In the realm of Hesperia, a young woodland squirrel named Milowe approaches maturity. While his parents bicker over matters of faith and the trustworthiness of ancient texts, Milowe finds himself enamored with a lovely girl named Maeva who awakens all his most chivalric impulses. Beckoned into the woods by a mysterious stranger, Milowe is enrolled in a training camp to become a Guardian. He spends the next several weeks marching, and fencing. His behavior during training results in a ribbon for meritorious advancement and promotion to division leader. When a sickness known as the Wither ravages the squirrel population, spreading baldness and boils, Milowe seeks a means of ending the plague.

The best thing about this work is its deft blending of various books that were once staples of childhood reading: anthropomorphic animal tales, rhyming poetry, and adventure stories in the vein of Robin Hood and King Arthur. The idiosyncratic narrative voice, with its tangled syntax and odd turns of phrases, is charming at certain moments and obfuscating at others. However, in an era when mainstream publishing suffers from a wearisome homogeneity, Claybrook's stylistic experimentations are laudable. Milowe's discovery that religious leaders may not always speak the truth and that communal histories can deceive provides a refreshingly unconventional thematic angle that complicates the standard good/evil dichotomy. "There are no heroes in times like these," says Milowe, whose own lapses in judgment and occasional missteps prove one of the book's great strengths.

The last section is the gallery with page after page of breathtaking artwork. However, it's worth noting that even before this last section, artwork abounds. Overall, those who love art coffee table books will want to add this one to their ever-growing collection.

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