Title: Lord Brocktree

Author: Jacques, Brian

Book Preview:

The evil Ungatt Trunn and his army, the Blue-Hordes, have captured the mountain fortress of Salamandastron!  The only ones who can get it back are the Badger Lord, Brocktree, and his young hare friend, Dotti.  But first they have to find a way to raise an army that can defeat the Blue-Hordes.  Is the mountain destined to be under the control of the evil wildcat Ungatt Trunn?  Or will Lord Brocktree and Dotti be able to raise a big enough army to destroy him and his evil Blue-Hordes?

Rating:

Lord Brocktree had a lot of good detail. For example, "Spume was whipped from the high crested waves by the rain-sheeting wind, while dried-out seaweed flotsam from the timeline tumbled crazily about on the wet sand."

I also liked how all of the creatures had their own unique personalities and accents. The moles have very deep voices and rustic accents. "Did ee get yon jobs, zurrs, tell us’n’s?"

Also, the book has a wonderful ending. By the time you got there you had forgotten that it was a story. It had such a good ending that you didn’t want to put the book down.

My favorite thing about this book though was the names of the characters. I think that the author was very creative in thinking of the names. For example, he would mix a flower type and a name, or use tree types, etc. Some of the names were Dotti, Brocktree, and Fleetscut. Also, he was creative in how the names matched the creatures. Fleetscut (scutt is another name for a hare’s tail) was a hare that was fast and loyal. Brocktree was a huge badger that was strong, brave, fierce, and had a sword so large that it probably weighed 50-60 pounds! The reason I liked the name Dotti was because the author used it as a nickname for Dorothea.

The one thing that would have made this book better, though, would be if there was a feast at the end, before Lord Brocktree’s friends left for home. Then everyone would be happy and full when they had to leave. [Amber]