Domain

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.

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

3.5/5 The 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!

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).

Awesome finale to the Rats trilogy! As entertaining now as it was 27 years ago when first published!! Great read!!

"Domain" by James Herbert is a non-stop action packed, post-nuclear bomb, end-of-the-world story that brings back the over sized, overly vicious mutant rats from Herbert's "The Rats" and "Lair". Fortunately, granite jawed Steve Culver is on hand to keep the rats down and lead a dwindling group of survivors to safer ground. Culver comes from the same mold as Nick Carter, Remo Williams, and Dirk Pitt. A less proficient, flawed hero wouldn't have survived more than two minutes, so it's a good thing Culver has his stuff together. Things start out grim and never let up, but what would you expect from the end of the world? We also get politically motivated internal conflict within the group as well as a violent run-in with another group of survivors. "Domain" is rock solid gloomy entertainment from beginning to end. Not for the timid. 3 1/2 stars.

Well written but not what I expected. This is the third book by James Herbert that I have read. "The secret of Crickley Hall" and "The Magic Cottage" being the first and second. Those I would give five stars.

A little disappointed with the conclusion. However a good read overall.

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.

Kann leider den ersten beiden Bücher nicht ganz folgen, es gibt wohl eine Fortsetzung in Comic Form. Als Ende der Trilogie habe ich mehr erwartet.

. . . . which it was for me! And we don't know when this was set which is for the best; only the mention of "Woolworths" unintentionally ages it a touch. To place a perspective: I first read "The Rats" underage. I was an 11 year old boy and back then the library didn't check for ID. Hell, we didn't even have ID so what was the point? I fell in love with James Herbert and his wonderful writing then. I read all his early novels in sequence after this and loved them all. However, I felt that "Lair" trod a sadly repetitive path to the original, and remains possibly Herbert's weakest novel. So based on that I never followed up with "Domain" in 1984, which was the first new Herbert release I faced. I finished it today; finally, and found myself as a 41 year old man haunted and moved by the power of this wonderful novel. But is wasn't about the Rats in the end; they were an adjunct to a wonderful piece of writing on human survival and our potential longevity. I hope never to see this country or this world ravaged by the power of those bombs that could fall; in this I did. And Herbert's writing is so visceral, so powerful that I had to pause to write this. I have read every James Herbert book bar one, and I am sure like all of you, was immensely saddened to hear of this talented man's most untimely death. I still have "Ash" to read. I will treasure every word.

Though this action-adventure-horror story is entertaining, it just doesn’t feel like a "Rats" novel. The two-headed monsters of Nuclear War and Irradiated Rats are like separate novels conjoined into a single entity. The Rats pale in comparison to the Pandora’s box of a nuclear apocalypse.