The Builders

When I was about nine years old, I had gotten tired of reading the basic chapter books that every nine-year-old has to read for school. Encyclopedia Brown. Magic Treehouse. A-Z Mysteries, and those other never-ending sagas for children that seemed to have the same old story but just with different window dressings. Out of boredom, I remember rolling over to the “big kid” section of the school library and perusing the various spines sticking out on the shelves.And on one shelf, there was Brian Jacques. (I'd remembered seeing Jacques Cousteau books at my grandparent's house, so I thought that it had something to do sea life.) Intrigued, I grabbed the book titled Martin the Warrior. There was a warrior standing on the cover holding a sword aloft, and the background there was a fortress on fire… And the warrior was a mouse! Seem to be an odd combination at the time, but it was loud enough for me to be curious and start reading. I was then sucked into the world of Redwall.Brian Jacques (Rest in peace.) was the first to show me that one can write a serious story using animals rather than people to convey a serious story. The mix of action, humor and food descriptions is always a winner in my book.Eventually my interest in that series and anthropomorphic animals waned, and they moved on and I thought more "serious" books. After reading work by Robert E. Howard, and Michael Moorcock, I was attracted to the loner hero archetype in media. And that led me to believe it or not, Clint Eastwood movies. Watched all of the Dirty Harry films, but those left something to be desired… Enter the Man with No Name films by Sergio Leone. The scripts for the films, specifically A Fistful of Dollars and The Good the Bad and Ugly, are brilliant. (I refuse to spoil the films. ) While the humor at times reminded me of the of Brian Jacques, however the Man With No Name character while good is a man on a mission, righting wrongs -- and sometimes not above pretending to be the villain in order to win at the end of the day.When I first heard about The Builders by Daniel Polansky (Thankfully no relation to Roman Polanski.), It was described as Redwall meets Spaghetti Western by way of Akira Kurosawa (quite a few westerns have been based off or have blatantly ripped off Kurosawa's work.)Disclaimer: this is not the anthropomorphic animal book you'd find in the children's section. Unlike Redwall, The Builders doesn't take place in a quasi-medieval Renaissance setting. The setting, The Gardens, could best be described as a dilapidated 18th-century early 19th-century America. Gunpowder, saloons, trains etc. Things are rather rough there. The animals live in fear of a tyrannical King, and his henchman... Only the toughest and the smartest of the creatures survive.The plot centers around a battle scarred, brutally honest mouse, only called The Captain. He wants to get back his former commander, and right the wrongs that occurred to his company of soldiers. I will speak anymore on the plot, but I will talk about the characters.Every creature that Daniel writes about has unique characteristics based upon the type of creature. For example, one of the fighters Bonsoir, is a stoat, and he prefers to use trickery, knives and explosives. And personality wise, the character has a quick wit and is always ready to fight if you call him an ermine, or make fun of his French heritage. Each character has a satisfying story arc, and a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end. There are no loose threads which is nice for once.Overall, I give this book 4 1/2 stars!If you like to read/watch spaghetti westerns, grew up reading Redwall, enjoy films like The Dirty Dozen or The Expendables, find this book and give it a read. It's tiny but mighty.

Polanski is awesome. The Builders is no exception. Fast moving and wonderfully written. Give it a shot. Reminds me of a western Brian Jacques book.

For those that loved the Redwall series I did growing up, give this one a go. Modern mayhem awaits. Cheers.

It tells the story of a group of not-so-cute woodland animals seeking revenge. It starts with the familiar “getting the gang back together” scenario and then we watch as they head out to seek revenge for something that happened 5 years before.This is a gritty story, the animals smoke and carry guns that they clearly know how to use. They have scars from past skirmishes and betrayals and indeed we know that within Captain’s group there is still at least one traitor.The Captain is just a mouse, but somehow manages to be the scariest character among a group of scary animals. Every scene with him is tense, masterfully written. He is the Clint Eastwood of small rodents.The WritingThe writing is excellent. I had expected this book, a novella, to be just a bit of silly fun, but found instead a book by a writer who treats the characters with respect. There are funny moments in the book, but the characters are never to be laughed at.Here is a passage where we see the badger, Barley, doing a bit of what he does best; killing with a big rotating gun."And in the meantime Barley continued his work, rat-tat-tat, rat-tat-tat. And to find an equal to his tally, to do that bloody arithmetic—if one was inclined to do so, if one’s mind ran in that sort of direction—one would have needed to compare him against disease, and time, and heartbreak."There are quite a few passages like that, passages that made me realize that I had underestimated the quality of writing that would found be in a story about anthropomorphized animals fighting other animals. I will not underestimate Mr. Polansky again.It’s been a long time since I read anything with so many scenes that were just… cool.The Builders is a fantastic book. It should be given to teenagers that say that books are boring to show them that no, books are not boring. Books, as The Builders show us, are awesome.

