Watch out!  Ratha is on the prowl again, thanks to Viking Penguin Firebird Books.

Book jacket art from the 1983 hardcover.  The artist is Michelle Chessare.

Here's what people said when Ratha first appeared.

Review from Language Arts, Vol. 60  No.7  Oct 1983 

Bell, Clare.  Ratha’s Creature. Atheneum, 1983 259 pp.  $11.95 Ages 12+

"To be different is dangerous!  A prehistoric cat-like creature, trained to survive and herd domesticated beasts, experienced rejection from her clan when she tried to share her fire-creature with its hot red tongue.  Contact with the Un-Named Ones, the less intelligent predatory cats, not only aided her survival, but also prepared her for an eventual return to the clan.

      Powerfully written, the reader is immediately enveloped in a vividly recreated past world that could have easily be happening now or in the future. Through the vehicle of rival cat-clans an outstanding glimpse is given of the impact of opposing forces in creating change and ensuring survival. The intensity of feelings and emotions unwittingly invites the observer into a personal introspection of changing codes of conduct, the impact of leadership styles and the domination of tradition.

     Despite the turbulence of life around her, Ratha is portrayed with such sensitivity that her very fears, thoughts, frustrations and anxieties are humanly comprehensible.  The development of her character is reflective of that process of maturing and gaining of wisdom experienced by any great leader."

The Firebird paperback front cover and spine. Art by Christian Alzemann.

The Firebird paperback back cover.

Book Synopsis

(Caution, spoilers ahead!)

Ratha and her people (the Named) are a clan of a sentient self-aware cougar-like big cats. They also have cheetah and lion-like characteristics. The Named have laws, languages and traditions and live by herding the creatures they once hunted. Surrounding the Named are the more numerous non-sentient UnNamed, who prey on the clan’s herds. Mating between Named and UnNamed is forbidden, since the clan believes that the resulting young will "lack the light in the eyes" (be non-sentient animals).  

Ratha, a young female, challenges the clan tradition of male dominance by training with the herding teacher, Thakur, to become a herder. All the herders are male except for Fessran, a strong-willed female who became a herder before Meoran took over leadership. Attacks by the UnNamed are driving her clan close to the edge of survival. Only Ratha’s discovery and use of fire (“The Red Tongue” and the “Creature” of the title) offers the clan a chance to survive. Meoran, the tyrannical male clan leader, opposes Ratha and drives her out of the clan. 

In exile among the UnNamed, Ratha meets the lone male Bone-chewer and discovers that the clan is wrong about some of the UnNamed - Bone-chewer speaks very well and is as bright as any clan member. He teaches Ratha to hunt, the two mate and she has his young. When the cubs don’t develop according to her expectations, she realizes that they are probably non-sentient. She flies into a rage, attacking Bone-chewer, biting and crippling the female cub, Thistle-chaser and abandoning her mate and the litter.

Returning to the clan at Thakur‘s bidding, Ratha re-acquires “her creature”, the Red Tongue. With it, she overthrows and kills Meoran. When the UnNamed attack again, she, Thakur and Fessran lead the clan in striking back with a new weapon, fire. The enemy flees in terror.  

After the battle, Ratha emerges as clan leader. She makes Fessran chief of the Firekeepers, those who build and tend fire for the clan. The Firekeepers also wield torches in battle. Ratha’s victory is bittersweet, however. Her mate Bone-chewer was fatally injured in the fight and Ratha finds him dying. Despite everything, she still loves him and is wounded by his death. She is also troubled by the changes  Red Tongue has made in her people. However, she knows that with the Red Tongue, the Named will survive.