Showing posts with label mouseheart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mouseheart. Show all posts
Book Review - Hopper's Destiny
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| Cover image courtesy of Barnes and Noble. |
Author: Lisa Fiedler
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: March 17, 2015
Version I Read: Hardcover
Rating: 4.5/5
I continue to really appreciate these books, and this second outing of the Mouseheart series was even better than the first.
Hopper and his friends have succeeded in driving away the feral cats from their beloved city of Atlantia and ending the rather atrocious agreement the former emperor Titus made with the feral queen Felina. It all sounds like a happy ending, except everything has gone wrong. The city is in ruins, attacked by feral cats at every turn, and food is scarce. What's worse, Hopper's sister Pinke has become the new leader of the Mus, and refuses to offer her resources to anyone else. Only Hopper's most steadfast friends are supporting him anymore. And what is going on with Pup?
I've only seen one other book that so thoroughly broke down its main character at the beginning, and that is Tad Williams' The War of the Flowers, which is decidedly less kid-friendly fare than Hopper's Destiny. That being said, the fact that everything goes so horribly wrong for Hopper and co. really makes the reader believe why Hopper would want to run away and never come back, Lion King style. This gives his inner struggle once he goes to the surface a lot more weight than would be usual.
The themes dealt with in this book are heavy and, in my opinion, quite well-handled. Titus' actions and repentance are given a lot more meaning when his motivations are revealed. Another major theme discussed is the ways of nature, and how, yes, cats and snakes eat mice. They have to to survive. Hopper eventually comes to accept this, but refuses to allow killing for reasons other than hunger or self-defense, which I think was a good moral. The final heavy topic is the book's discussion of faith and how, like the humble cockroach of La Rocha's namesake, it is indestructible. That being said, the book goes out of its way to say that the real strength of faith isn't that some supernatural force is going to come in and make everything better. No, its true strength is to inspire you and get you to believe in yourself. Again, a great message.
Fiedler takes the characters she started with in the last book and builds on them marvelously, offering new dimensions to nearly all of them (except maybe Zucker, who is MIA for most of the book), as well as showing us some new faces, perhaps most memorably Ace the cat and the mysterious true identity of La Rocha. Fiedler's writing is also top notch here, with some incredibly beautiful passages sprinkled throughout the book. Most come from La Rocha himself, but just about every character has something meaningful to say.
The plotting is tight and the action moves along at a good pace, and pretty much everything that happens in the book is important in some way, which I always love to see.
(Though seriously, what professional exterminator uses shovels?)
Neither Karen Lofgren nor Loyalty Press has any affiliation with the author or publisher. This review constitutes Fair Use.
Book Review - Mouseheart
Labels:
book review,
children's literature,
Lisa Fiedler,
mouseheart
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| Cover art courtesy of Barnes and Noble. |
Author: Lisa Fiedler
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: May 2015
Version I Read: Paperback
Rating: 4/5
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.
Neither Karen Lofgren nor Loyalty Press has any affiliation with the author or publisher. This review constitutes Fair Use.
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