Rating: 
Summary: SPECTRUM Children's Book Club Book of the Year (2002)
Review:
With two books published 2002 -- Time Stops for No Mouse (January) and The Sands of Time (September) -- The Hermux Tantamoq Adventures are SPECTRUM's Favorite New Book of 2002.Michael Hoeye has created a charming, 1920s-ish world where rodents rule. At the center of these delicious tales is the meek Hermux Tantamoq. Hermux, who's half house mouse and half field mouse, is an expert watchmaker and mechanical wiz who happens to have a pet ladybug named Terfle. Each night before bed, Hermux takes the time to enter into his journal all the things for which he was thankful that day. Hoeye compliments his lead character with a clever supporting cast of characters and constructs stories that pay homage to old movies and invoke the feeing of perhaps an Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle tale. While there is something charmingly old-fashioned about the flavor of the books, Hoeye infuses his tales with wit, satire, and social commentaries that are spot-on for today's reader. While the publisher states that Michael Hoeye's playful adventure/ mysteries are young adult fiction, these books are excellent for both younger audiences and adults. They are good for younger audiences for two reasons. First, they make great bedtime stories for those who read to their children. Second, Hoeye's easy, uncomplicated style, gentle story lines, and short chapters make these books ideal for a child to transition from chapter books to novels. At the same, time the underlying wit and social commentary, mentioned above, gives the books an added layer to be enjoyed by the adult reader or the older child who returns to the books. These are books that should become generational family favorites, so the investment in hard cover editions is worth the expense. - K. B. SHAW, Publisher -
Rating:
Summary: A really REALLY great sequel!!!
Review: First of all, Time Stops for No Mouse was a great book. As a HUGE fan of Redwall and Stuart Little type books, I knew that it was at least going to be good. But I was really surprised. It turned out to be one of the best books I have ever read. Then, Michael Hoeye returned Hermux and all his friends back in a sequel, The Sands of Time, that (I think) was even better than the first. You will see the return of a lot of your favorite chracters like Hermux, Mirrin, Tucka, and Linka, and plus a cast of entirely new chracters. I dont want to spoil the book, but I can say that you will be taken on a fantastic journey, as three friends try to uncover the past!!
Rating: 
Summary: A somewhat misleading and disappointment
Review: I had high hopes for this book. I thought it would have topped my all time favorite Douglas Adams' Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy. I was terribly wrong. The title is somewhat misleading. The beginning yes i will say was interesting and got my attention but after that they just kept adding new things to keep the book moving. It jumps from one thing to the next. Yet, it was not all of a dissapointment. I mean it could have been much worse. So if you want kind of a fantasy book and a very fast paced book, i suggest this book. But, if your a reader and want a complicated in=depth book, this book is not for you.
Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: I really love this book. The adventure and humor was wonderful!!!! I really hope that there are more to come!!
Rating:
Summary: Worthy sequel
Review: I was hopeful but steeled for sequelitis when I first opened the second Hermux Tantamoq book. I was pleased that my fears were needless. Michael Hoeye has not lost his touch that was so evident in "Time Stops For No Mouse". (And I recently found out that these books are being republished in hardcover by Putnam -- congratulations, Mr. Hoeye!) The story is a sequel (but not slavishly so) to the first book of the series: Cats are a taboo item among the mice where Hermux Tantamoq lives, supposedly mythical creatures. So when his friend Mirrin displays cat paintings, people are -- to put it mildly -- upset about it; the mayor is even going to clamp down and ban it, and a large group of mice get together to prevent it from opening. Then a chipmunk named Birch Tentintrotter arrives. Years ago, Birch was chased away for ownership of a map leading to a city of cats -- and now he's back. Birch leads the heroic mice (including Linka Perflinger and Hermux) to find the tomb of Ka-Narsh-Pah -- but problems are following them, in the form of two very determined villains. Familiar faced abound in this book, from the previous one. Mirren, Linka, and Tucka are the most prevalent among them - it's great to see the artist, aviatrix love interest and cosmetics creep once again. Even so, it's not too necessary to read the first book to read the second (I advise it anyway, if nothing else because it's also delightful). And the originality of Hoeye's plotlines continues. The idea of mice seeing cats as mythical creatures is inspired, as is his subtle dealing with controversial art (and the elite wanting to see it); also great is the idea of a revisionist-history villain. Any person who hates the editing of history will be grinning at the portrayal of Hinkum Stepfitchler. His writing is as charming and descriptive (but not TOO descriptive) as it was in the first book. Hermux is endearing and humble as ever. Linka, Mirrin and Birch are all delightful as well. The dialogue is cute, but not TOO cute, and unlike many authors Mr. Hoeye seems to have no trouble keeping the separate personalities of the characters from running into each other. Fans of Redwall, Avi animal books, and the prior book in this series will eat this right up; those of you not into anthropomorphic fantasy may want to change your minds. Here's hoping for lots more of Hermux Tantamoq.
