The Builders by Daniel Polansky is one of the most exciting books I have read this year. Anthropomorphic stories are often hard to pull off and with this book being compared to Water Ship Down, I was a bit skeptical. But The Builders turned out to be well worth the read! It centers around a mouse only known as ‘the Captain,’ who gathers up a ragtag group war veterans to help him enact justice on a creature that they all hate. Each member is injured but useful in they’re own way. The most tragic of them all is Elf, an owl who suffered betrayal at that the, well, … coils? of a lover who meant the world to her. The book leads you to believe that all have gathered together for the singular purpose of putting the rightful ruler back on the throne, that’s not the case. There is only a thing stronger than justice, and a rightful bloodline… Revenge.
