Risingshadow
Speculative Fiction Books
  • About
    • Home
    • Articles
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Staff Members
    • Newsletter
    • Finnish (FI)
  • Books
    • New Releases
    • Coming Soon
    • Books of the Year
    • Bookshelves Activity
    • Recently Added
    • Advanced Search
    • Reviews / Comments
    • Genres and Tags
    • * Submit Book
  • Community
    • Discussions
    • - Recent Messages
    • - Recent Topics
    • - Hot Topics
    • - Popular Topics
    • - Search
    • CHALLENGES
    • - Reading Challenge
    • - Book Trivia Quiz
  • Home
  • Books
  • Craig Schaefer
  • Castaways
  • Rats

Rats

Castaways #3 / 3
by Craig Schaefer
Rats (Castaways #3) by Craig Schaefer
⧗ 8.00 / 1
123456718910
The circle is broken.

Dalton and Olivia have been captured, stolen away in the night by Mr. Shaddock and his crew of rodent mercenaries. Their fellow students have been warned not to intervene: there are politics in play, and everyone from the rat-clans to the Saunders Academy’s mysterious investors want this situation — and the school’s kidnapped students — to vanish in silence.

For Amy, Vail and the rest of the Castaways, silence was never an option.

Putting their lives on the line, they set out into the endless void of the In-Between, intent on tracking Shaddock down and rescuing Dalton and Olivia. From a space station at the edge of eternity to a cosmic pirate galleon, from a barren death-world inhabited by gigantic, carnivorous monsters to a sleek and shining neon metropolis, they won’t give up the hunt.

They’re either going to bring their friends home, or die trying.

Amazon: Check Best Offer

FantasyYoung AdultUrban Fantasy
Release date: February 9, 2026

Book Order
Amazon
Kindle
Audible
Amazon CA
Amazon UK
Amazon Europe

Your Rating
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Standard Shelves

Readers also enjoyed

Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices #1)
★ 8.24 / 17
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay (Fantastic Beasts #1)
★ 8.00 / 5
The Demon's Lexicon (The Demon's Lexicon Trilogy #1)
★ 8.06 / 15
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1)
★ 7.86 / 116
Paranormalcy (Paranormalcy #1)
★ 6.86 / 41
A School so Gorgeous and Fatal (Counterpart Academy #1)
★ 10.00 / 1
This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1)
★ 10.00 / 1

Join the Discussion
You can post as a guest or sign in for more features.
Have questions about this book or want to share your thoughts? Join the conversation!

Craig Schaefer

Craig Schaefer writes where the lines between crime and sorcery blur, and where every bargain comes with a cost. Under that name, Heather Schaefer has built an interconnected body of work that threads through the neon alleys of Las Vegas, the halls of occult conspiracies, and worlds shaped by betrayal, devotion, and blood-stained magic.

Her breakthrough came with The Long Way Down in 2014, the first Daniel Faust novel. What began as the tale of a streetwise magician hustling through Vegas’s underbelly grew into a sprawling series praised for its relentless pacing and razor-edged mix of noir and urban fantasy. Schaefer expanded the universe with Harmony Black, turning the camera on a covert government team tasked with confronting supernatural threats, and with The Revanche Cycle, a Renaissance-tinged epic of politics and power. Though distinct in setting, these works share a gravitational pull toward moral ambiguity: damaged survivors, corrupt institutions, and the fragile bonds that can either redeem or destroy.

Read more ...

Schaefer’s stories often carry the texture of lived history. Before writing full time, she immersed herself in folklore, crime reporting, and the ways myth bleeds into daily life. Those influences surface in her prose, lyrical when a moment demands wonder and unflinching when violence breaks through. She does not shy away from flawed heroes or hard questions, instead building narratives that sit at the uneasy crossroads of loyalty and betrayal, hope and ruin.

Now based in North Carolina, she continues to weave tales set in what she calls the First Story, a shared continuity linking her major works. A decade on from her first publication, her novels have been translated into multiple languages, drawing international readers into her haunted worlds.

Whether following Daniel Faust’s crooked path through casinos and covens, Harmony Black’s battles with monsters in the dark, or the political intrigue of The Revanche Cycle, readers come to Schaefer’s work expecting more than just magic. They come for the tension of lives balanced on the edge, where every choice carries a shadow.

Castaways

Castaways consists of three books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.

Castaways (Castaways #1)
Unrated
Firebreak (Castaways #2)
Unrated
Rats (Castaways #3)
⧗ 8.00 / 1


^ Top
Follow Us: Newsletter | Facebook | X | Mastodon | RSS
Hosted by Planeetta Internet Oy
© 1996 - 2026 Risingshadow. All rights reserved.
This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.
Privacy Policy