2.5 stars

I've often thought that Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels tricked me, as a child in the '90s, into believing that I liked fantasy novels. Listening to Mossflower, my first Redwall novel since maybe 2004, I realise now that Brian Jacques carries at least as much of the blame. While I definitely think that I enjoyed these stories more as a child than I do as an adult, I can see in them what I appreciate in the medieval poetry I've been reading more lately - the murky sense of history, the magnificent architecture, the forest. A sense of the early Medieval rather than the later, more urbanized history that came later. The atmosphere is spectacular.

I'm no longer the target audience for these novels, so I will not get into the problems I notice now as an adult. Rather, I will note that I appreciate now the mystery around Salamandastron as perhaps I have never done before (I'm pretty certain I read Outcast of Redwall before this novel, so I knew what it was already). I appreciate how the heroes and villains are contrasted by how they treat one another almost as much as their allegiance is determined by species (this annoyed me as a child, I think it's fair). And also, how much of the imagery has stuck with me without me realising. A formative novel, and a great one (for young adults).

A fantastic prequel that shed light on the history of Redwall Abbey and the legend of Martin the Warrior while telling a story every bit as good as the first book in this series.

I think Jacques is seriously underrated. Every time I read his stuff I'm floored by how interesting his characters and villains are - yes, a little over the top, but his target audience was okay with that. Seriously worth it, if you're comfortable with small vermin.

Endlich fertig, mein Gott, das Buch hätte auch 200 Seiten kürzer sein können, denn es zog sich alles so unglaublich in die Länge, dass es ungelogen erst ind en letzten 80 Seiten wieder spannend wurde - und dann wurde der Kriegs-Kampf-Teil auch noch super abgekürzt und öde geschrieben.

Eigentlich hab ich mich echt auf den Band gefreut, da es die Vorgeschichte von Redwall erzählt UND auch noch eine weibliche Bösewichtin als Gegner hat.

Leider entäuscht das Buch auf ganzer Linie.
Es ist langatmig ohne Ende. Zarmina, die Antagonistin, ist eine hysterische, panische, böse Frau, die nichts kann - im Vergleich zu Cluny, die Ratte aus Band 1, war das einfach lächerlich. Das einzige, was sie konnte, war böse sein, und das wars.

Dann ist es einfach eine Unart vom Autor, dass man mind 2-3 Erzählstränge nebeneinander erzählt. Das ist an sich ja nicht verkehrt, wenn man einen allumfassenden Erzähler hat, aber es ist UNMÖGLICH, dass man in einem Kapitel 20-30x den Blickwinkel ändert und zwischen den Charakteren hin und her springt.
besonders unmöglich,w enn es MITTEN in einer spannenden Stelle von Erzähsltrang 1 ist, und man einfach dann wechselt zu 2. Es interessiert mich wirklich einen Scheiß, was die Heilermäuse weit entfernt vom Kriegsgeschehen gerade machen.

Es ist nicht unbedingt völlig langweilig, denn es werden immer neue Gegner hinzugefügt, und es passiert auch ständig was, aber irgendwie .... vermutlich nervte mich das ständige POV-Wechseln so dermaßen. Hätte man die Sachen innerhalb eines Kapitels erzählt, wäre es vemrutlich nicht so öde geworden und es wäre nicht so langezogen gewesen.

Aufjedenfall im Vergleich zu Band 1 sehr viel schlechter. Und mich ärgert es wirklich mit Zarmina. Ich hatte mich so auf eine böse Katze gefreut.

A prequel to the Redwall series. And a damn good one at that. The fabled Martin the Warrior makes his debut in this second installment. A book split into three parts, each section has its own ups and downs throughout, focusing on the pinnacle ideas that tyranny and freedom can relate to in today’s society. A big thumbs up to Jacques and his quirky yet memorable characters. Martin, Gonff the this, and Dinny the mole, each of these personalities lent their personas to the overall enjoyable atmosphere of Mossflower, the country where Redwall was born. I do wish however I had read this book before the first book, because it really shows what happens in the seasons before the Redwall Abbey was built. Moss flower laid the ground work which led to the epic novel that is so well known. There is so much to cover, I will only focus on the best parts.

Martin the warrior, however tiny of a mouse he was, was in fact the traditional hero who would stick his neck out for any and all creatures. A big heart, yet little stature. Throughout the story, you will get to see his transformation from becoming enslaved to escaping tyranny and then eventually questing to find a legendary hero that would aid in the monarchy of Kotir, the castle fortress ruled by the evil queen Tsarmina. But what Martin doesn’t know is that in reality, he is on a quest of transformation, and any outside help he can muster for the cause is really all from him. His determination alone allows him to become the hero that saves the day in the end. Symbolism couples with this little hero as well. In the beginning, his sword is shattered. As a token of memento, he wears the broken hilt of his father as to ever remind him of his vow to kill the queen of Kotir.

