This book should have been 1/4 of its actual length. It meanders for nearly the entire thing and follows several unrelated plots. I think the story would have been much better if it just followed Mattimeo, but instead we have to read about all the folks at Redwall doing shenanigans with a random villain that shows up halfway through the book. Which is a shame because the primary villain of the book is an interesting one and all the side plots really take away from the main story. I’m also disappointed with the character development. Halfway through, it was heavy handed, which is expected for a kids book. But we never get to see Mattimeo actually step up and lead or fight. He just gets a steel resolve and then gets rescued by others. I think it would have been a lot more meaningful if we could have seen him stand up to the villains at the end or be the one to inspire a rebellion. Instead we get many many pages of a baby causing chaos in Redwall. This is one of those books that follows multiple plots and only one of them is interesting so you dread reading half of it. And a lot of the problems the characters encounter seem manufactured to take up space and do not add anything interesting for the plot or the character development.

Mattimeo is the third installment in Brian Jacques’s Redwall series, and I can’t express to you how much fun I’ve been having as I revisit this series and world that meant so much to me as a child, alongside friends who are experiencing Mossflower and its inhabitants for the first time. This particular installment felt like it had a bit more going on than its predecessors, Mossflower and Redwall, while still holding true to the formulaic, but successfully so, format of the books. And it was filled with my three favorite elements of this series: little heroes facing incredible odds and succeeding anyway; heartwarming groups of these characters banding together to solve riddles or fight battles or fix what’s broken, or all of the above; and, of course, the mouth-watering descriptions of food.

This story ended up being a battle on multiple fronts, and I was pretty equally invested in all of them. The way Jacques would jump back and forth between said fronts so frequently within a single chapter was both engaging and jarring, which I found an odd but compelling mix. Our cast of characters in this installment felt a good deal larger than the casts of the two books preceding it, purely because of the multiple story arcs and settings. We have Mattimeo and the other Redwall youth who are kidnapped from the Abbey. We have Matthias the Warrior and the other parents and concerned parties who join forces along the way to free their children. We have those left at the Abbey, who suddenly find themselves facing invasion in the face of their warriors being gone. And then we have the various villainous groups on each of these different fronts. There was a lot to keep track of, considering the age group for whom these books are intended, but Jacques somehow ensured that everything was always easy to follow.

Something I really appreciated about this particular book is that we finally had a main villain with some canniness. Slagar the fox was a more intelligent and multifaceted villain than those in Mossflower or Redwall, though unfortunately he kind of fell apart at the end. But this is a series intended for children, so the evil have to be obviously evil and ultimately fallible. Something else I really appreciate about this series, and this installment in particular, is that even though this is intended for children and thus you have the security of knowing everything will turn out okay in the end, Jacques doesn’t believe in high stakes with no costs. There are character deaths here, and fairly significant ones. This adds tension to the trials of the main characters, because you’re never quite sure if they’re going to pull through or not, seeing as others have died along the way.

Overall, I have to say that Redwall as a whole is proving itself to have held up very well. Three books in, and all have been 4 stars so far. This has been an incredibly nostalgic journey so far for me, and I’m happy that TS and Eon seem to be enjoying themselves, as well. If you’re a fantasy fan looking for a story to share with the kids in your life, or simply looking for something clean and wholesome for yourself, I highly recommend the Redwall series.

After reading (& loving) Redwall, Mattimeo was something of a disappointment. It was almost a predictable retelling of the first story, with nothing that added to it to make it stand on its own. The pathetically convenient appearances of the owl & Stryk Redkite *just in time* to save the day & their equally convenient disappearances I attribute to the author's sloppiness, in addition to the handling of the shrews & sparrows. It reminds me of when I watched Star Trek growing up. Whenever there was a new character on the bridge you knew there would be an attack, & that character would be killed. That was the purpose for that character--so it was with the nameless shrews & sparrows, who were the only ones to be killed in the battles against the evil hordes. The whole tale was just too far-fetched to be believed, from the grief-stricken parents who swear to find their kidnapped youth, but stop in critical moments to feast & rest up (what parent would stop like that when their kidnapped child was in view & in danger--no matter how hungry or tired they were?), to the battles where thousands of huge, evil, seasoned armies fall beneath the swords of a handful of warriors...& yet nobody (except a few nameless shrews) are killed. Including children, who have never learned warfare...? Sorry, I realize it is a fantasy, but even fantasies must have some sense of believability. I was disappointed with each step in the journey at the easy solutions. This was supposed to be a tough journey--Good grief!

I would have rated this lower, maybe a 2, but I couldn't, given that Jacques really is a great writer. His language & his characters are loveable, even if the story has much to be desired. I wouldn't receommend this book, but I've know many a kid who devours the Redwall books religiously, & for them I wouldn't disrespect this volume. This series is not as bad as, say Goosebumps...the quality of the language is far superior, I just wish Jacques had given more time to the plot.

Beautiful. This is the third book in the series, 'Redwall'. It really is a parallel universe! I certainly plan to read my way through the entire series.