The Final Reckoning facts for kids
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| Author | Robin Jarvis |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Deptford Mice |
| Genre | Dark fantasy |
| Publisher | Macdonald & Company |
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Publication date
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1990 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 305 pp |
| ISBN | 0-7500-0272-7 |
| OCLC | 31710682 |
| Preceded by | The Crystal Prison |
| Followed by | The Alchymist's Cat |
The Final Reckoning is an exciting dark fantasy novel for young readers by British author Robin Jarvis. It is the third book in The Deptford Mice series. The book was first published in the United Kingdom in 1990. Later, in 2002, it came out in the United States. This story continues the adventures of a young house mouse named Audrey and her friends. They try to defeat the evil spirit of the cat Jupiter forever.
Contents
The Story of The Final Reckoning
It is winter, and the mouse community in Deptford is celebrating Yule. The mouse siblings, Arthur and Audrey Brown, are back home. They had a tough time in Fennywolde. Audrey even had to marry a mouse named Twit to stay safe.
Soon, strange things start to happen. The special bats in the attic leave the house. The Starwife's magical Starglass is stolen. Also, there are reports of a huge, mean rat army growing in the city. The Deptford mice soon realize something terrible. The spirit of Jupiter, the evil cat, has returned! He wants to cover the world in endless winter. The mice are worried because Jupiter is already dead, so they don't know how to stop him.
Jupiter's Return and Rat Army
The city rats are now led by Morgan. He was Jupiter's helper and survived falling into the sewer in the first book. Morgan gets his rats ready to attack Deptford and kill all the mice. But then, Jupiter appears to Morgan. He tricks Morgan into working for him again. Morgan is led to Jupiter's secret base, the Deptford Power Station. He is shocked and scared when Jupiter immediately kills all his rats when they arrive.
The Mice's Brave Fight
Piccadilly, Thomas, and Arthur go to the power station. They hope to defeat Jupiter using Audrey's special mousebrass charm. This charm worked before. Morgan now has the charm, and he fights Piccadilly in a duel. Piccadilly tries to use the mousebrass against Jupiter. But he finds that Jupiter's ghost is too strong for it now. Piccadilly is surrounded and killed by the ghosts of Morgan's rats. These rats have come back from the dead as a powerful army, carrying ice spears.
Audrey's New Role
Thomas is hurt by an ice spear. Arthur brings him back to the mouse community. The Starwife doesn't want to help at first. She thinks everyone will die anyway. But she agrees to help Thomas if Audrey helps her. The Starwife uses her magical silver acorn pendant. She heals Thomas and secretly gives her powers to Audrey.
Audrey is very angry when she learns she is the new Starwife. She throws the pendant away. The old Starwife goes outside. She plans to sacrifice herself to defeat Jupiter. Her frozen body is found the next morning. It is burned in a special fire, just as she wanted.
Escaping and Confronting Jupiter
Soon after, there's a loud banging at the front door. It's a group of Jupiter's ghost rats trying to get in! All the mice quickly escape through the sewers. They go to the Cutty Sark ship with Thomas. But Audrey hears a voice telling her to go back to the garden. Even though others protest, she goes. She finds a single snowdrop flower in the ashes of the Starwife's fire.
Audrey then goes to the Greenwich Observatory. There, she finally faces Jupiter. She throws the snowdrop flower at him. It causes him terrible pain. He drops the Starglass, and it breaks. Jupiter is then swallowed by green flames. He is sent to a place where spring will bother him forever. All the rat ghosts also disappear. The frozen world starts to melt, and a beautiful spring day begins.
A New Beginning
The Green Mouse appears and thanks Audrey for freeing him. He also helps Audrey's mother, Gwen, and Thomas Triton get married. They had become very close. After a few weeks, Arthur and some other mice visit the old house in Deptford. But the damage from Jupiter's ghosts is too bad to fix. So, they return to live on the Cutty Sark with Thomas.
Audrey went with them. She searches until she finds the silver acorn pendant she threw away. She says goodbye to her family. Then she travels to Greenwich. There, she finally accepts her important role as the new Starwife.
How the Book Was Made
Robin Jarvis said that after the exciting second book, he wanted The Final Reckoning to start strong. He wanted it to be a thrilling ride from beginning to end. Some parts of the story were cut from the book. This was because there wasn't enough space. Jarvis felt sad about this because he liked the characters in those missing parts.
Just before he started writing this book, Jarvis bought a typewriter. Before that, he wrote everything by hand. The typewriter made writing much easier for him. Because of this, his later novels became longer.
