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A nice followup to Redwall that gives a bit of history behind the settings of the series. I love that Jacques isn't patronising and kills characters off without any undue ceremony.
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July 2006 Review:
The second book in the Redwall series, Mossflower provides much of the backstory for that novel, recording Martin the Warrior's time spent in Mossflower wood and his battle to free the natives from the tyrannical rule of Tsarmina the wildcat. This text shows remarkable improvement, both in style and in setting, from Redwall and even now remains one of the best books in the series. Martin is a true hero and an enjoyable protagonist, both supporting characters and villains are well-developed and interesting to read, Martin's journey provides our first glimpse of Salamandastron, and the book provides much backstory to Redwall and creates a prime jumping off point for the many, many sequels and prequels that follow.
Where I sometimes feel frustrated by Redwall, Mossflower is truly a delightful, enjoyable read from beginning to end. Already in this second novel, all traces of human influence are gone, creating a more complete, independent world and more intelligent characters. The religious overtones are gone as well, Jacques' writing style has matured, and he has a greater grasp of the different beings, landscapes, landmarks, and mindsets within the world that he has created. As a result, Mossflower is a complete, highly enjoyable read by an accomplished author. It moves quickly and smoothly, manages to be funny, provoking, and emotional in turn, and is a truly engrossing and enjoyable read.
Jacques is, however, almost too good at filling in all the backstory to Redwall--almost every character and location in that book is explained in this one, often providing answers that are too pat. It comes off as scripted, and the reader can get so caught up in looking for these connections that he becomes distracted from the story itself. These pieces of backstory do provide a more complete world, and in the following books Jacques will tempter, contradict, and expand upon them, but for now they do feel forced.
Mossflower really is one of my favorite books in the Redwall series to come back to and reread. My copy of it is proof to that--it's a bit worse for the wear. Martin is a truly inspiring, enjoyable protagonist--not clichéd, not too funny, but very strong, independent, and realistically human and social. His journey to rebuild his father's sword is central to Redwall history, and it also is our first view of Salamandastron, which will become increasingly important in later books. The battles are memorable (although the final battle against Tsarmina does go a bit quickly), as are the characters (Skipper, Lady Amber, Mask, and Gonff all stand out in my mind). The is one of the books that I love to curl up and dive into, and it's prime material for getting lost in. I definitely recommend it if you're at all interested in the Redwall series, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.
January 2014 commentary:
Trying to find something distracting to consume hasn't been working overwell, so I reached for something comforting instead and am rereading Mossflower. The book was published in 1988; my copy was published in 1990, but I probably stole it from a Montessori library sometime around 1995. It looks like this, now:
[image error]
If memory serves, the cover came to me with a small crease (it was in a school library), which developed into a second crease, which tore a couple of years ago; I still use a liberated corner of the cover as a bookmark. Again if memory serves, I think the book has gone with me to two nations, two states, two schools, and about seven different residences.
And it isn't even that good.
It's comparable to comfort food both because food is a recurrent aspect of the Redwall series and because it doesn't have to be objectively good to be comforting. I actually don't much care for Redwall, the first book in the series: the plot is central to the world's history, but it's distinctly a first attempt and while it contains many of the aspects which would become cornerstone to the series--puzzles, food, dialects, multiple adventures running in parallel--the setting and tone is only half there. In Redwall we know there are humans somewhere, building barns and horsecarts, and suddenly an abbey full of talking mice is ridiculous.
Mossflower is the change into what the series would be. It discards the human world, and without making any more justifications or sense (badgers weigh twenty pounds, a mouse stands three inches tall) the setting becomes far more convincing: talking mice and weasels, get passed it; they're not even weasels, really--species function as a stand-in, problematically, for a group of people. It takes those cornerstones and reiterates them, defining what the series would be from here--but coming early enough in the series that it feels familiar rather than redundant (both in publishing order and upon reread). And it's less insular, showing Mossflower as a place entire rather than a central building, journeying as far as Salamandastron, in a way establishing so much more than Redwall did. Redwall was a practice run, but Mossflower determines the future: it builds the Abbey and the series. And I love that series, I read it while growing up and have almost the entire thing in handsome hardback, I celebrated every new release well into my college years, and Jacques's death in 2011 crushed me because that was the death of my childhood.
