Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Peterson::
by William the Bloody
The world of mice is far more advanced than you might think. Mice live in tiny villages with bakers, black smiths and potters, et cetera, only because they are so small and the they have so many predators, their towns need to be built concealed in places like tangles tree roots and carved into rocks and spread apart. It is for these reason that the Mouse Guard was developed. They blaze safe paths in between the villages, are trained to fight to keep predators at bay, keep track of the weather, and overall protect the mice citizens on the road ways and maintain the peace. One day a grain merchant on a trade route didn't reach his destination, and the Mouse Guard send three of their finest --Liaem, Saxon, and Kenzie-- to find him. And find him they do, in the belly of a snake. Only, when they recovered his body, they found on him a map of Lockhaven, the Mouse Guard training village (almost the mouse territory "capital city", if you will), which by law is not permitted to leave the village's boarders. The fact of the map being smuggled to another village warrants investigation, and these three guards discover a plot to storm Lockhaven and overthrow the government by force, but what can these three soldiers do against a legion? Will they warn the village and their matriarch in time?
The Good: I had heard about Mouse Guard before but actually knew very little about it, so when I saw it at a convention at a discount from the creator himself, I took advantage to become acquainted (and get an autograph). What I found was an adorable, intriguing and intricate new world of mice in a medieval-type society which pulled me right in. It felt Lord of the Rings-ian in that the very first image you see in between the covers of the book is that of a map of the mouse territories as of their year 1150, with Lockhaven in the center and other places like Copperwood and Ivydale surrounding it, and, like Lord of the Rings, this does help you a little in understanding just where certain events in the story take place in relation to others geographically. The art is really nice, and looks great in full colour in its autumn colour palette. The mice are indeed pretty cute, but we also encounter other creatures like crabs, which look every bit as good and well detailed. The art looks very labour intensive, utilizing massive amounts of cross hatching and nevr scrimping on the backgrounds or details.
The Bad: Occasionally, I would find myself getting confused which mouse was which, even though they do wear differently coloured cloaks. Sometimes I found the storytelling to be a tad muddled and was slightly confused as to what was going on or what just happened, but I was able to sort out what was what as I kept reading. I don't know, maybe this was Peterson's first foray into sequential storytelling?
When I was done, I really enjoyed it. It was an interesting peek into this whole other little world of mice and it felt good, almost real and plausible. I'm eager for the next installment titled "Winter 1152" which looks like it must cover the events of the season following this current story. I would recommend this tale to people who enjoy adventure stories and depictions of medieval townships, combat, honour, and lifestyle. The regular retail price of the hardbound edition (which collects a six issue miniseries) is about 25 USD, but if you find that too steep, a softcover will be out in spring 2008.
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