‘Mouse Guard: Autumn 1152’ – David Petersen (Titan Books)


Here’s another book that I’ve always meant to read, finally manage to track down a copy and then promptly left it unread in my old loft for far too long. 2024 seems to be about catching up with all these unread books so now my collection is a little more accessible, here we are 😊

Just a quick one today because ‘Mouse Guard’ has been around for a while now and I suspect that everything that needs to be said has been. Also, well… There’s not an awful lot to this book, let me tell you more.

Mice struggle to live safely and prosper amongst harsh conditions and a host of predators. Thus the Mouse Guard was formed: more than just soldiers that fight off intruders, they are guides for common mice looking to journey without confrontation from one hidden village to another. The Guard patrol borders, find safe ways and paths through dangerous territories and treacherous terrain, watch weather patterns, and keep the mouse territories free of predatory infestation. They do so with fearless dedication so that they might not just exist, but truly live. Saxon, Kenzie and Lieam, three such Guardsmice, are dispatched to find a missing merchant mouse that never arrived at his destination. Their search for the missing mouse reveals much more than they expect, as they stumble across a traitor in the Guard’s own ranks.

So yeah… There’s not an awful lot to ‘Mouse Guard’ in the way of plot. There’s a question to be answered and that’s what our heroes do, with a little sword play and derring do along the way. I mean, it works but it was a little too lightweight for my taste. Your mileage will vary but plot wise, the only reason I can remember what happened is because everything seems to be stripped back to the very bare essentials and there’s not a lot to remember. Like I said, it works but I prefer a narrative with a little more meat to it.

The artwork though… That was gorgeous and probably the main reason I spent as much time with the book as I did. See the cover? The art inside is basically that the whole way through and it’s so easy to just sit and get properly immersed in all that detail. I love a bit of worldbuilding and Petersen has made excellent use of the panels to do just that, that and some exciting moments of swordplay that keep things ticking along. And all credit to Petersen for putting so much expression and feeling into characters who are basically all fur and ears, with tiny eyes and no mouths to speak of. Despite all that, Petersen still gives us a real feel for the main players and I think that’s pretty impressive.

Will I carry on with this series? I’d like to but I suspect that it’s one that I’ll read as and when I find them second hand; the artwork is stunning but the story isn’t quite there for me to justify spending full price on it. Has anyone else read these books? What did you think?

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