that guilty pleasure of reading this genre.All I have to say is if you are a fan of The Rats and Lair you have to wrap the story up with Domain.If you haven't read this gruesomely fun set of books, do yourself a favor and check them out.

The 3rd in the series (a fourth 'graphic' or picture novel was created in the series and is very rare and impossible to find). The World comes to an apocalyptical almost end. London is blown up with a Nuclear Attack and the Rats return to create havoc and hell for the survivors! won't catch me on the london underground. ha ha

The ultimate climax to this trilogy. Well paced and fantastically written. This needs to be made into a movie now. Easily reads as a stand alone although finishes off the series well (although if it was followed up with another story id buy and read immediately).

Herbert has written a series about rats, great writing really creepy, this guy is good and tells a great story

After my fourth time reading, this masterpiece still scares the hell out of me. Screw the idiot who gave one star.

I could not put it down and it kept me wanting more. So scary it could come true... watch out!

This is the third entry in the James Herbert Rats trilogy. Like a lot of similar novels around this time (Shaun Hutson's 'Slugs' and Guy N Smith's 'Crabs' series), this features super aggressive, larger than life versions of everyday creatures turning against humans.The difference with this novel and what makes it the best in the series, is that the threat of the Rats is combined with the horrors of a nuclear attack on London. If you can imagine the show 'Threads' but with killer rats thrown into the mix, then you get an idea of what to expect.It's aged well and gives a glimpse into the fears of folk during the Cold War days combined with good old-fashioned monster horror. Definitely one of Herbert's better novels.

Domain is the final instalment in the Rats series, and in many respects, it is the best. The first two novels were dark, gruesome and downright chilling in places, but there was a lot of head-hopping to keep up the scares. It was enjoyable for the most part but was getting a little stale. There is only so much you can care about the back story of someone you just met who you know is about to be eaten by big ol' rats.Domain avoids some of these issues by developing the setting and making the rats less central to the story. The book starts with a nuclear explosion in London, and the majority of the early work is setting up the characters trying to survive with just a few rat-themed vignettes to whet your appetite. It's a bit like The Walking Dead in that regard, the zombies being awful and scary but more background noise until they come charging in to eat your brains in the third act.Don't worry. There is plenty of charging in and eating brains here, too; it is just better balanced than before. The main character is pretty indistinguishable from the first two books, but Steve is a good avatar for who the reader would like to be in that situation, and that is kind of the point. An everyman, we can all imagine ourselves being if the rats were to hit the fan. So yeah, the same nightmare-inducing viscera, only this time with more fallout and radiation poisoning. It's a winner for me.

This was the perfect end to a terrific horror trilogy. A bit longer and more fleshed out than the previous two, it loses none of the fear and terror of the more compact stories. James Herbert excels in creating tense and truly frightening scenes with characters you get to actually care about. The Rats and Lair had the titular vermin terrorising folk in the open air, so the idea of people being forced into the domain of the rats was horrific.Plus, for what is essentially a visceral horror novel, there were some quite moving moments, especially during the beginning and the dropping of the bombs.Never really considered myself a big James Herbert fan but I've got to say, I loved his Rats trilogy.

The way this last book ended left it open to carrying on the series. But unless the rats were further mutated any follow ups would be very similar. Maybe that's why James Herbert didn't write any more than the three. This book was longer than the others but I still barely put it down. Keen on finding out what happens to the people.

James Herbert's The Rats and Lair were simply stunning novels that for me are two of the finest books that have been wrote and changed not only the post apocalyptic and horror genres but also the way we look at and how we feel about the creatures of the stories.This third and final(unless you count the graphic novel The City)part of Herbert's sci fi horror series has to be for me the most gripping and well written of the three novels with a true post apocalyptic feel to it as the critters have well and truly taken over London.The third story kicks off with a spectacular chapter that depicts a nuclear strike in the heart of London and we follow people in their struggles to get safe before and after the strike.After the attack we have scenes of devastation as London is decimated as buildings,cars,houses,bridges and roads are destroyed and any still standing are rocking to their core.We then meet the main characters of the story and are stronger participants than the previous two novels with a strong willed man called Culver leading a small group of characters into a radiation dominated city and obstacles everywhere.The group he leads are government man Dealey who is the first he meets as he leads him through the city towards the hopefully safe underground,after that they meet Kate a frightened lady who becomes the love interest of Culver as well as a few others who rely on Culver to get through a dying city.But of course apart from the nuclear strikes destroying all they know and love and the atmosphere covered by radiation the other enemy is of course the mutant rat who seems to have multiplied because of the nuclear war.The rats seem to be limitless this time around and they seem also to be even bigger this time and each attack seems more nasty and relentless than the last and how Herbert describes things means that even though you can't see them you have to look round where you are on the lookout for any hairy bodies,he writes about them so well and says about their power and ferocity.Instead of getting smaller in numbers the rodents seem to get more and more in numbers after each attack and as we get towards the finale they seem to be everywhere including the second last attack which he describes that there are so many of them you can't see anything else but a black mass of fur,its truly chilling and creeps you to your bones.The story is a bit slow in places especially just after the breathtaking opening chapter but it picks up halfway through and has some truly rollarcoaster type sequences involving both the group and other people hiding in the torn to shreds city including a terrifying attack on the underground as well as other sequences in broken down houses,the underground shelter,the bottom of a restaurant,in the city and on the river and the best in a government hideaway with what seem like millions of the beasts and when they attack someone its truly chilling and they swarm all over them like a horde of zombies(the rats remind me of zombies).This is the first of the three that has other dangers like disease from the radiation,wild dogs and in possibly the best chapter a attack from another set of people who try and kill the good guys and its nice to see other things for them to worry about besides the evil rodents.There is no bad things really about this novel apart from its not as easy or exiting to read as the first book The Rats and it can be a little slow at times but as its longer than the other two combined it has time to tell a thrilling and fear dominated final chapter with a wonderful set of characters to root for against a hard to stop evil nemesis and ends a classic trilogy in the finest possible style.I dare you to look at a rodent the same way again after this.