Customer Reviews

Little White Mouse Omnibus Edition

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ostensibly a coming of age story of a 16-year old girl, the Little White Mouse series by writer and artist Paul Sizer is in reality a far ranging, emotionally complex tale of the the power of hope and self-belief to overcome loneliness, doubt, and despair.

When Loo crash lands on Mining Satellite 713 after the space liner taking her and her sister P'heng to the Galactic Science Academy explodes, she finds herself completely alone, except for a pair of overprotective droids and the possible ghost of a previous inhabitant. There's no crew, no communications in or out, and the main computer running the station is rather hostile to Loo's borrowing of the station's technology. Sizer frequently dips into Loo's past with extended flashbacks and dream sequences to demonstrate the building of her personality into a core of strength to face such a dire situation with ingenuity, humor and irrepressible gumption. There are several side stories addressing corporate corruption, urban decay and the tribulations of love, but the star of the show is always Loo and her journey through the worst of circumstances, keeping her head up all the way and inspiring others.

The graphic style of the book is half-way to manga. Sizer frequently pokes fun at his own artistic style by bringing on the full manga treatment, while Loo complains that she "looks like Hello Kitty" when he does. The tone of the writing balances perfectly between poignant philosophizing and slapstick humor, knowing just when to switch from one to the other. Sizer does leave some loose ends, sometimes intentionally, sometimes as a result of too much meat in the stew.

Little White Mouse is categorized as a youth title, and would be a superb gift to any teenager or pre-teen, both girls and boys. But any adult should ignore the youth title appellation and pick up this collection of the complete series. At the end, it was hard to say goodbye to Loo Th'eng and her friends and family, and her positive attitude towards life lingers with the reader long after the book is returned to the shelf.

I've been following Paul Sizer on DeviantArt for a few years now. When he announced, there, that he was looking for people to purchase "Little White Mouse", I knew I had to find it on Amazon.

I finished the book quickly. There is a lot of adventure, mystery, and tech for everybody! Loo, the heroine, has just enough attitude to get herself into and out of trouble on a regular basis.

While the Omnibus edition I recieved was a tad small for my old eyes to read in an evening, I strongly encourage you to get the book!

Buy it, or read the online version and see if you like it if you want, though. The online version haven't reached the conclusion though.

It's very high quality book, and very crisp artwork. The story flows very well, as told by master storyteller, or in least seems to me.

The first few pages story is like this... Two girls was discussing and planned their vacations. The ship will take quite a while to get to location, and they have to get into hibernation meanwhile. Main character's sister was planning to have a computer scan her brain and store a copy for tests. Other wanted to listen to music in hibernation. But when main character wakes up, she's the only survivor in mining station. Two disasters happened to the ship. Okay good point to stop now. :) Bet ya that you're hooked.

I encountered Little White Mouse earlier this week, and devourwed it, reading it online.

It's a lovely tale, masterfully drawn, and paints an interesting web of relationships and the story of the title character as she struggles for more than survival.

That said, it's marred by a small number of major flaws: (warning, I'm going to discuss what happens in the story here, so be warned. I try to leave enough out that some surprised are kept, but it's still an issue)

1. The world: Is well drawn in broad strokes--but due to the very small number of actors, ends up feeling very shallow if you think about it. You have the two corporations, and a tiny bit of a view on earth (with two major cities with theoretically different feels and some rivalries that echo the corporations' rivalries) ---past Earth, as far as we can see, intergalacitc seems to control everything for a large distance; we see no other evidence of any competing corps. And then suddenly you've got the outback--where bounty hunters, semi-sleazy hotels, bars, and settlers who are somehow alone on entire planets, live. And even aside from that, we've got the lone examples of time travellers, apparent sexual slavers, and a technological but apparently also mystical ghost. The more exceptions, the less of a rule you have; so with a sparse visible universe with lots of apparent externalities, the whole edifice fails to hold its illusion if you look at it funny.

2. The "escape", despite involving the heroine's pluck, is nothing more than a deus ex machina. Were the setup for it better developped, it would not seem this way--but as it is, the sacrifice (?) involved in this important moment feels like a cheat.

3. Finally, the troubling, troubling conclusion. Over the course of the story, vile crimes are uncovered -- hundreds of murders, for little apparent purpose, revealed and (to a very small audience) exposed. And then...the entire thing is covered by mutual blackmail. This has the twin flaws of unbelievability -- no agreement to hide the described crimes--particularly when they are not simply a past embarassment, but clearly a pattern of casual murder that has continued to the present day--would hold, nor would one expect those responsible to believe it would; nor, particularly since one of those murdered was related to the protagonists, would one expect them to hold to or make such an agreement. And moreover, it is impossible to find any agreement (partuclarly a binding one) to conceal crimes of this magnitude sympathetic.

All that said, there is a lot of good stuff here; I only wish the author/artist would revise the work and get rid of the worst problems, so I could wholey reccomend it.

This is an outstanding story with fantastic artwork, targeting teen audience, though delving with quite deep problems of life. I enjoyed it thoroughly and I highly encourage the writer/artist to never quit it. Make it an endless saga and share with us your wonderful world, rich of character, action, adventure and everything a teen comic needs. I love it! Godspeed!