The Mousehunter by Alex Milway

Reviewed by Aimee

Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language:  12 uses of damn, 3 uses of hell, 2 expressions of deity, and some references to cursing.

Violence:  “At his feet were the stinking, rotting, severed heads of dead prisoners.”  The bodies of executed pirates are hung out for all to see, their heads are speared onto shortened pikes.  Sea monsters attack a ship.  Cannons are fired at monsters.  The monsters turn on each other and their “jaws crunched into each other’s skulls.”  Soldiers and pirates shoot guns, fight with swords and shoot cannons.  They are beaten and bloodied, shouting and screaming.  A dead mouse is found hanging in a noose as a message.  A pirate is stabbed in the ribs and then run through with a blade.  A man is grabbed and knocked out.  There is punching and head smashing.  Many people are captured and put in chains and irons.  Emiline is hit in the back and her arm wrenched behind her.  Again, dead bodies are put up around town to show exactly what the city does to criminals.  The crowd cheers loudly for the deaths of the pirates.  Scratcher is bloodied, beaten and bruised.  There are many executions by hanging, told in detail.  The birds are picking at the dead bodies.

Sexual Content- A woman is dressed “provocatively”.  References are made to her flirting.

Adult Themes:  There are several instances of people drinking wine or other alcoholic beverages.

Synopsis

Emiline lives in the town of Old Port where she is a mousekeeper.  She lives in a world where there are thousands of species of mice and it is her job to know all about them.  Some are very common and some are very rare.  Emiline is employed by a very wealthy man named Isiah Lovelock who has one of the best mouse collections anywhere.  But Emiline dreams of doing more than mousekeeping, she dreams of being a mousehunter.  One day she is given the chance to join Captain Drewshank and his crew in the search for the infamous pirate Mousebeard, who is said to have the very rare golden mice.  To keep golden mice is punishable by death.  Emiline embarks on an adventure on the high seas and meets many interesting people (and mice) along the way!

This was an adventure book unlike any I’ve yet to read.  I really enjoyed the mouse bios at the end of each chapter that told about a certain mouse and its characteristics along with a picture.  I thought that the book had imagination and lots of adventure.  Even after reading this, I don’t think I’d like to live in a world full of mice, no matter how useful or cute they might be!  The story itself was fun and written on a level the intended age group could understand.   My personal problem with the book was the language.  The rating of 3 reflects the repeated usage and the criteria of “may be unsuitable for some children/youth in the recommended age group,” which is age 9 through 14.