Book Review - Mouseheart

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Cover art courtesy of Barnes and Noble.
Title: Mouseheart
Author: Lisa Fiedler
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: May 2015
Version I Read: Paperback

Rating: 4/5

Man, I’m just on a children’s book kick recently, aren’t I? The most recent book I’ve completed that I feel I need to write a review on is Lisa Fielder’s Mouseheart.

Animal fantasy seems to be really in right now, what with the success of the Warriors series and the myriad of similar series that have followed it. Mouseheart appears to be kind of on the same track, and in many ways it’s rather typical for its genre. But I think this book goes to show there’s really nothing wrong with that. And because I like mice and rats in real life (I've owned many), I always appreciate when an animal fantasy story focuses on them (Rats of NIMH is one of my favorites, perhaps obviously.)

I wouldn’t call the plot of Mouseheart particularly spectacular or original. What does stand out is the characters. They all have well-defined personalities and motivations, and nearly all are at least somewhat sympathetic. Hopper is a relatable hero, his sister Pinky is an unapologetic badass, Zucker is a nice guy stuck in the pretty bad situation of having to betray his own father in order to save lives, Firren is an awesome revolutionary lady rat, and Titus, horrible as he is, shows some signs of regret and "doing what he has to do." And the idea of the main villain being a prissy housecat that got tossed out on the streets and then clawed her way up is pretty cool too.

One big criticism of the book I have is Zucker’s speech patterns. Perhaps it’s because he’s trying to seem less princely around Hopper, but his attempts at sounding like the “cool big bro” didn’t do much for me at all, and I felt it detracted severely from the writing and the story, and didn’t present Zucker as the kind of character the author was intending.

Either way, I’ve found myself pretty drawn into this world and I’ll definitely be picking up the sequel.

The Verdict: A fun book with a lot of good characters, barring some dialogue issues and unoriginality. I think parents and kids will enjoy it.

Neither Karen Lofgren nor Loyalty Press has any affiliation with the author or publisher. This review constitutes Fair Use.

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