Customer Reviews

The Mousehunter

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

 

 

I have a policy of giving books at least 100 pages to grab me. Sometimes it takes that long and I am happy I put in the effort. I plowed all the way through to 122 pages of The Mousehunter before I closed this one and put it in the donation pile.

I main issue with the book was the superficiality of the characters. For instance, our heroine, Emiline. Here's what I know about her after 100+ pages. She's 12. She's a mousekeeper. She wants to be a mousehunter. That's pretty much it. Do I know why she wants to be a mousehunter? Because it's cool, I guess. This reason is not compelling. Do I know where her parents are? No, definitely not. Do I know anything AT ALL about her family? Nope. Do I know if she has any friends? I think not. Do I know why she doesn't have any friends? No. I could go on and on about the things I don't know about her.

Like so many, I started reading YA fantasy books because of Harry Potter. Now I've read a few series, among them Fablehaven and Percy Jackson. I thought The Mousehunter looked really interesting. I liked it that so much of it took place at sea. I like to sail, and I thought that would make a nice change of scenery. But with no characters to get invested in, to identify with, to *care* about - well, what's the point? There are too many other books to read. For instance, I just started to read "A Wrinkle in Time," which I have never read before. Well, in the first chapter of this book, I felt like I knew Meg: her family, her strange brother, the confusion of a missing father, the insecurities of her appearance and intelligence, the way rage can overtake her despair. Such an interesting character in only the first 20 pages! It's a shame that Milway didn't flesh out his characters like this. Then I would probably still be reading his work.

Twelve-year-old Emiline Orelia is the best mousekeeper in Old Town, but wants more than anything to become a mousehunter.

While she's cleaning the cages of the Blinking Mouse of Bobo and the Rook-winged Mouse of Scarlet Island, she dreams of accomplishing greater things than maintaining mice. Even though she works for Isaiah Lovelock, the most famous mouse collector in the world, there aren't many opportunities to make a name for herself.

When Mousebeard, the fiercest pirate in all seventeen seas, meddles one too many times with Lovelock, her employer hires Devlin Drewshank, a buccaneer, to capture him. Emiline impresses Drewshank with her mousing abilities and wins a place upon his ship. However, instead of starting her own adventure, she gets roped into an exciting but dangerous conspiracy of illegal mouse trading, deadly curses, and lots of double-crossing.

Alex Milway's THE MOUSEHUNTER is a magical romp through pirate ships and brigand-ridden cities. In Old Town, the Dead Collector, Mr. Droob, has an assistant to help take care of all the bodies that wash ashore.

Though this book is filled with mice, there's nothing mousy about it! Milway creates a fantastic world where people live and die for rare breeds of mice. The novel is populated with an eccentric cast of human characters, from the beautiful and manipulative Lady Beatrice Pettifogger to the brilliant and slightly bonkers Algernon Mountjack.

Young readers will love the resourceful and hardworking Emiline, her trusty grey mouse, Portly, and her best friend and fellow mouser, Scratcher. In addition, each chapter is introduced with an entry of Isaiah Lovelock's The Mousehunter's Almanac and features many of Alex Milway's own illustrations.

Five Stars!

Reviewed by: Natalie Tsang

For years, the legend of the infamous pirate Mousebeard has frightened young children and sailors alike. Few have crossed paths with him without paying a heavy price.

In the maritime community of Old Town, a young girl named Emiline Orelia dreams of becoming a great mousehunter someday. She works as a mousekeeper for the wealthy Isiah Lovelock, bestselling author of The Mousehunter's Almanac. Emiline is dedicated to her occupation, often going beyond the call of duty (such as trudging through the sewers to rescue the Whitewater Mouse of Inglenook that fell in the toilet system), even if the rewards are often few and far between.

All around the Seventeen Seas, mice are as popular as dogs and horses, with many kinds that are beneficial --- such as the Messenger Mouse (which has wings and can fly long distances) and the Magnetical Mouse (which has a nose that acts like a compass) --- and troublesome to humans, like the Nosferatu Mouse. New species are discovered often, making the demand for mice high. As a result, mice hunting and trading are very lucrative on the black market.

By day, Pirate's Wharf is a bustling marketplace for visitors and residents of Old Town, where a gibbet sways as a grim reminder to greedy pirates. By night, however, it is a center of illegal commerce. Only the shady and the reckless dare to venture out after hours, fewer still without protection. So when Mr. Droob --- the local Dead Collector --- pays an unexpected visit to Mr. Lovelock, Emiline knows that something exciting is going on. The Lady Caroline, Lovelock's ship, was sunk by Mousebeard, whose calling card --- a cloth mouse --- was retrieved by Dr. Droob. Furious, Lovelock hires a privateer, Captain Devlin Drewshank, to capture Mousebeard and end his notorious career.

When the young mousekeeper overhears Lovelock's plan to capture the great Mousebeard, she sees an opportunity to view the world outside of Old Town. Emiline decides to join Captain Drewshank's crew aboard the Flying Fox, but the plan nearly doesn't happen when Lovelock and Mr. Spires --- Lovelock's butler --- see her aboard the ship. Fortunately, the girl makes such a great impression when she helps the Flying Fox's mousekeeper --- a boy named Scratcher --- capture a rather elusive Sharpclaw that Emiline, along with her loyal mouse Portly (a clever Grey Mouse), become valued members of the crew.

There are troubles ahead as the Flying Fox battles frightening sea serpents and crosses paths with the great Mousebeard himself. The adventure is far from over, though, as a secret plot is uncovered, strange alliances are made (and broken), and true colors are revealed.

Aside from the victories and tribulations of the eclectic human characters, middle-grade and older readers will enjoy discovering some of the many mice that live all across the Seventeen Seas --- a few of which are also seen in excerpts of The Mousehunter's Almanac (as illustrated by Alex Milway). A witty, strange and suspenseful pirate-fantasy adventure, THE MOUSEHUNTER will certainly have plenty of fans.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Sawtelle

... For that matter, it's a fun little read for adults who still take care of small fuzzy creatures.

Centering around the adventures of Emiline the mousekeeper, she signs up aboard a pirate hunting ship called the Flying Fox as ship's mousekeeper. I was surprised by the villains and the plotline of this story. Alex Milway has clearly thought out his characters, not in black and white, but in many varying shades of grey. The antagonists were a good deal more complex than I had initially thought and only became better as I read through the book. I certainly hope that a sequel is planned, for I would like to see some of the subplots more fully brought out in the narrative.

Teachers wishing to present a "pirate" book to their students may be surprised by The Mousehunter's themes on the ethical treatment and use of animals and should encourage such discussion in their classrooms.