Mouse

(Book Six in The Five Ancestors)

by
Jeff Stone

Random House, February 2009, 192 pp.
ISBN: 978-0-375-83081-5

Genre: Young Reader
Subgenres: Marshal Arts / Fiction
Reviewed: 9/2/2010

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Excerpt

On Tonglong's warship . . .

Tonglong froze, and ShaoShu saw a small boatload of Round Eyes approaching through the smoky darkness. With all of Tonglong's men aboard their ship, these sailors were attempting a sneak attack.

The small boat thumped against the warship's stern, and a Round Eye reached up, taking hold of the much higher stern rail. He began to climb up the side of the ship, and Tonglong ran toward him. With a flash of silver, Tonglong unsheathed his straight sword and lopped off both of the man's hands. The Round Eye screamed and splashed into the water.

ShaoShu watched with wide eyes as a second Round Eye stood in the small boat, pointing a musket at Tonglong.

"Hey!" someone shouted from the deck, and ShaoShu saw Lei appear behind Tonglong with a pistol in each hand. He fired one, striking the Round Eye, and the man toppled out of the boat.

A third Round Eye stood, raising a pistol.

BANG!

Lei fired his second pistol, and this Round Eye fell backward into the small boat, his unfired pistol dropping into the water.

Oddly, Tonglong staggered wildly, and he, too, toppled over unconscious, onto the deck. ShaoShu stared at him and saw that one of his cheeks and his ear on that side of his face were badly powder-burned. Also, the collar of his robe was on fire. Lei's second pistol had discharged right next to Tonglong's head, and the concussion had knocked him out while the blast had ignited his robe.

Lei dropped to his knees and patted Tonglong down, quickly extinguishing the flames. Then he did a curious thing. He looked around to make sure he was alone; then he snapped the cord Tonglong wore around his neck, slipping the special key into one of his holsters.

ShaoShu curled up as tightly as he could in the rigging, hoping Lei wouldn't see him, when he saw that there was one more Round Eye still in the small boat. The Round Eye pushed his fallen comrade off of himself, climbed over the rail, and leaped onto the deck, a long sword in one hand.

"Lei, look out!" ShaoShu cried.

Lei's expression changed to one of genuine surprise as he looked up to see the Round Eye charging toward him. Lei reached beneath his right pant leg, pulled out a small pistol, and fired.

The lead ball struck the Round Eye in the face, and he dropped to the deck.

Lei blew the smoke out of the pistol's short barrel and glared up at ShaoShu. He did not look happy. He pointed to the holster that held Tonglong's key, raised a finger to his lips as if to silence ShaoShu, then made a pretend pistol with his fingers, aiming it at ShaoShu and dropped his thumb like a pistol's hammer.

ShaoShu got the message.

Synopsis

ShaoShu is a seven year old orphan that has lived on the streets his entire life. He has survived by using his wits and can usually figure out a way out of any sticky situation he finds himself in. ShaoShu has stowed away on Tonglong's warship and is eventually discovered. When Tonglong learns that ShaoShu is able to squeeze through tiny places, like a contortionist, he decides not to kill him, but to use him. Tonglong hires ShaoShu to be a crew member on his ship.

Charles, a Round Eye who own his own small ship and friend of Hok, has Hok, Malao, Fu and Ying on his ship when they see ShaoShu being captured. They decide that they cannot rescue ShaoShu at this time and head up the river to return to Ying's mother. When they find her burned down him, a sniper starts shooting at the boys. After taking care of the sniper, they find that Ying's mother is barely alive.

ShaoShu learns that Tonglong wants to be the next emperor of China. He plans on using ShaoShu's contortionist skills to help him retrieve a special key, which ShaoShu does. But Tonglong's second in command, Lei, a very skilled fighter, steals the key from Tonglong without Tonglong suspecting him. Lei has his won plans for the key.

Golden Dragon, who is really Long, has moved up the ranks in the fight club and is scheduled to fight the last remaining fighter, who happens to be Lei. ShaoShu has made contact with Long and is now his aide for the fight. Hok, Malao, Fu and Ying have made their way to the fight club and hope to contact Long. When Long hears what Tonglong is trying to do, he knows that he must be the one to put a stop to Tonglong's evil plans.

Mouse is the sixth book of seven in The Five Ancestors series written by Jeff Stone. It is a young adult fictional story that takes place China over 350 years ago. The story revolves around five young monks all between the ages of 11 and 13 and their special fighting techniques. The main characters in this series are: Fu - Tiger, Malao - Monkey, Seh - Snake, Hok - Crane, and Long - Dragon.

Review

Mouse is a story about a character that was introduced in Eagle. ShoaShu, translated as Mouse, has lived on the streets his entire life, which isn't very long, but it has taught him how to survive. He is befriended by Hok and Ying and wants to help them stop Tonglong. So, he stows away aboard Tonglong's ship. That is the beginning of his tale in ancient China.

This story seems more like a side-story to the previous five books. Yes, the plot moves forward, but a lot of the book is about Tonglong and his need for power. Since the story doesn't focus on one of the main characters that were in the first four books, I was a little confused by what I though of as a quick addition to a pretty spectacular series. Don't get me wrong, it is still a great piece of writing, but it seemed to me that this book kind of appeared as an afterthought.

Jeff Stone continues to amaze me with his knowledge of Chinese history. His ability to write about China in the mid-1600's really brings this series to life. His writing style is able to transport me to a world I know nothing about and makes me want to know more about it. I often find myself forgetting how young these characters are supposed to be and thinks of them as being older. Still, that doesn't matter because the series is so entertaining. I think young reader will really get a kick out of this series because there is nothing else out there like it. Boys who love martial arts films will really love the Five Ancestors.

Overall, Mouse is a great story, but is the weakest of the books so far. The series is still spectacular and I am really looking forward to seeing how it all ends in the final book, Dragon. Will the kids be able to stop Tonglong and his plans of ruling China? Let's hope so. Replacing one bad ruler with an even worse one is never the answer.

I rated this book an 8 out of 10.