Oh my gosh! The artwork in this book is soooo cute!! Really, that was my initial reaction, and I stand by it.
Mouse Guard is a pretty standard fantasy story, but instead of people, it uses animals – mice to be precise. This story follows three guard mice – Saxon, Kenzie, and Liam as their search for a missing merchant mouse turns into a race to save their town from a traitor within the ranks of the Guard.
Honestly, the book is rather like a Redwall novel in graphic novel form, so the story isn’t anything ground-breaking, but it’s cute and fluffy and fun to read. I honestly had been hoping for a more fleshed out story, so I was a little disappointed at how basic is seemed. A lot of the character relationships seem to be rushed, so when the mice proclaim great friendship for each other, I often find myself going, “But they only just met a few pages ago!” It makes some of the dramatic scenes less… dramatic.
The art work is spectacular though. I plan on buying this just for the art alone. The mice are adorable, even as they brandish knives and spears and fight off snakes and track down traitors. There was not a single panel that did not have me squealing, “Aaaaawww!”
So, anyways, I think the artwork alone is worth the money it takes to buy a copy of Mouse Guard, but the story is a little to simple for my tastes. I still enjoyed it, just wanted a bit more.
September 14, 2012
Golden Bookwyrm
2 responses to “Bimonthly Book Review – “Mouse Guard: Fall 1152″ by David Petersen”
David
September 14th, 2012 at 23:18
Nice review. My own thoughts were similar. The art work is very nice, and I like the concept, but the story just felt so shallow and rushed. I could barely tell the characters apart and didn’t care about them when I could. Perhaps I’m just not as susceptible to cuteness. After awhile they became too cute, and it was impossible to take anything as seriously as Petersen wanted me too!
I’ve heard that the next volume improves on the story and worldbuilding, but I can’t say I’m interested enough to seek it out.
Golden Bookwyrm
September 18th, 2012 at 08:40
Volume 2 is a vast improvement – it focuses in on Liam (the new recruit), so we actually get some character development.
I think it’s the fact that Petersen kills characters before we can become attached to them that makes the plot seem so under-developed in Vol. 1. In Vol. 2, when they killed one character off, I actually went “awww!”
as I read. Hooray for character building and pacing that works!