The Dark Portal

Jarvis, Robin. The Dark Portal. Book 1 of the Deptford Mice series. 1989. 240p. ISBN 9781587171123.

In London dwells a section of town the local mice affectionally refer to as Deptford. There they live their lives in a tight-knit community that enjoy each other's company (mostly), and that is layered in culture and mythology. All of the mice fear the Grille, the entrance from their building down to the sewers, where the rats live. Jupiter, the lord of the rats, has whipped his supporters in a frenzy in the last few years, for a purpose unknown to all. 

Lured there by the magical power of the Grille, Albert Brown, an otherwise respectable mouse, met a city mouse named Piccadilly, but they soon were captured by the rats. Piccadilly managed to escape, but Albert was given to Jupiter. With her father missing in the sewers, his daughter Audrey decides she will go look for him, even though she was always told never to go there. Accompanied by Oswald the albino mouse and Twit, a field mouse visiting Deptford, the three of them enter the rats' domain, looking for Albert but discovering dark magic at work and an even darker plan set in motion by Jupiter and his lackeys. 

With the rats looking for Piccadilly and for Audrey, with a witch rat called Madame Akkikuyu, an evil rat lieutenant called Morgan and an even meaner rat named One-Eye Jack, the mice, along with some friends, bravely face the hardest challenge of them all, surviving the deadliest plot of all!

Fantasy told from the perspective of animals, The Dark Portal begins a trilogy with wonderful world building, an unforgettable cast of character, and actions galore. Fans of the genre will revel in the mice's grit and dedication.

The story continues in The Crystal Prison.