All the descriptions of food, the shallow puzzles, the existentialist and/or exaggerated characterization*, are rather glaring to me on this reread, but I find I don't mind them. It's almost nostalgic, to see as an adult what it was that made this book work for me as a child. The hardest books for me to review are those with which I have history, because how to separate that history from the book itself? Mossflower is perfectly competent, utterly decent, not awfully well-written, okay but not honestly that good, and I love it to literal pieces--the cover has come right off.
* Except Martin. Martin, man, whose one-word characterization may be "Warrior" but whose character arcs are almost always about the conflict between warring and living: fighting is necessary to protect what he loves, but it divides him from what he loves. That conflict is reiterated in all his stories, but it's so bittersweet and surprisingly gentle--quiet, powerful, lonesome Martin, so eager to accept the first hand extended to him in friendship even though he remembers exactly how that ended last time--that I don't much mind.
January 2014 addendum:
Mossflower's primary weakness is easier for me to accept because it's a strength in the later books: it's repetitive. It's the first book that can recycle what would become the series's core features: the food, the accents, the species-as-groups-of-people, the questing and parallel adventures, and--more blatantly in Mossflower than elsewhere in the series--the branching, interconnected world. In Mossflower, we get an origin story for near every aspect of Redwall, from the barn cat to St. Ninian's Church to the Abbey itself; often, the tie-ins are obnoxiously neat--but:
Upon re-re-reread, it's surprisingly poignant to see Martin and Timballisto reunited in Mossflower, not just because I know how their story will unfold in this book but because I've met him and heard of him elsewhere throughout the series; his presence, alongside the woodlanders and hares and the rest of the motley crew (and we know them, too, from their roles and progeny in other books), represents Martin's aggregate experience: the warrior in training that he was on the North Shores, which Tim represents, the changes he's undergone since entering Mossflower Woods, the warrior that he's become since leaving Salamandastron, and finally the figure he will be in Redwall's future--a story that overlays multiple books and an entire series.
The series's stylistic repetition is as limiting as it is comforting, that reliable redundancy about the virtues of Deeper 'n Ever Pie. But the world's sprawling mythos becomes its strength. Despite the fact that species function as essentialist stand-ins for groups of people, the interconnected sprawl of the books means that frequently an individual mentioned in one is given greater depth in another; this doesn't do much to develop the villains (and even the exceptions may be problematic, see: The Outcast of Redwall)--but it nonetheless denies the simplicity of species as characterization; it implies that almost anyone could be the protagonist of their own story, and that many are. It also creates a sense of scope, of gravitas, of depth, of emotional connection--which is why Sunflash's appearance in Mossflower's final pages means so much: it has relevance to this story, where we met Bella and glimpsed Salamandastron, but on reread it's indicative of Salamandastron's long and storied history and the continuing impact it will have, has had, on the world of Redwall.
Mossflower's repetition is frequently heavy-handed because it was the first book that could attempt it, so it's both an unpracticed attempt and a particularly glaring one; a lot of that clumsiness, for better or worse, never goes away. But rereading it with a love for the series entire, I appreciate so earnestly what it does because it's indicative of what it will continue to do: every story will have a backstory, and Martin will never be forgotten.
The second book in the Redwall series, Mossflower provides much of the backstory for that novel, recording Martin the Warrior's time spent in Mossflower wood and his battle to free the natives from the tyrannical rule of Tsarmina the wildcat. This text shows remarkable improvement, both in style and in setting, from Redwall and even now remains one of the best books in the series. Martin is a true hero and an enjoyable protagonist, both supporting characters and villains are well-developed and interesting to read, Martin's journey provides our first glimpse of Salamandastron, and the book provides much backstory to Redwall and creates a prime jumping off point for the many, many sequels and prequels that follow.
Where I sometimes feel frustrated by Redwall, Mossflower is truly a delightful, enjoyable read from beginning to end. Already in this second novel, all traces of human influence are gone, creating a more complete, independent world and more intelligent characters. The religious overtones are gone as well, Jacques' writing style has matured, and he has a greater grasp of the different beings, landscapes, landmarks, and mindsets within the world that he has created. As a result, Mossflower is a complete, highly enjoyable read by an accomplished author. It moves quickly and smoothly, manages to be funny, provoking, and emotional in turn, and is a truly engrossing and enjoyable read.
