A collection of shorts in the Mouse Guard universe with a ton of special guest artists. I liked the variety of style here (all of which fit with the general mood of the series, although the Fox story was pretty jarring at first with the super cartoony style), and it was fun to get a different look into the world that isn't the ongoing story. I'm biased and my favorite guest artist was Sean Rubin's work. I was excited back when I first heard he'd been featured in here!

The framework of these stories was a neat idea, but unfortunately there are so many names and stories that it didn't work too well for me. When June announced her top three favorites and the ultimate winner, I had to flip back and it turned out the winner was the least memorable story for me. Still, good stuff.

Interesting back history of the Mouse Guard universe. A nice opportunity to see some mouse fantasy drawn by some of my favorite artists from other series.

This was far cuter, more imaginative and varied, and just plain fun, than I had anticipated.
Full review to follow but suffice to say I have discovered some excellent new illustrators through reading this and will be looking up some of their other works.
I also fully intend to pick up all the rest of the Mouse Guard books very soon! 4*s
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Full Review:-
So, this was my first venture into the world of the Mouse Guard, a world originally created by David Peterson. I wanted to try this book out right from the first time I saw it in a shop, becuase the cover and interior art was stunning to look at and it's about cute mice! (what more could you want). However, with that said I didn't really know what sort of stories it would be or the tone of the writing and so I was just hoping it would be something I'd at least enjoy.

Luckily for me this story is super diverse and easy to follow and we see that it\s introduced by David Peterson in a little tavern where the patrons are challenged to come up with interesting stories and win the day. These smaller stories are then illustrated, written and coloured by a whole variety of different artists and writers with Peterson just filling in the in-between moments with his own illustrations.

I think that the short story format worked very well becuase it doesn't spoil anything about the general Mouse Guard universe, but it certainly makes you want to see more of the mice. I found myself absorbed in their adventures right from the first story, and I was pretty hooked through to the end.

Each of the creators within this have been specially picked by David Peterson which means that you have a great mix of styles, but they're all top quality. I would honestly say that there were no styles I disliked, although there were certainly some that really stood out, and so this is a great way to see some work by some wonderful talent.

Some of the stories I most enjoyed were:
The Battle of the Hawk's Mouse and the Fox's Mouse - Jeremy Bastian
Potential - Sean Rubin & Alex Kain
Bowen's Tale - Karl Kerschl

There were lots of other fun ones, but the art styles and stories of these three were my favourites and the most memorable ones for me :)

On the whole a great entry point and it's made me want to keep discovering more of the cute little mice. I also loved the page showing each of them and their roles in the world! 4*s

Some fun stories, but also some that really didn't grab me. By necessity of the format (guest artists telling quick little tales), some of the stories don't really have any depth to them. I did enjoy seeing each artists' visual take on the world of Mouse Guard, but overall it didn't provide a compelling narrative throughout, as it's extremely difficult to tell a great story in the space of 3-4 pages. Considering the varying levels of successfully telling fun stories, I'd say that overall the book was just average.

Great anthology.