It was so good I love these books

I like how the food is described in these books and how much life revolves around feasting, community, and singing. Always makes me want to have a feast with my friends.

I like that Brian Jacques tries to put merriment and small special moments between characters into the plot. Like pancakes falling on a character’s head while they’re under siege and the characters laughing about it.

I like the many accents, and I like Basil Stag Hare’s commentary. Though Jacques beats us to death with jokes about Basil’s love for food.

I like how the adventure is full of cooperation and teamwork. The woodland creatures constantly find allies to help them along their way.

I would likely give three and a half stars to Mattimeo, but four is a distinct possibility.
This is, I believe, the most epically powerful adventure that Brian Jacques had to this point created.
I can only shake my head in wondrous awe at the almost ridiculously intricate and ingenious nuances that mark the text of this magnificent story from page one to page four hundred forty-six. There are enough gritty, determined, strong-willed heroes to fill a dozen super-novels, and enough dastardly, cold-blooded, wholly evil villains to keep them busy for an additional dozen books.
There truly is something magical and literally breathtaking about the luminous prose of Brian Jacques. I have never seen another author so adroitly able to spin fine fantasy literature like gold, and to retain that absurdly high standard for so long in the pages of one single heart-searing book.
I could trot out all of the masterful characters here, and talk about how wonderfully real they are while all the while they maintain a level of strength and dignified grace that sets them apart as the creations of an outstanding storyteller, but I could not do this with even a small fraction of the skill used by Brian Jacques. The same goes equally for the many formidable evil-doers.
Mattimeo is all at once a coming-of-age story, an epic fantasy, an epic adventure, a social commentary, a love story, a narrative about the strength of family ties and the determination that serves as a bedrock to the heart and soul of every human being, and much more that you will find upon reading it. It is a soul-stirring, thought-provoking journey that I must implore anyone and everyone not to miss.

"Weapons may be carried by creatures who are evil, dishonest, violent or lazy. The true warrior is good, gentle and honest. His bravery comes from within himself; he learns to conquer his own fears and misdeeds."

—Matthias, "Mattimeo", P. 30

I can't tell y'all how much I wish I was a little woodland creature doing my little woodland tasks and having little woodland adventures. I would like to be isekai'd here.

(c/p from my review on TheStoryGraph) I remember this being one of my favorites as a kid and YUP STILL REAL GOOD

TW for this book include: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

This series, and this book in particular, is the epitome of the famous mis-quote by G.K. Chesterton, “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

I’ve been reading Redwall books since I could read and listening to my parents read them to me since before that. And it’s so funny how things hit you different as an adult. A book about child trafficking?? For CHILDREN??
I nearly skipped this book in my reread of the series because I didn’t know if I could handle the subject matter- hilarious since this is the book that is held very lovingly together by one of my headbands because my brother and I read it so often when we were children that it no longer has any binding. (I listened to it on audiobook this time.) I’m glad I did reread it because it’s not only a good story, it’s a good reminder for me as an adult to not underestimate what children can handle.

Brian Jacques is a genius because he spins tales that face the darkness of the world without ever, EVER losing sight of the light.

This third book in the Redwall series is about Mattimeo, the son of Mathias. When Mattimeo and some of his friends are abducted by Slagar the Cruel, Mathias and other parents set out to get them back. The story bounces between that of Mattimeo and that of Mathias, so we learn about the different adventures each party had in their quests to survive and succeed.

Here's the thing about these books, and remember I am listening to them on my morning walks. They take forever. If I sat and read them, maybe I would feel differently, but I did read the first book with my eyeballs and it too felt entirely too long for the story being told. This installment was about 55 or so chapters long, if I remember correctly, and I will say that by about Chapter 40, I thought the story was over. The chapters ended in a way that made it feel the book was finished, and I was pat myself on the back. Then Brian Jacques' voice as the narrator would pop back into my hears: "Chapter 41".

This happened all the way through the rest of the book. For fuck's sake, end already. The story can be riveting at times, though the dramatization still annoys the shit out of me because everyone screams their lines in high-pitched animal voices, and there's still all that singing. I wind up getting so annoyed by those occasions that I find myself tuning out the actual story for a minute before I can get back into it.

I'm also still not a fan about how male-centric these stories are. There are women, and some girls, involved, but they only come up on occasion. Which is strange considering some of them, like Jess Squirrel, are very important characters to the storytelling. This is probably why all along since starting this project I have been most interested in getting to the fourth book, Mariel of Redwall. A female gets her own book! How exciting.

Still not the worst shit I've ever read, and I still wish I had read these in the 80s when they first came out. But, whatever, I will continue because I really need the distraction when I walk. I just don't understand why they are so bleeping long and filled with unnecessary details.

Orlando the Axe!

Even with such a brilliant author, I was expecting these books to get repetitive and boring after already having read two of them. I lost faith in the series (even though I had no evidence this was going to happen).

It proved me wildly wrong, as did all the others.

I absolutely love this book. It is crammed with suspense and adventure! The characters are lovable and the plot is terribly exciting. I highly recommend this novel. The way Brian Jacques depicts every scene makes it crystal clear, so that you can envision every detail. I was at the edge of my seat with this one.
Brilliant.

If Mossflower opened the Redwall series to an expansive new lore, Mattimeo concretizes the developing series as truly epic. Taking the former heroes and champions of the first book and fastforwarding to their more mature, adult lives, the book explores a generational drama between old enemies and new hopes.

The majority of the book is focused on Matthias's quest to save his son, Mattimeo, but there's a whole lot more than just that singular quest. As Matthias trails an old Redwall villain, those left behind must contend with another set of villains who would take Redwall for themselves. The book thus pays some homage to the familiar fare of the first novel while still pushing forward to make an exciting journey exploring the dangers of revenge.

Mattimeo is shockingly dark, though, with some heavy themes including death, revenge, and slavery, and it does not pull its punches. The book is riddled with fresh anxieties and actual horrors, with one of the darkest tones in the whole series. Even so, its horrors feel exceptionally well-delivered and tie in with many of Jacques's common themes about heroism, sacrifice, and hope.

It's easy to call out the elements of Mattimeo that are most recycled from the previous two books, but Jacques still manages to keep the book feeling fresh and surprising, and the book has some of the most off-the-chain action in any of the series to date. If Redwall was the introduction to the world and Mossflower was the realization of how stories could be told in this world, Mattimeo feels like the culmination of Jacques's storytelling prowess, with high stakes, unique world-building, and ceaseless adventure.

I really enjoy the world Brian Jacques created in the Redwall series. There’s poetry, riddles, and plenty of creativity all throughout the book. The characters are usually very likable and also creative.

SPOILERS: One thing I didn’t like (which I know it’s a young adult book, not quite on the adult scale) is the fact that at one point, Matthias and his crew were literally being attacked by an entire army of creatures bigger than them, but only a few inconsequential characters died. The outcome was too happy-feely to be believable. That and other minor details aside, I really enjoyed this book!

Wow book three already. I am hooked on this series. They both intrigue me and they are written so well that you just have to keep reading to find out what happens next other wise the anticipation is juts too much!