Jacques is, however, almost too good at filling in all the backstory to Redwall--almost every character and location in that book is explained in this one, often providing answers that are too pat. It comes off as scripted, and the reader can get so caught up in looking for these connections that he becomes distracted from the story itself. These pieces of backstory do provide a more complete world, and in the following books Jacques will tempter, contradict, and expand upon them, but for now they do feel forced.
Mossflower really is one of my favorite books in the Redwall series to come back to and reread. My copy of it is proof to that--it's a bit worse for the wear. Martin is a truly inspiring, enjoyable protagonist--not clichéd, not too funny, but very strong, independent, and realistically human and social. His journey to rebuild his father's sword is central to Redwall history, and it also is our first view of Salamandastron, which will become increasingly important in later books. The battles are memorable (although the final battle against Tsarmina does go a bit quickly), as are the characters (Skipper, Lady Amber, Mask, and Gonff all stand out in my mind). The is one of the books that I love to curl up and dive into, and it's prime material for getting lost in. I definitely recommend it if you're at all interested in the Redwall series, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.
January 2014 commentary:
Trying to find something distracting to consume hasn't been working overwell, so I reached for something comforting instead and am rereading Mossflower. The book was published in 1988; my copy was published in 1990, but I probably stole it from a Montessori library sometime around 1995. It looks like this, now:
[image error]
If memory serves, the cover came to me with a small crease (it was in a school library), which developed into a second crease, which tore a couple of years ago; I still use a liberated corner of the cover as a bookmark. Again if memory serves, I think the book has gone with me to two nations, two states, two schools, and about seven different residences.
And it isn't even that good.
It's comparable to comfort food both because food is a recurrent aspect of the Redwall series and because it doesn't have to be objectively good to be comforting. I actually don't much care for Redwall, the first book in the series: the plot is central to the world's history, but it's distinctly a first attempt and while it contains many of the aspects which would become cornerstone to the series--puzzles, food, dialects, multiple adventures running in parallel--the setting and tone is only half there. In Redwall we know there are humans somewhere, building barns and horsecarts, and suddenly an abbey full of talking mice is ridiculous.
Mossflower is the change into what the series would be. It discards the human world, and without making any more justifications or sense (badgers weigh twenty pounds, a mouse stands three inches tall) the setting becomes far more convincing: talking mice and weasels, get passed it; they're not even weasels, really--species function as a stand-in, problematically, for a group of people. It takes those cornerstones and reiterates them, defining what the series would be from here--but coming early enough in the series that it feels familiar rather than redundant (both in publishing order and upon reread). And it's less insular, showing Mossflower as a place entire rather than a central building, journeying as far as Salamandastron, in a way establishing so much more than Redwall did. Redwall was a practice run, but Mossflower determines the future: it builds the Abbey and the series. And I love that series, I read it while growing up and have almost the entire thing in handsome hardback, I celebrated every new release well into my college years, and Jacques's death in 2011 crushed me because that was the death of my childhood.
All the descriptions of food, the shallow puzzles, the existentialist and/or exaggerated characterization*, are rather glaring to me on this reread, but I find I don't mind them. It's almost nostalgic, to see as an adult what it was that made this book work for me as a child. The hardest books for me to review are those with which I have history, because how to separate that history from the book itself? Mossflower is perfectly competent, utterly decent, not awfully well-written, okay but not honestly that good, and I love it to literal pieces--the cover has come right off.
* Except Martin. Martin, man, whose one-word characterization may be "Warrior" but whose character arcs are almost always about the conflict between warring and living: fighting is necessary to protect what he loves, but it divides him from what he loves. That conflict is reiterated in all his stories, but it's so bittersweet and surprisingly gentle--quiet, powerful, lonesome Martin, so eager to accept the first hand extended to him in friendship even though he remembers exactly how that ended last time--that I don't much mind.
