I would probably have enjoyed this book if I hadn't read it at the end of reading through all 6 Deptford Mice books. As it was, I found it a slightly tired rehashing of things we had seen done better in earlier books. The simpleton is a Dark Agent in disguise? That was done better in the Oaken Throne. The enemy is a dark god trying to rise again? We'd just had that in the Oaken Throne, and in The Final Reckoning... A town mouse stays with some field mice and causes a doomed love triangle? Wasn't that the plot of the Crystal Prison? It is fun watching Robin Javis weive foreign animals into his traditionally English stories, but I was mostly wanting it to be half the length it was. ( )

there is a couple of bits in this book which scared the crap out of me. i marked the pages so that when i read the book again ( i like to read books over and over if i like them) i didn't have to read the scary bits. totally brilliant trilogy - maybes i should have opened with that...