Rating:
Summary: Hits with the same bang as before
Review: I, too, was worried that the sequel wouldn't be as good as the amazing Time Stops for No Mouse, but it hit with the same, if not better, bang as before. There seems to be no lack of Michael Hoeye's gripping writing style in either of the two books. In this particular book, Hermux (the main mouse character) encounters a squirrel, Birch Tenintrotter, who claims to have evidence of a lost civilization of CATS. To be precise, it was a want-ad from a lost civilization of cats. The citizens of Pinchester (Hermux's city) are small animals, mostly rodents, so they don't appreciate cats very much. Intrigued, Hermux and Birch, along with another mouse, named Linka, set out to find the desert civilization of cats, but they find more than whirling sands to stop them in The Sands of Time.
Rating:
Summary: Even better than the last!
Review: In The Sands of Time, the second Hermux Tantamoq Mystery, Hermux's life is much different since he helped the beautiful Linka and solved the mystery of the evil doctor Mennus. He's still a watchmaker and lives in the same town but there's somethign different about him. One day he recieves an invitation to an art show opening in a museam. ALl the art has been painted by his close personal friend, Mirrim. But when the town of Pinchester finds out what the art is really about they turn on the exibit. Of course when you live in a town full of mice they wouldn't appreaciate a gallery of cats. Suddenly, with the help of a mysterious old chipmunk, and the beautiful and engaged Linka, Hermux is thrown head first into yet another mystery that ponders the question "were cats ever real... or are they just fables of Children stories" THis mystery turns to be even more dangerous than the last. When I first read Time stops for no mouse I was very impressed but I just feel in love with this book. The charecters we already know and love, and a few new ones, are developed so you don't just think of them as animals but as real people. The story, though it lacks the shocker ending that TIme Stops For No Mouse had, is even more thrilling as the last as Hermux, Linka, and Birch Tentintrotter search for the existance of cats. Tucka once again makes a memorabler impression and the books villian is great. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Sequel of All Books I've Read
Review: Michael Hoeye creates a faboulus tale that interweaves with with a world of fantasy. An excently written book of imagination that makes even the reader able to "Think Outside The Box."
Rating:
Summary: INCREDIBLE!
Review: Michael Hoeye does it again, creating a new adventure for the likeable Hermux Tantamoq, a watchmaking mouse. Hoeye uses such vivid detail and wit, making it nearly impossible to put this book down. In this book, Hermux's friend Mirrin Stenrill is having an exhibition at the local museum of her portraits of cats. Obviously, cats are not a popular topic when it comes to Pinchester, a city of mice, rats, and other rodents. No one really believes that they actually existed. That is, until a chipmunk named Birch comes into Hermux's store with a map of which he claims to be that of an ancient cat civilization. Before long, Hermux, Birch, and daredevil aviatrix Linka (who Hermux has a crush on) find themselves on the trail of this lost civilization. Hoeye gives a funny, happy ending. I can't wait for the third in the series!
Rating:
Summary: SPECTRUM Children's Book Club Recommendation
Review: Michael Hoeye has created a charming, 1920s-ish world where rodents rule. At the center of these delicious tales is the meek Hermux Tantamoq. Hermux, who's half house mouse and half field mouse, is an expert watchmaker and mechanical wiz who happens to have a pet ladybug named Terfle. Each night before bed, Hermux takes the time to enter into his journal all the things for which he was thankful that day. Hoeye compliments his lead character with a clever supporting cast of characters and constructs stories that pay homage to old movies and invoke the feeing of perhaps an Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle tale. While there is something charmingly old-fashioned about the flavor of the books, Hoeye infuses his tales with wit, satire, and social commentaries that are spot-on for today's reader. While the publisher states that Michael Hoeye's playful adventure/ mysteries are young adult fiction, these books are excellent for both younger audiences and adults. They are good for younger audiences for two reasons. First, they make great bedtime stories for those who read to their children. Second, Hoeye's easy, uncomplicated style, gentle story lines, and short chapters make these books ideal for a child to transition from chapter books to novels. At the same, time the underlying wit and social commentary, mentioned above, gives the books an added layer to be enjoyed by the adult reader or the older child who returns to the books. These are books that should become generational family favorites, so the investment in hard cover editions is worth the expense. - KB Shaw, Publisher
SPECTRUM Children's Book Club
www.incwell.com
| 