January 2014 addendum:
Mossflower's primary weakness is easier for me to accept because it's a strength in the later books: it's repetitive. It's the first book that can recycle what would become the series's core features: the food, the accents, the species-as-groups-of-people, the questing and parallel adventures, and--more blatantly in Mossflower than elsewhere in the series--the branching, interconnected world. In Mossflower, we get an origin story for near every aspect of Redwall, from the barn cat to St. Ninian's Church to the Abbey itself; often, the tie-ins are obnoxiously neat--but:
Upon re-re-reread, it's surprisingly poignant to see Martin and Timballisto reunited in Mossflower, not just because I know how their story will unfold in this book but because I've met him and heard of him elsewhere throughout the series; his presence, alongside the woodlanders and hares and the rest of the motley crew (and we know them, too, from their roles and progeny in other books), represents Martin's aggregate experience: the warrior in training that he was on the North Shores, which Tim represents, the changes he's undergone since entering Mossflower Woods, the warrior that he's become since leaving Salamandastron, and finally the figure he will be in Redwall's future--a story that overlays multiple books and an entire series.
The series's stylistic repetition is as limiting as it is comforting, that reliable redundancy about the virtues of Deeper 'n Ever Pie. But the world's sprawling mythos becomes its strength. Despite the fact that species function as essentialist stand-ins for groups of people, the interconnected sprawl of the books means that frequently an individual mentioned in one is given greater depth in another; this doesn't do much to develop the villains (and even the exceptions may be problematic, see: The Outcast of Redwall)--but it nonetheless denies the simplicity of species as characterization; it implies that almost anyone could be the protagonist of their own story, and that many are. It also creates a sense of scope, of gravitas, of depth, of emotional connection--which is why Sunflash's appearance in Mossflower's final pages means so much: it has relevance to this story, where we met Bella and glimpsed Salamandastron, but on reread it's indicative of Salamandastron's long and storied history and the continuing impact it will have, has had, on the world of Redwall.
Mossflower's repetition is frequently heavy-handed because it was the first book that could attempt it, so it's both an unpracticed attempt and a particularly glaring one; a lot of that clumsiness, for better or worse, never goes away. But rereading it with a love for the series entire, I appreciate so earnestly what it does because it's indicative of what it will continue to do: every story will have a backstory, and Martin will never be forgotten.
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One of the things I most enjoy about these books is that it never quite goes the way I expect. This is a wholesome book where the good guys win, and they do, but the road to victory is hard-fought and brutal, littered with the deaths of friend and foe alike. I also appreciate how the characters seem to pop off the page, especially the moles (once you get past the thick accents).
In this way, the Redwall books, originally written for middle-school boys, are well-written portrayals of real life and the many lessons young men (and women) need to learn to thrive. Though we do not wage wars on roaming bands of pirate rats, we do face personal battles that need courage, hope, and the loyalty of friends to win.
In this way, the Redwall books, originally written for middle-school boys, are well-written portrayals of real life and the many lessons young men (and women) need to learn to thrive. Though we do not wage wars on roaming bands of pirate rats, we do face personal battles that need courage, hope, and the loyalty of friends to win.
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Rating: All-Time Favorite
This was a reread of one of my absolute favorites. I loved Redwall so much growing up. It was basically my gateway to the classic adult fantasy I read now. On reread, I don't love it as much as when I was a kid but it was still full of nostalgia and there were still lots of love for it. I feel like there was a lot of black and white, good vs. evil, which isn't bad, just sort of different. The bad guys are pretty mustache twirly type villains, and it is weird to me how there is a clear delineation between the good species and the bad. I feel like I remember this being kind of addressed in some of the later books, so I'm just going to enjoy the ride! My other issue was that the characters are all very much archetypes with personalities carried over between books. But I will see if that changes as I continue on or not. Definitely interesting to reread as an adult, but I definitely still love it.
Overall, I love these books and I enjoyed my reread of this one. I never read them in order as a kid, so I think since this is number two that I'm going to back and do that to see how it goes.
This was a reread of one of my absolute favorites. I loved Redwall so much growing up. It was basically my gateway to the classic adult fantasy I read now. On reread, I don't love it as much as when I was a kid but it was still full of nostalgia and there were still lots of love for it. I feel like there was a lot of black and white, good vs. evil, which isn't bad, just sort of different. The bad guys are pretty mustache twirly type villains, and it is weird to me how there is a clear delineation between the good species and the bad. I feel like I remember this being kind of addressed in some of the later books, so I'm just going to enjoy the ride! My other issue was that the characters are all very much archetypes with personalities carried over between books. But I will see if that changes as I continue on or not. Definitely interesting to reread as an adult, but I definitely still love it.
