Michael de Larrabeiti (1934–2008)

This is a book that violates expectations. It's YA from the early days (1979) of that genre. Or is it? Are the characters young adults? As in the lost boys of Peter Pan, once you run away, and are forgotten, you grow pointed ears and stop growing up. While no specific clues are given, it is frequently intimated that some characters have been Borribles for decades at least. How does this happen? Has it always happened? Where did the main characters come from? The author has no interest in show more these issues. All that matters is the culture of the Borribles, and, in this book, their possibly suicide mission to kill the leaders of the intelligent, English-speaking, human-sized, rat-like Rumbles. No cute here.These Borribles kill their enemy and joke about it, a la James Bond. Even more disturbing to me is that they find it even funnier when a Rumble dies by accident, not in battle. The Borribles live in the darkest, dirtiest parts of London and other big cities, living on what they can steal. There is a mythos being built here. Characters break into improvised songs at the drop of a hat. Everyone knows proverbs from the Book of Borribles. In this book, adults appear only briefly in the form of police and security guards. It's neither clear in this book nor important whether adults know about Borribles and Rumbles.

An uncomfortable but intriguing tale. show less

Borribles are small, looking like children apart from the fact that they have pointed ears, but they may be hundreds of years old, for they can live forever, unless they are caught and get their ears clipped. If that happens they will turn into regular children and will be doomed into growing up into boring, adventureless adults.
The trilogy begins with the story of the great Rumble Hunt, where nine Borribles go on a mission to stop the Rumbles invading their manors. Eight are nameless show more adventurerers out to earn a name, while the ninth, Knocker goes as their historian, but has another aim as well. He wants to get a second name, for all Borribles must earn their names, and no Borrible can go adventuring once he has a name. This may be his chance.
De Larrabeiti uses the streets of London as his setting, and they really do come alive in these three stories, as do the characters. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the SBG (Special Borrible Group) officers; The DAC, for example has shoes that

"shone so brilliantly that it was impossible to tell what colour they were."

while inspecter Sussworth's

"face was like a three-fingered signpost, turned by mischievous hands so that everything pointed down the wrong road…He kicked the ground when he was annoyed, he did a little three-step dance when he was pleased. He was stubborn and he was proud; his blood bubbled with a lunatic zeal, he was an evangelist for rectitude and decorum, an enforcer of law and order."

But it is the Borribles who are the heroes and they who more than entertain with their adventures and attempts to evade the SBG, as well as rescue the horse Sam who saved them on the Great Rumble Hunt.

This may be part of children's literature but it is very far from the world of Harry Potter and Hogwarts. The London of the Borribles is described in wonderfully grimy detail while the open spaces of the parks and fields are regarded with trepidation by the Borribles, after all there is nothing to steal there, nowhere to kip and nowhere to hide.
These stories have been out of print for years, but I for one am glad that they have been reissued. I didn't read them when I was young, but I would recommend them, especially for non-fans of the Wombles. For they, although altered, are the basis of the Rumbles of Rumbledon. Although the Rumbles are far more violent, using their sticks as weapons rathar than for picking up litter.
Darkly entertaining stories show less

All of the tales end badly for someone, usually everyone but the teller and he’s not always spared. Women are the Princess of Y or the Barons of X’s daughter or the peasant woman - except the woodcutter’s sister Pichounetta who is cheated and suffocated. I don’t really enjoy these tails of assured doom, but I knew that going in. I think the pleasure is in seeing the doom eat elsewhere.

This final installment of the Borribles trilogy does not disappoint - it is instead the most action-filled, scariest, funniest, and, on occasion, saddest of the lot. In a final push to get Sam the horse to safety, our band of Borribles set out yet again across London and with a little bit of help from other Borrible groups, they aim to beat the SBG and the horrible Inspector Sussworth once and for all. With stakes mile-high and a neck-break speed, de Larrabeiti finishes off one of the most show more original series I've ever read, and, although the ending may be a little sad, there's a cool twist that I think any Borrible-fan will love! (MAYBE-SORT-OF-SPOILER: Who is Knocker really?) show less