Daniel Polansky is fast becoming one of my favourite authors (this is only the second book I have read by him so yea, fast!). The whole concept of this hit me as one of those things that could either be great or terrible. The fact that I had just finished the first book in Polansky’s ‘Low Town’ series made me want to try more of his work and seeing he had this novella out, I thought I’d give it a go.And I’m so glad that I did.Polansky has a real talent for creating brilliant characters with real flare. Even the Captain, a mouse that says very little, is brimming with character and is a very intriguing one at that. Others such as the overtly pompous French stoat (Bonsoir) or the mild-mannered badger (Barley) are a true joy to read about.The novella is broken down into incredibly short chapters. Ever since reading Pride and Prejudice I have hated the idea of short chapters. But, in The Builders, it works stunningly well. The story is very sharp and the short chapters complement the style beautifully. A few of them are barely even a paragraph long but they just aide in building the tension up to certain points.To think of a story about animals going to war, you’d expect teeth and claws rending furred flesh. But you’d be wrong. The war in this is very ‘human’. The animals wield swords, guns, explosives etc … and it just adds to the strangely brilliant concept. It also works really well. Far better than it has any right to.At its core, The Builders is a dark tale of betrayal, honour, love and revenge that encompasses a goodly amount of the animal kingdom (well, the animal kingdom that can be found in most countryside areas.As a kid you tend to read books with animal protagonists, The Builders is for those people that have grown up but still want a bit of that animal protagonist in their lives. If anyone remembers Redwall, it’s like that …if Redwall was dark, sadistic and ultra-violent. Almost like if Redwall and The Expendables had a lovechild.

As a child, I loved the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, and I couldn't help but think back to those books when reading Polansky's novella, The Builders, although they have little in common apart from the animal protagonists. The Builders is how I imagine Redwall might have turned out if penned by Quentin Tarantino. And many of Tarantino's trademarks can be found within the pages of The Builders – the ensemble cast, the non-linearity, the theme of revenge and an ever increasing number of violent deaths.Years ago, the Captain and his crew were on the verge of winning a politically motivated war when they were betrayed. The crew went into hiding – their survival dependent upon their ability to maintain a low profile. But now the Captain sees a chance to take revenge.The novel starts as he gathers the old crew around him – a seemingly rag tag bunch of creatures that have their own skills, each with their part of play in the mission ahead of them. Not that it will be plain sailing – they were betrayed before, and we know that there is a traitor in their midst today…The Builders is a bleak and darkly humorous tale that works perfectly as a novella – any longer and I think it would have been too drawn out. There's sufficient background detail given so that we understand their motives, what occurred previously and what their revenge means for them. My only criticism would be that some of the characters were a little underdeveloped.And the characters retained their archetypal behaviours, despite being given human voices and ambitions. I won't go into detail, because discovering each character was part of the joy of the novel, but I'll give a special mention to Bonsoir the stoat, who was as perfectly, stereotypically French as you can be.I really enjoyed The Builders, and I thought that the animal protagonists were a refreshing twist, even if it's not a wholly original idea. Highly recommended if you're looking for a short, dark fantasy or just for something a little different in the genre.Review originally posted on josbookblog.co.uk

This is a totally unique book. Watership Down written by Glen Cook (The Black Company, Garrett PI etc.). The characters are animals, and their personalities reflect to some extent their animal archetypes. But they are also individuals in their own right: in a thin book, often just sketched in, but with a sense of an enormous backstory. Even the cover is appropriate to the story.The book is all about a betrayal, that happened a long time ago, and the Captain (a mouse)'s plans for a rematch. There is this backstory that we never fully understand the details about, but which drives the characters now towards their inevitable collision-- the Captain and his allies, and his mortal enemy.Is it perfect? No. Contrived? At times. It's a thin book. What can I say? I literally could not put it down once I had "cracked" its' electronic pages on Kindle. It dragged me through the short chapters introducing the characters and on towards the inevitable and final cataclysm (but not without twists). Leaving me with the voices of the characters in my head long after I had closed the pages.It is fresh, unique in its voice. Even the cliches are lightly skipped over-- they don't sink the book, as they so often do in fantasy novels. It's gritty, dark, and yet also amusing and entertaining. I am not clear on the final "joke"-- didn't feel funny to me. But maybe I was just too far into the world Polansky builds by then.If you want a gripping short read, with flavours of Richard Adams (remember how dark The Plague Dogs, or Shardik is, or some of the passages in Watership Down?), Glen Cook (the dark humour reminds me of Garrett P.I.), then I can recommend this.

There isn't a great deal wrong with this story, it’s just that it’s incredibly short and underdeveloped. Even within its limited number of pages, many are empty and the rest are pretty sparse on the ink front. If you have a two hour flight/train then great, this fits the bill. However this story should cost a couple of quid, I paid £9 I think and this is the first time in my life where value for money has been my biggest argument against a book.The story is simple and predictable yet enjoyable and I guess that is its saving grace but it really should be either one of a series for children or beefed out and darkened for adults. It’s a story in limbo for me. The majority seem to disagree but just be mindful; you are not purchasing an epic in my opinion.

I picked this novella up because of the gorgeous cover art, and I haven't read many books with animal protagonist.Make no mistake though, this isn't Redwall. The characters may be animals but the story is as dark as they come: a mouse hellbent on revenge gets together his old crew of murderers and psychopaths for one last job. It reads like a Tarantino film: great character banter, incredibly tense converations, and a healthy dose of ultraviolence.The characters generally feel real and fleshed out despite being animals, although a couple of the crew get less attention due to the fact that the story is a novella. The length of the book is right for the story though, any longer and it may have become too bleak. As it is there's enough sprinklings of humour to keep the story enjoyable despite its darkness.If you like your fantasy to have a bit of grit to it then I'd seriously recommend this story.