Overall, I love these books and I enjoyed my reread of this one. I never read them in order as a kid, so I think since this is number two that I'm going to back and do that to see how it goes.
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"I liked it really much."
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In the spirit of #TBT, I decided to review MOSSFLOWER by Brian Jacques. Why? Probably because this series is the reason I'm a writer. During my formative years, I read and re-read the Redwall books more than Mr. Jacques' editor did, and then some... And if you didn't partake of this wonderful, creature-filled world, then you are seriously missing out.
Of all the countless stories Brian Jacques told, MOSSFLOWER is my favorite. Most likely because it predates REDWALL, and I'm a super sucker for good world-building. You see, in REDWALL, there's this awesome sword that the mouse protagonist must find to defeat Cluny the Scourge, who is as evil as his name suggests. It's the sword of an ancient, honored warrior... and MOSSFLOWER is the story (well, part of it) of that warrior! Martin is his name, and kicking vermin butts is his game.
This novel is a conflation of probably the two best tropes in fantasy: the "quest" and the "siege". The quest is about finding a warrior fit enough to take down Tsarmina--the wildcat patricide who lords over Mossflower woods. And the siege, well, there's actually two of them, are both pretty rocking. Oh, and there's a ship named *Bloodwake* and food is called 'vittles'. Epic stuff.
But those aren't the reasons I love MOSSFLOWER. I love it because of its themes.
Martin has a sword. It's reforged from the shard of a meteorite. But that just makes it a better tool. The sword is neither good nor bad, though it can be *used* for good or for bad. The first REDWALL book made a pretty clear distinction between the good guys and the bad guys. Good guys = friendly, cute creatures. Bad guys = rats and gross creatures (adders, ferrets and the like). But MOSSFLOWER deals with morality in a more evenhanded fashion. Martin could choose to use the sword to rule over Mossflower like his enemy does, but he elects to help others instead. On the other hand, there are a few 'villianous' creatures who end up being decent people, like Tsarmina's wildcat brother. All in all, it's a much more realistic look at storytelling (as realistic as talking animals can be, that is...)
So if you haven't been paying attention, this book is great. Read it.
Of all the countless stories Brian Jacques told, MOSSFLOWER is my favorite. Most likely because it predates REDWALL, and I'm a super sucker for good world-building. You see, in REDWALL, there's this awesome sword that the mouse protagonist must find to defeat Cluny the Scourge, who is as evil as his name suggests. It's the sword of an ancient, honored warrior... and MOSSFLOWER is the story (well, part of it) of that warrior! Martin is his name, and kicking vermin butts is his game.
This novel is a conflation of probably the two best tropes in fantasy: the "quest" and the "siege". The quest is about finding a warrior fit enough to take down Tsarmina--the wildcat patricide who lords over Mossflower woods. And the siege, well, there's actually two of them, are both pretty rocking. Oh, and there's a ship named *Bloodwake* and food is called 'vittles'. Epic stuff.
But those aren't the reasons I love MOSSFLOWER. I love it because of its themes.
Martin has a sword. It's reforged from the shard of a meteorite. But that just makes it a better tool. The sword is neither good nor bad, though it can be *used* for good or for bad. The first REDWALL book made a pretty clear distinction between the good guys and the bad guys. Good guys = friendly, cute creatures. Bad guys = rats and gross creatures (adders, ferrets and the like). But MOSSFLOWER deals with morality in a more evenhanded fashion. Martin could choose to use the sword to rule over Mossflower like his enemy does, but he elects to help others instead. On the other hand, there are a few 'villianous' creatures who end up being decent people, like Tsarmina's wildcat brother. All in all, it's a much more realistic look at storytelling (as realistic as talking animals can be, that is...)
So if you haven't been paying attention, this book is great. Read it.
