The Umbrella Mouse

Great concept and started strongly but tailed off around halfway. Once they landed in France it just became increasingly bogged down. Got repetitive in the descriptions (please don't tell me Leon has speckled wings any more I can't take it), and the plot didn't resolve in a particularly satisfying way, it very much ended halfway through the story. More the first in a series rather than being self contained. It was OK, but dragged on a bit - could have been a lot shorter. The sentences weren't easy to read out loud either, sometimes being quite long and meandering; “Spreading their enormous wings, the owls leaped from their lookout posts one by one, gliding silently through the air with their cruel beaks and talons malevolently glinting in the moonlight.” It's quite a mouthful.

It made its point early and didn't develop much further, feeling at times a blunt instrument, trying a bit too hard to convey to horrors of war. Also the best 2 characters were given the least airtime Dickin and Hans. Some parts I found a bit distasteful too; a camp with a tall smoking chimney and gas canisters, where bony men in striped uniforms rushed for freedom after being freed by the animals? Didn't sit well with me.. My kid (8) enjoyed it but for me it never really clicked. A lot of the plot felt pretty contrived too Pip just happens to land in France on top of the HQ of the resistance? Near France's only concentration camp? And runs into Peter? (for an unnecessary side-quest).

Not as good a mousey adventure as Redwall, and not as good a kids war adventure as I am David, or The Silver Sword. So where does that leave it? Well, for all my critique, it's still a decent enough adventure story with plenty of action and emotion. It was fine, there's just better stuff out there covering similar ground.