In The Final Reckoning the mice find themselves under threat not only from the army of rats that is massing under London but also from the mysterious eternal winter which has enveloped Deptford.  Everything points to Jupiter being back and so the mice, together with the bats and the Starwife, must try to stay alive long enough to defeat him.

You may remember that one of my favourite things about Robin Jarvis’ writing is that he isn’t afraid to be dark even though he is writing for a younger age group, and this book was no exception.  Often in children’s fiction, the forces of evil (whatever form they may take) are distant, incompetent or impotent or a combination of all three.  Evil is usually active in a far off land to which the protagonist must journey to fight it, its plans fail fairly easily before they can be put into practice, and if a character is important and liked then Evil will frequently content itself with capturing rather than killing them.  All in all, Evil often isn’t terribly threatening.  However, the forces of evil in Jarvis’ books are immediate, powerful, bloodthirsty and indiscriminate in who they attack.  Just because a character has a name and has been well developed does not mean that they are safe.  I love that I can read a book for younger readers entitled The Final Reckoning with a final chapter also called ‘The Final Reckoning’ and do so with apprehension because I don’t know which, if any, of the characters will make it through to the end alive.  There is real tension and anxiety in these books which I’ve not often found in children’s fantasy.  Of course, this might be far more common in children’s literature now, I don’t know, but I still think Jarvis should be applauded for what he has done, particularly considering The Deptford Mice Trilogy is more than twenty years old.

The Final Reckoning by Robin Jarvis.  Published by Macdonald, 1997, pp. 305.  Originally published in 1990.

In this second installment in the Deptford Mice Trilogy, Audrey makes a deal with the mysterious Starwife that she will journey to the countryside, taking the mad rat Madam Akkikuyu with her, in exchange for the Starwife saving her friend Oswald’s life.  The two of them set off with her brother Arthur and friend Twit to visit Twit’s family and stay with the fieldmice of Fennywolde.  Once there, however, the countryside proves to be far less idyllic than Audrey had anticipated.  Many of the country mice do not take kindly to the newcomers, and soon their peaceful lives are threatened by an even greater evil which has come with the mice from Deptford.

Having read all of the Deptford Mice books now (one of the unforeseen benefits of being behind with reviews), I think that this one is my favourite.  Robin Jarvis does a wonderful job of creating the society of the fieldmice and of making it different from that of the town mice in Deptford that we saw in the first book.  The pace of life is slower but there are also far more dangers to be thought of: the fieldmice post guards constantly around there homes, whereas danger for the city mice is an external thing which thus far has remained outside their domain and is only encountered by those who go looking for it.  I particularly liked the traditions and folk ways which played such an important role in the fieldmouse culture and in the plot of this novel, including the much greater emphasis on the Green Mouse and the mouse religion.  This managed to be both charming and rustic as well as having a latent threatening quality, and I enjoyed watching Jarvis show how this tension slowly and believably built up as the fieldmice transformed from welcoming but wary characters into a raging mob.

Madam Akkikuyu is a wonderful character.  She has a distinct way of speaking that is instantly recognisable, and I’m pleased that this book spends more time with her than the first installment, The Dark Portal, did.  The Crystal Prison also sees the other characters develop well: Audrey becomes more sensible as she is forced to make difficult decisions; Arthur plays a much bigger role, allowing the reader to get to know him a bit better; and Twit shows that he is not as empty-headed as all the mice suspect (although I’m sure the reader won’t have been lured into the same trap) simply because he is cheerful and has a rural accent.  In this, and in its cliffhanger ending, it paves the way well for book three.

The Crystal Prison by Robin Jarvis.  Published by Simon & Schuster, 1994, pp. 261.  Originally published in 1989.