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Over the first lockdown my partner and I got very much into the "soothing audiobooks before bedtime" tradition and in the years after that it continued. We purposefully chose comforting things to listen to and Brian Jacques Redwallverse is a perennial childhood favourite of my partner's - so after hearing the first, we move onto 1988's "sequel" (or rather "prequel and tonal bedrock of the series going forward") Mossflower. We follow the legendary hero with his hilariously dull name MARTIN THE WARRIOR and his gallant struggle against the evil wildcat Tsarmina. It's an epic yarn, just as characterful as the first but less inconsistent. It's an old-fashioned epic in every sense of the word - noble goodies and scheming baddies, wide-ranging travels, awesome battles and set pieces of derring-do throughout. This is one of my partner's favourites of the whole series and it's not hard to see why. It also lays a successful foundational structure which Jacques revisits through the rest of his books.
What makes these audiobook renditions of the stories so singularly charming is their unique and brilliant execution. A large cast of actors (some of them winningly amateur) read aloud all the dialogue while Jacques himself narrates the story with dynamic glee. They did this, I believe, in the BBC Merseyside studios where Jacques had a radio show. I've always wished more audiobooks did this, had a narration and a full cast, because you can really sink into it. It's why, even with the occasional loud spikes of shouting or bellowing badgers, we'd slip off to sleep so easily to this over the wildly hard winter of 2021/2022. It's like being wrapped up in a book - and the performance is so sincerely produced you barely feel self conscious getting swept away with it all. It's a very nice thought that there were many more of these done and to sink into at the end of whatever epic struggle of a day we'll have going forward.
What makes these audiobook renditions of the stories so singularly charming is their unique and brilliant execution. A large cast of actors (some of them winningly amateur) read aloud all the dialogue while Jacques himself narrates the story with dynamic glee. They did this, I believe, in the BBC Merseyside studios where Jacques had a radio show. I've always wished more audiobooks did this, had a narration and a full cast, because you can really sink into it. It's why, even with the occasional loud spikes of shouting or bellowing badgers, we'd slip off to sleep so easily to this over the wildly hard winter of 2021/2022. It's like being wrapped up in a book - and the performance is so sincerely produced you barely feel self conscious getting swept away with it all. It's a very nice thought that there were many more of these done and to sink into at the end of whatever epic struggle of a day we'll have going forward.
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If you asked me to pick a single favorite Redwall book, I'd probably splutter at you a lot and then mutter 'Mariel, if I have to pick just one'; but if you asked me for a list of my top 5, Mossflower would definitely be on it. Early on, before I'd read the rest of the series, it was far-and-away my favorite - for the interwoven quest and siege plots (two of my favorite fantasy structures, tropey as they can be, likely because of Redwall books), for the humor, and for the absolutely glorious takedown at the end. It's just a damn fun read.
One of, if not the, most memorable objects in the Redwall series is Martin's sword, and one of the things I love most about the books is their consistent emphasis on what the sword is and what it means. Nowhere is that more clearly laid out than in this book, wherein the sword is reforged by Boar the Fighter with the warning that "a sword is a force for good only in the paws of an honest warrior". The Redwall series does an excellent job of balancing both the mystical aura it affords to the sword and the message that the sword itself isn't inherently special; and for a series which rests squarely in line with so many fantasy tropes, emphasizing the importance of personal morality above object-linked magic is really important.
Last thing: as with all Redwall books, I strongly recommend the full-cast audio version of Mossflower. It's even more fun when you can hear it come to life.
One of, if not the, most memorable objects in the Redwall series is Martin's sword, and one of the things I love most about the books is their consistent emphasis on what the sword is and what it means. Nowhere is that more clearly laid out than in this book, wherein the sword is reforged by Boar the Fighter with the warning that "a sword is a force for good only in the paws of an honest warrior". The Redwall series does an excellent job of balancing both the mystical aura it affords to the sword and the message that the sword itself isn't inherently special; and for a series which rests squarely in line with so many fantasy tropes, emphasizing the importance of personal morality above object-linked magic is really important.
Last thing: as with all Redwall books, I strongly recommend the full-cast audio version of Mossflower. It's even more fun when you can hear it come to life.
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Book 2 in the Redwall series (prequel to Redwall)
In this prequel to Redwall, we meet Martin the warrior and understand how his heroic deeds, as well as his ability to form alliances, leads to the creation of Redwall Abbey.
