I really enjoyed this one!
Funny, totally gross & a hero that won't use violent to save the day... I cannot wait till the next one.

Loved reading this story aloud to my son. The authour has created a great fantasy world, where the one pacifist (Meek) accidentally becomes the Queen's executioner. The Ravens in the story had so much side kick humour their ace! A fast paced story with plenty to keep interest of 7 to 11 year olds.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for this ARC

A fantastic read, great for all level of readers! Has the ability to captor a child's attention with it humour and fast paced nature.

Good fun, solid kids book. I read this to my kids (12, 10 & 10) over a period of nights and it certainly kept them engaged and amused. Nicely paced but I think it needs to be aimed at the 8-12 ages. My 12 year old mostly enjoyed it but felt he personally is looking towards something a little more mature, not just in themes but in writing style.

This is such a fun book, full of jokes and gags and it really draws the reader in. The story moves beautifully and the plot moves forward at a brilliant pace. As someone who loves a bit of dark humour surrounding death, this book was a huge suprise!

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read and review Mort the Meek and the Ravens’ Revenge by Rachel Delahaye.

I really enjoyed Mort the Meek and the Ravens’ Revenge. It was a charming read with lots of fun, great characters and a great plot that has the vibes of ‘for the whole family’.
I loved the small explanations to help reader’s understand new words and extend vocabulary. It reminded me of Lemony Snicket’s vocabulary explanations in A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I know from reading that series with my class how much that helps.

Will defiantly consider reading this one with a class when it is out..

Mort the Meek and the Ravens' Revenge by Rachel Delahaye is hilariously horrid and nicely nasty and a whole heap of frightening fun! It's so nasty, brutal and violent, but in such a clever, funny and downright entertaining way. I loved it.

Mort is a pacifist living on an island full of people who are absolutely, definitely not pacifists. Okay, so maybe he can just keep his head down and not make a fuss and everything will be okay? Well, maybe not as Mort is the new official executioner!

There's something a little ridiculous about this book, a purposeful ridiculousness though, and it enjoys that and revels in it and makes something wickedly fun out of it. Everything is turned up to max here, the nasty people are the nastiest they could be, and the situations are as awful as situations get, and poor Mort is stuck in the middle of it. It may be a guilty pleasure, but it's a pleasure nevertheless!

What can I say? I loved seeing awful things happen to Mort, and only partly because I also loved him seeing him use his intellect and his compassion to get out of it all.

This is a brilliant middle-grade read, for youngsters who like a bit of (non-graphic, cartoonish) violence and a lot of laughs!

Packed with puns, jokes, wordplay and witty asides that break the fourth wall, Mort’s adventure as he attempts to challenge and change Brutalia’s brutal regime is both humorous and very cleverly conceived and written.

There are some grisly details, involving organs, entrails and eyeballs, which had my two (8 and 5) gleefully chorusing “Eeeeeeewwww!” and “Groooooss!” with great relish, and the raven conversations at the start of every chapter were a particular highlight for all of us.

Mort’s character shows good values, against a lot of opposition and peer/societal pressure, and also displays some excellent problem-solving skills in dire situations.

We can’t wait to return to Brutalia for another instalment… er, although, none of us ACTUALLY want to go there!


Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

There’s so much fun in this (surprisingly dark) middle grade about the only pacifist on a brutal island. Mort is a lovely hero and kids will enjoy just how brutal everyone else is - I particularly enjoyed his brawling twin siblings.

It was a well written adventure. Mort is an unconventional hero, who uses his brains to escape tricky situations. A story that will appeal to upper primary school children.

Funny and silly with a great voice direct to the reader. A bit different too, being about a pacifist in what feels like a medieval fantasy setting.

A quick and fun middlegrade read. I really liked Mort as a character and found him to be very endearing.

Going to get a copy for my nephews as I think they will really enjoy this one!

A quirky and hilarious adventure perfect for readers 8+. This adventure was packed with mishaps and laughs that are sure to thrill many a classroom.

I was lucky to receive not only a Netgalley Arc and a finished copy of Mort The Meek And The Ravens Revenge by Rachel Delahaye and illustrated by George Ermoss and published by Little Tiger. I can say that about this book would be that at first I was surprised by how tiny the book was but I had to eat my words as this small and mighty and contained a lot of action, jokes and amazing illustrations. Our main character is Mort who is a a pacifist who lives on the island of Brutalia where the main past time is Executions as this was the cruel Queen and her horrid husband the King liked putting people to death. One day something happened and meant that Mort who as a pacifist would never ever be next in line to be the executioner or is he? My favourite characters were the Ravens at the start of each chapter they would have conversations and these made me roar with laughter and I thought this was a nice touch. For these reasons I had to give Mort The Meek And The Ravens Revenge 5 massive stars and I cannot wait for the next book to be released.