Tsarmina, the evil self-proclaimed queen of Mossflower, is quite the ballistic type personality that grows on the reader, even though she is the main antagonists of the story. As you progress through the story, the reader will start to see paranoia and insanity slowly take over her, and it is quite entertaining to watch. The story has some good comedic quality throughout. One of these core laughable traits of the story is how she conducts her army and captains. Through her short lived reign, she promoted over a five or more captains due to blunders which ended in death or displeasing the queen. She as a villain was true to her nature, instilling fear as a means to control her weasel and rat army.

It was certainly interesting to see how all the woodland creatures came together and interacted throughout the tale. On any given chapter, you could see how squirrels and otters got along, fighting alongside one another, and badgers and shrews cooking meals for the warriors defending their realm. At one point, a pact of leaders formed a group called Corim, a sort of alliance between many creatures to protect the land. This particular idea of the story reminded me a lot of Lord of the Rings, plus the multitude of complex dialects certain creatures spoke. Yet another great aspect of the story. Although sometimes hard to understand, the mole speech was down right difficult to get. However, once you figured out the cadence of the words, the flow made sense and made the story that more enjoyable. One of favorite dialects by far were the hares. “Jolly good show, if I do say so myself. Wot!” Sometimes the speech almost fits the type of animal perfectly and I think Jacques was brilliant in understanding this comparison. So if I were to compare what this story related to, I would say it is the LOTR of woodland creatures. Rat’s versus mice, cat’s versus badgers, fox’s versus otters. The list goes on and on. And you could easily substitute how an orc or elf would fit in. Mind you, there are no humans in these stories. Just imagine medieval life, but without us. Perfect.

Regardless, this series is a win for me thus far. I’ll keep reading it, probably pick up the next book after the halloween season. Now it’s time to read some scary books.

5 out of 5 stars
F. D. Gross

Ammetto che questo prequel/secondo volume m'è piaciuto molto di più del primo. Si sente l'epicità a ogni riga

I chose this as our family audiobook for the month in order to connect with my eldest who is deeply immersed in the world of Redwall and wanted his Dad and siblings to understand what he was enjoying. Although my tastes have shifted since I read the first book as a child and the endless small animal combat was tiresome to me this time around, the audiobooks of this series (executively produced by Brian Jacques) are excellent. Especially because of his work with blind children Jacques was very invested in the production quality of the audiobooks and it shows. My husband wondered aloud if his whole life would have gone a different direction if he would have found the Redwall books and others like them when he was a child. He and my boys were completely captivated, which helped get me through the 11 hours of mice and other creatures hollering at each other and brandishing their swords.

A favorite of the Redwall series ever since I was a kid.

This prequel to Redwall was excellent! Highly recommend, especially as a family read aloud!

اتفاقات این کتاب از نظر زمانی سالها قبل از کتاب اوله و در اون ماجراجویی قهرمانانه مارتین جنگجو آشنا می شید.
هر چند دوستان با مقایسه این کتاب با ارباب حلقه ها دچار خنده می شن ولی واقعیت اینه به عنوان یه طرفدار ارباب حلقه ها که بیش از ۳۰ بار کتاب هاش رو‌خونده باید بگم که سبک و توصیفات این مجموعه با کتاب هابیت قابل مقایسه است هر چند که به تون درجه از تکامل نمی رسه.
برای مثل هابیت شرح زیبا و دقیق از غذاها داره و پر از جشن و شام خوردن افراد کنار هم با ذکر جزییات می شه.
آیا شباهت اینجا تموم می شه؟ البته که نه. کتاب با یه سفر ماجراجویانه توسط مارتین و دو دوستش برای پیدا کردن گورکنی قهرمانی نام گراز ادامه پیدا می کنه و در راه قهرمانان ماجرا مشکلات زیادی به وجود می آد.
مثل کتاب دیگه این مجموعه خواننده با جنگ میان خوبی و بدی رو به رو می شه.
شخصیت های کتاب تا حد زیادی خوب پرداخته شدن و راحت می شه باهاشون ارتباط گرفت.
خوندن کتاب برام لذتبخش بود و با این که کتاب برای نوجوانان نوشته شده اما یه بزرگسال هم می تونه ازش لذت ببره

3.5 stars.