Another great Redwall book. 5 stars and best reads pile. I love to read about all the woodland animals feasting on cider and ales candied nuts and pies etc. They also have to battle against a mean villainous cat and her minions and go on an epic adventure. This is very young adult reading but so charming and fun. Highly recommend if you are a fan of woodland type fantasy adventures with mice and moles and badgers. There are a lot of these but I plan to make my way slowly through them.

Continuing my new purpose of writing about books that influenced me as a child, I had to get started on Mossflower. This book! This series! Chronologically this is not the first of the group, but it is the first one I read. Brian Jacques did such a long and great series of short books geared tower young adults/children. I’ve read all of them, and I recently enjoyed reading them again. I was so sad when he died, considering he filled my childhood with such wonder. It was a series with fascinating animal characters who had general but interesting personalities, and a through line of certain themes and relations between the books. This was the first really long series I started. I also saw the animated show. It wasn’t great, but it also wasn’t that bad either, in my opinion. There’s only one general criticism I have of the series, but I’ll talk about that in a bit.

Mossflower is the major location for the series. The majority of the books take place there. Martin the Warrior is the most famous of characters, and he becomes a messiah like figure later on, his ghost appearing in some cases. One of the major characteristics of him is that he’s a mouse, who typically are small and not particularly warlike most of the time, but he’s very dangerous. When Martin arrives in Mossflower, he’s coming from a traumatic background that they get into with greater detail in other books. He is immediately accosted by the corrupt army of the leader in the are, the aging warlord wildcat Verdauga Greeneyes. They are robbing the people blind and letting their criminal bully minions do whatever they want. The people wish to rebel, but they have no real focal point or person to rally their cause. Enter Martin. This is a very Robin Hood like story. Verdauga dies, poisoned by his daughter Tsarmina and her vixen companion Fortunata. Fortunata masquerades as a healer. Tsarmina is cruel and vicious and wants to have all the power, and she blames the death on her gentler, kinder brother Gingivere. She establishes herself quickly as the villain by the murder and breaking Martin’s family sword.

While imprisoned, Martin meets the clever and cheerful mouse thief Gonff. They become close quickly, and they are rescued by the Corim, a group dedicated to getting their lands back. Loamhedge is introduced here too as an abbey where they had to flee from because of the plague, and Abbess Germaine is the main character from there. We also meet the badger Bella, who is a ringleader and swears only her father Boar, the Badger Lord of Salamandastron, can save them. Salamandastron is also a major location in the series. Martin, Gonff, and Young Dinny the mole head off to find Boar. They also meet the shrew Log-a-log, a character that is mostly a title we see a lot of in the series. They have a series of adventures on the road, partly why people compare this to The Hobbit’s journey. They have a greater goal, but there are pit stops as they nearly die frequently. My personal favorite is the terrifying eel Snakefish who they nearly get eaten by in a pit, but they actually end up helping to escape.

They make it to Salamandastron and meet Boar, and he helps fix Martin’s sword. The Badger Lord and his dangerous hares are also major characters in the books, so this is one of the earlier starts to them. Boar is killed in a duel with his great enemy, so Martin has to accept he is the hero who must save Mossflower. They return after taking over a slave ship and sailing back with the freed slaves, and Martin kills Tsarmina. There’s an interesting part where they nearly drive Tsarmina mad by slowly flooding the castle, and no one believes her when she keeps claiming she can hear water. Having her break down reminded me a bit of Lady Macbeth. Martin nearly dies in the final battle but he does survive. He goes to be a Redwall legend as this courageous warrior who helped them get their land back.

My only real complaint in the series, and this is something many people bring up, is how black and white the characters are. In this case, it’s specific to the species they are. I get it’s easier to go “well all mice are peaceful but have inner strength” and “all rats are inherently vermin.” But it did often feel like the characters were too two-dimensional because of it. Later in the series he does redeem some of the evil species characters, but it’s rare. He was capable of making complex characters, Martin certainly was one, but too often the bad guys were just evil. Nothing else. Evil. It also doesn’t feature too many strong female characters; don’t get me wrong, Bella and Gonff’s love interest Columbine were interesting! It just took awhile before a woman was the lead character and a badass. Anyway, overall this book is a delight. I’ve read it multiple times over the years, and it’s always entertaining. I forget how many little adventures they had on the road. Revisit it if you only read it during childhood. It holds up!

Excellent descriptions of food.

I love the Redwall books written by the late and sadly missed Brian Jacques.'Mossflower' is a wonderful and magical book among the many he wrote about Redwall. The novel begins with Bella the Badger telling of the plight of the creatures of Mossflower Wood many years ago before Redwall Abbey was built. They were oppressed by the evil Tsarmina the wildcat and her father. The young mouse Martin strayed into the wildcat’s territory and was imprisoned. Many twists and turns follow in the ensuing adventures and as always in Brian’s beautifully written books; good always eventually triumphs over evil and Martin is named forever “Martin the Warrior” The Redwall books are written for teenagers but these enchanting stories can equally be read by adults who will surely enjoy them. I am not keen on too many spoilers but there are many bloodthirsty battles as well as the background of woodland life with the loyalties, friendships, bravery and love among the animals. Especially enchanting are the descriptions of the many recipes of the food made from the plants and their fruits in the woods around the creatures. Do give these books a try. Brian Jacques writes exciting novels with vivid plots and excellently drawn characters both good and evil. They can be read in order or as standalone books but I would recommend you read them in order as references are often made to previous characters in the later books.