Title: Mort the Meek and the Ravens' Revenge
By: Rachel Delahaye
Publisher: Little Tiger Group
Stripes Publishing
Genre : Children's Fiction / Middle Grade
Pub Date: 04 Mar 2021
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3914035943


Mort is a boy who lives in a kingdom called Brutalia. Brutalia is not a nice place to live or at least Mort doesn’t think so. You see in Brutalia people are not nice to each other in fact they hit, kick, bite and punch each other. This is a problem for Mort because he is the only pacifist in the kingdom. A pacifist is someone who does not like violence, this becomes an even bigger problem for Mort when he is suddenly made the Royal Executioner.
This is now added to his list of problems.
• Preform an execution without killing someone.
• Find out where the bodies are going.
• Feed his family.
• Save his friend.
• Turn Brutalia citizens into pacifists.
Not too much to ask of a child living in the most violent kingdom, is it?

Mort the Meek is great at showing relationships and love. Mort manages to show us love for his family and friends even though they hold beliefs different from his. We all so see how violence and corruption are harmful traits that some of us carry with us. With his new friendships the writer shows that is we look hard enough we will find others who think like us. Of course, when you are talking about such a violent place death is also a topic that is bound to float to the surface. The age-old battle of good versus Evil, right against wrong, Truth over lies (kind of, thanks for blurring the line Mort). I did my best to ignore that Weed’s parents were bakers, if you get it you get it. Some parts were gory sounding but it added to the story.

One of my favorite quotes was "Like a head that bobbed like a dad at a disco."

I enjoyed this book much more than I expected. I loved the pun filled jokes by the Ravens, they helped brake up the book a little. I also loved Ono, just everything about her really. Particularly that she is not what is expected of either girls or undertakers. I found the Ravens laugh out loud funny, except for the idea of them pecking at dead bodies obviously. Unfortunately, one thing that made me laugh that was probably unintentional is that one of the characters is named Gee. Gee in Ireland (where I am from) is a slang term for a part of a woman’s body. Yes, I did laugh like a 12-year-old boy every time I read it.

The Art really brakes up the book, which was good. Each piece gave some insight to the characters and the landscape. They were the kind of images that hid things in plain sight. I felt I was finding something new each time I looked.

I know my 11-year-old nephew would love this book. He lives for gore.

Incredibly funny and engaging, Mort the Meek is a great tale of adventure and pacifism! I actually missed the Raven's jokes by the end! xD

Having had Rachel visit a class in the past her enthusiasm for entertaining children is clear. She’s certainly achieved it with this book. A great amount of plot and silliness mixed with clever jokes that are pun and grammar based.

This book is an easy read and will keep children engaged with the differing sizes fonts so there is no time to switch off. The illustrations throughout also break the text up so that it doesn’t seem overwhelming to younger readers.

Thanks for a great book.

The first in a new series of very funny stories about the pacifist, vegetarian Mort the Meek who has to survive in a brutal and violent kingdom.

In Brutalia, violence is a way of life but Mort is different from the other islanders. He's determined to live peacefully, without hurting anyone.

But the queen appoints Mort as the royal executioner and no one has ever challenged the royals and survived, so what is he to do?

There are brilliant illustrations throughout and the short, fast-paced chapters each begin with a double act from two ravens telling jokes and making wry observations about life in Brutalia. There is slapstick and lots of play on words, and a fabulous hero in Mort who's sure to have a loyal following for his future adventures.

I thoroughly enjoyed this hilarious book and I am already awaiting the second instalment. After reading it myself, I was given the opportunity for children at our school to read it. They finished this book in record time with positive reviews from all who read it. I can not recommend this book highly enough.

Darkly funny, they'll love the wicked sense of humour about death.

A cupful of (appropriate) gallows humour. A pinch of Alice in Wonderland. A drop of self-righteousness. A dusting of self-referential-ness. Some carrots.

A mixture that bakes nicely to a short but very funny pacifist-turned-executioner story. I was highly entertained throughout and was almost disappointed when this ended. But it's a great length, and the story was just right.

Mort is his kingdom's only pacifist. Not easy when your monarch is a raving psycho who might throw you under the executioner's axe for baking too much bread. And his deeply held beliefs are severely strained when he finds himself in the spotlight and having to perform Brutalia's beastly punishments. And the next victim is his best friend.

Brutalia has suffered under its Queen for a long time, its people are either cowed or enjoy a bit of blood before lunch. Especially Mort's twin siblings, who knock each other's teeth out for fun.

Buying time, Mort has one week to come up with an especially nasty death for Weed. Or, as he hopes, to concoct some plan to save him, even with Brutalia's sinister ravens all watching... waiting for a meal.
They "were circling and dreaming of brains. Or, more specifically, parts of the brain that were especially flavoursome. 'Oi,' said one raven, 'Wouldn't you just die for an amygdala?'"

I loved the very chummy and natural way the narrator addresses the readers: "This sets the scene nicely, don't you think? The Queen and King were horrible. The people were violent. And the ravens were ravenous."

They will just love it when convention is broken and narrative walls broken through: "Mort began to think the writer of his story had it in for him." What a fabulous style to choose, opens so many imaginative streams to the young future writer.

Oh and I saw several references (or I thought I did) to films - Pretty Woman, The Sixth Sense, even Life of Brian - tell me I'm wrong!

This impressed me greatly. I'd happily recommend it to readers who enjoy something quirky, a little gory, with a wicked sense of humour and plenty of originality.

For ages 8-12.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.