Reviewed by Sarina

TITLE: Lord Mouse

AUTHOR: Mason Thomas

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 256 pages

BLURB:

Scoundrel by nature and master thief by trade, Mouse is the best there is. Sure, his methods may not make him many friends, but he works best alone anyway. And he has never failed a job.

But that could change.

When a stranger with a hefty bag of gold seduces him to take on a task, Mouse knows he’ll regret it. The job? Free Lord Garron, the son of a powerful duke arrested on trumped up charges in a rival duchy. Mouse doesn’t do rescue missions. He’s no altruistic hero, and something about the job reeks. But he cannot turn his back on that much coin—enough to buy a king’s pardon for the murder charge hanging over his head.

Getting Garron out of his tower prison is the easy part. Now, they must escape an army of guardsmen, a walled keep and a city on lockdown, and a ruthless mage using her power to track them. Making matters worse, Mouse is distracted by Garron’s charm and unyielding integrity. Falling for a client can lead to mistakes. Falling for a nobleman can lead to disaster. But Mouse is unprepared for the dangers behind the plot to make Lord Garron disappear.

REVIEW:

Mouse is a man of many talents; thief, scoundrel, smuggler…he’s pretty much done it all. His latest job, however, will test him to his limits as he’s been paid to retrieve not some pretty bauble but the wrongfully imprisoned son of a duke. He certainly won’t be as easy to hide as a random trinket. Garron doesn’t know why he’s been imprisoned. Oh, he has a few theories but he doesn’t believe he’ll be getting free any time soon in order to see if he’s right. Or at least he didn’t until an unlikely rescuer shows up to save him and turns his world upside down in the process.

Oh man, where do I start with this book. I guess I should start with how much I loved the characters; each one was really fleshed out and unique. Mouse has this attitude about him that I just adored and some of the barbs he throws out at people just made me laugh. Garron, on the other hand, is every inch the noble but he doesn’t hesitate to snark right back at Mouse when its warranted and he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty when its called for, either. While one may not think these two had anything in common, they complement each other nicely and give each other what they both need.

Now, a good portion of this book revolved around Mouse trying to free Garron and get him out of the city but I wasn’t bored once or wondering when they’d finally escape. I actually resented anything that made me put the book down because I was enjoying it that much. The descriptions were great and the entire book was just really well written; from start to finish I enjoyed it immensely. It was also nice to see that there was more to both Mouse and Garron than meets the eye; I actually found the information about Mouse’s father really interesting as well as it just added to Mouse’s background. By the time I finished the book I was just in love with the whole thing and I’m not ashamed to say I teared up at one point; the ending, however just made the entire thing perfect. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future!

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Dreamspinner

Amazon

ARe