The Dark Portal

Imparting life to talking mice, rats, bats, and cats would present a challenge to any narrator, but Roe Kendall manages the job with skill and imagination. A group of mice lives in an abandoned house, where they create a comfortable community for themselves, staying purposefully away from "The Grille," which leads to the sewers, the land of their enemies, the rats. All is well until Albert Brown wanders through the sewer grille, and his children and friends are compelled to follow, despite dire warnings about the kingdom below. Bats in the attic offer fortune-telling services, and a ship mouse joins the search for the missing neighbors. Roe Kendall gives each creature a distinctive voice. Her performance facilitates the story's required suspension of disbelief. R.P.L. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

Starred review from July 31, 2000
First published in Britain in 1989 and making its first appearance on American shores, book one of the Deptford Mice Trilogy is a spooky and enthralling animal fantasy just right for Redwall fans. In an abandoned old house known as the Skirtings in the London borough of Deptford, a colony of gentle mice lead tidy, sheltered lives, follow their ancient traditions and worship the Green Mouse (a kindly god who resembles the agricultural deities of ancient Britain). Meanwhile, deep in the foul recesses of the sewers, brutish ratsDwhose primary diversion is hunting and eating miceDtoil at endless digging. Jupiter, a villain par excellence, rules over the rats and emanates a nearly palpable aura of evil. These worlds collide when the mouse Albert Brown is magically lured into the sewers. Albert's daughter, Audrey, armed with a special "brass" bequeathed to her by the Green Mouse, ventures into Jupiter's realm to rescue her father; her brother and a band of loyal friends eventually follow her. Numerous hair-raising encounters with the bloodthirsty rats ensue, until at last the valiant mice come face-to-face with Jupiter in a climactic showdown. Jarvis provides counterpoint to the heart-racing adventure with scenes of haunting beauty, including Audrey's mystical encounter with the Green Mouse and the country mouse Twit's nocturnal flight over London. The author conveys a sense of place powerful enough to elevate the South London boroughs of Greenwich and Blackheath to requisite stops on any bookish child's literary tour of the British capital. Ages 10-up.

August 27, 2001

In a starred review, PW
called this first title in the Deptford Mice Trilogy "a spooky and enthralling animal fantasy just right for Redwall fans." Ages 10-up.