The Corim, the governing council of the woodland creatures, tries to protect themselves against the evil Kotir, malicious wildcats determined to rule all the animals. Tsarmina is the cruel and mentally unstable ruler of the Kotir.
When Martin the Warrior has a run-in with Tsarmina and ends up in the Kotir dungeon, he meets Gonff the mouse thief and they strike up a friendship that carries them through many adventures. Once again, Jacques creates a believable world peopled with well-drawn characters that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.
This series is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for fantasy readers of all ages.
In this prequel to Redwall, we meet Martin the warrior and understand how his heroic deeds, as well as his ability to form alliances, leads to the creation of Redwall Abbey.
The Corim, the governing council of the woodland creatures, tries to protect themselves against the evil Kotir, malicious wildcats determined to rule all the animals. Tsarmina is the cruel and mentally unstable ruler of the Kotir.
When Martin the Warrior has a run-in with Tsarmina and ends up in the Kotir dungeon, he meets Gonff the mouse thief and they strike up a friendship that carries them through many adventures. Once again, Jacques creates a believable world peopled with well-drawn characters that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.
This series is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for fantasy readers of all ages.
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My first thought after reading the first chapter was "really this mole accent is driving me nuts I can't hardly read it!" Soon I got used to it but it still annoyed me.
What I liked
• my favorite characters were Gingevire, Mask and ya gotta love Gonff
• The hares were awesome with there British accent:)
• and the squirrels and otters? Awesome!
What I didn't like
• so much death, I counted most of them it added up to 45 (there was more then that!)
• seriously when thy die they go to the "Dark forest" that sounds creepy
•what was Angulor's (the golden eagle) purpose, to eat the other characters?
These are just a few of what I did or didn't like but they are the main ones. But the story was intriguing! I tell you one thing though I can finally relate to that pin on Pinterest (first picture) I'm really starting to like this character (next picture) and.... He's dead:(
What I liked
• my favorite characters were Gingevire, Mask and ya gotta love Gonff
• The hares were awesome with there British accent:)
• and the squirrels and otters? Awesome!
What I didn't like
• so much death, I counted most of them it added up to 45 (there was more then that!)
• seriously when thy die they go to the "Dark forest" that sounds creepy
•what was Angulor's (the golden eagle) purpose, to eat the other characters?
These are just a few of what I did or didn't like but they are the main ones. But the story was intriguing! I tell you one thing though I can finally relate to that pin on Pinterest (first picture) I'm really starting to like this character (next picture) and.... He's dead:(
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"A great prequel to Redwall. I don't rate it as highly because I like books that are standalone and feel complete all by themselves. Though this one raises many questions about the world of Redwall, I suppose it's trying to do that to open the door for all the wonderful future books, which is understandable. It just doesn't feel as self-contained as Redwall. Still great."
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This next Redwall book and one of the most famous is starting with Martin the Warrior again. After he had defeated Badrang the stoat, he is now is mossflower area which is under the rule of Tsarmina the daughter of Verduaga who also had a older brother Ungatt Trunn in another Redwall book series. These are one of the relationship this book has with others. Continuing on, martin was then captured and brought inot Kotir the stronghold of Tsarmina the cruel evil wildcat. Later on he met Gonoff where they unite along with other woodlanders to rebel against Tsarmina- a rebellion which was the start of Redwall. In order to do so, Matthais and some of his friends went to find salamandastron to find Boar the figter for assistance. They came back without him but the a new sword for Martin. There began the final plans to defeat Tsarmina...
The one thing i learn form this thing is courage. I guess in those days the value it. It reminds me sometimes wehn presenting something to other people, it takes courage becaue i am not that kind of person who like to talk openly with others. Courage is what keeps people going and eventually becomes a good relfection to their deeds. Even looking at the most uncommon people, there is some kind of courage within them.
The one thing i learn form this thing is courage. I guess in those days the value it. It reminds me sometimes wehn presenting something to other people, it takes courage becaue i am not that kind of person who like to talk openly with others. Courage is what keeps people going and eventually becomes a good relfection to their deeds. Even looking at the most uncommon people, there is some kind of courage within them.
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