The wonderous thing about reading Brian Jacques' writing is that it is so enchanting, you always want to return to it, in particular Redwall Abbey. Yes I have the audiobooks and I love how they have been dramatised, but reading the words created by Jacques is something altogether special.

This book gives the final piece of background to the one character who appears in nearly all of the Redwall books, Martin the Warrior. The story is in toxicating and although you know that there cannot be a completely happy ending, Jacques' writes it in a way that makes you still think there is a chance complete happiness will be found. The Redwall books are truly brilliant books for readers of all ages, but particularly for younger readers as they grow up due to their portrayal of youngsters and the learning curves they go through.

I will always love returning to the world of Redwall and it still saddens me to think there will be no more adventures coming from the imagination of Brian Jacques.

My favourite Redwall book by far. What an enthralling and encompassing story and so many memorable characters! A story I'll think of fondly for a long time to come and happily rereard when I get the chance to! Thank you Mr. Jacques for your wonderful work.

This book was okay.

Definitely my favorite of the series growing up. Reading it a second time was great, but I honestly just enjoyed the 2nd book that just focused on Luke’s story. Wish this would have been only the 2nd book - with that, it probably still would have been my favorite.

This is probably my least favorite in the series, but even a stinker in this series is a fun read - I love the sense of adventure in these books! Not to mention the food and characters - it's all so well done.

This book was simply lacking in content - it strayed from the standard format of Jacques other books, and that alone is a miss for me, but the story itself didn't have enough meat. It was a sort of story in a story, and at a short 340 pages, it felt stretched. Further, there was as much detail on the outbound journey as the homebound journey, a rare feature of any book and not at all present in previous Redwall series. It all contributed to my feelings that this book would have been stronger as a prequel novella. There wasn't enough here for a full installment.

Overall, I would recommend to fans of the Redwall series, and it's not necessarily a bad book, however this is not the best example in the series.

The plot ended halfway through the book. The rest of the book was the triumphant procession home and the celebratory party. I'm not even kidding.

Oh man, this one was good. I loved delving into the lore of Martin the Warrior's family, seeing his ancestors' past. There were a lot of unique ideas in this one, and I remember enjoying it so much I couldn't put it down.

My stars are completely unfair here. It only got 2 stars because it made me sad. I cannot abide sadness, even if sadness is happy for deep people.

I loved it, it had an amazing story, with a heartfelt ending

Stakes are one of the most important things in a story. Most stories need that edge that begs the questions: "So what? Why should I care?" This book is one of those weird, unique stories, that despite its significant lack of stakes for the narrative is a good, gripping read. The story almost spoils itself letting you know what's coming, and yet it's never the poorer for it. The characters both the good guys and bad guys, are strong, and the plot is one of a kind in this series. The only thing that really sets this book back is the latter third. It may be short, but it lacks the substance that the first and (especially) the second bring. The plot doesn't really have anywhere to go, and Martin doesn't get as solid a sendoff as the character needed. All that said though, for all its uniqueness and solid execution, this is another good one.

4.5

Essentially two books in one, my 3-star rating is not intended as a criticism. This was a very enjoyable read and I can see Brian Jacques growing into a more confident and capable writer with this one. Luke’s story in particular was very engaging and this book contains two of Jacques’s best characters, Beau and Folgrim. That said, all of his books suffer from the same limitations, with fluffy characters and meandering episodic plots. A quality entry into the Redwall canon.