She Forgot To Give Us A Title! (Redwall - Brian Jacques)

Member Name: FORCHARITY

Product:	Redwall - Brian Jacques
Date:	28/08/02 (663 review reads)
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It is the glorious Summer of the Late Rose and the peaceful community of Redwall Abbey is busy preparing for a feast, little knowing that the evil warlord Cluny the Scourge is about to attack and try to wrest from them everything they hold dear.

The peace loving order of monks and members of the surrounding rural community will have to band together and learn to fight for their very lives against their evil attacker. They learn to fight with the help of their new champion Matthias. For Matthias, a young novice, appears to be the reincarnation of Martin the Great, a mythic warrior from Redwall's distant past. And it is up to Matthias to find the ancient lost sword of Martin the Great and return it to the Abbey, as proof of the Abbey's power and prosperity, and in order to vanquish Cluny the Scourge and his vicious army.

Sounds great, doesn't it? But what makes it even better is that the inhabitants of Redwall Abbey are actually a community of mice, and Cluny the Scourge is an evil rat commanding a ragtag band of vicious rats, weasels, ferrets and other assorted vermin.

Brian Jacques anthropomorphic epic Redwall is classed as a children's book and would, I think, appeal to the sort of kids who might enjoy reading The Hobbit or Harry Potter. I wouldn?t recommend it for children much younger than ten, unless they are particularly avid and accomplished readers. The language is quite challenging. And it is a long book, running to over 400 pages of close-packed small type. Like Harry Potter and The Hobbit, Redwall is an equally delightful read for adults. I couldn't put it down the first time I read it, and I have read it several times since.

Jacques, an ex-Liverpool docker, was nominated for the Carnegie Award for Redwall, his first novel. He followed it with Mattimeo and Mossflower, to complete the first trilogy of tales of the inhabitants of Redwall Abbey. More Redwall books followed and a new
one, Triss, is due to be published in October. Redwall has even become an animated feature film. So if you get hooked, there are hours of happy Redwall reading to be had. Don't you hate that empty feeling of loss that you get when you finish a truly great book? That little ache of sorrow, almost touching on grief that you get from missing your favourite characters? But then, I am a hardcore book junkie.

The novel is a fantastic mix of swashbuckling action, adventure and fantasy and a little romance too. It's kind of the animal equivalent of The Princess Bride or Willow, and I love it. I can't wait until my daughter is old enough to enjoy it. I?ve toyed with the idea of reading it aloud to her, we did that with Harry Potter and she really loved it, but she's only five and Cluny the Scourge can be a bit terrifying.

All the characters in this book are beautifully drawn and seem awfully real. Cluny is "an evil rat with ragged fur and curved jagged teeth. He wore a black eyepatch; his eye had been torn out in a battle with a pike."

"Cluny was a bilge rat; the biggest, most savage rodent that ever jumped from ship to shore. He was black, with grey and pink scars all over his huge, sleek body, from the tip of his wet nose, up past his green and yellow slitted eye, across both his mean and tattered ears, down the length of his heavy vermin-ridden back to the enormous whip-like tail which had earned him his title: Cluny the Scourge!" Yuk!

For Matthias, the story is a rite of passage, a journey into adulthood, as he changes from gangling young novice into a confident and brave warrior.

There are other marvellous characters too: Basil Stag Hare, an awfully British Army type; Constance the badger, huge and brave and cunning; Warbeak the sparrow queen who brings about an alliance between the warlike sparrows and the mice of Redwall; Squire Gingivere the vegetarian cat; Asmodeus the evil
adder, and the Democratic Union of Shrews, who make every decision by committee and, as you would expect from shrews, argue constantly.

And acting as a backdrop for them all, the most stunning character in the book - the Abbey of Redwall itself and the surrounding Mossflower woods.

"Mossflower country shimmered gently in a peaceful haze, bathing delicately at each dew-laden dawn, blossoming through high sunny noontides, languishing in each crimson-tinted twilight that heralded the soft darkness of June nights.

"Redwall from above resembled some fabulous dusky jewel, fallen between a green mantle of light silk an dark velvet."

Redwall means sanctuary for any creature which finds itself hurt, or sick, lost or hungry, and the Monks devote their lives to helping any creature in need.

Doesn't that sound like something worth fighting an almighty battle to defend? I think so. In fact, the ethos of Redwall reminded me a little of Medicins Sans Frontiers, the current beneficiary of the Forcharity account, so I thought this would be a fitting opinion to write for it.

There is none of the moral ambiguity that seems to be so prevalent in a lot of children's fiction and television programming these days. There is good, and there is evil. I like Jacques' kind of morality. I want my child to remain a child for a while. There's time enough for her to learn about shades of grey when she is older.

Ohhh, do I sound like an overprotective Mummy here? Well, I make no apologies. I am. We don't allow Tracey Beaker in our house - I don't like her. A rude, obnoxious little baggage with no respect, she is! We like positive role models in our house. We like Noel Streatfield and Enid Blyton. And Brian Jacques.

So, I would absolutely recommend Redwall to kids and adults alike. It's a wonderful book. The juxtaposition of the pastoral serenity of Redwall Abbey and the gri
tty realism of the battles make for exciting reading.

Yes, it is an uncomplicated tale for an adult reader, but one that benefits from the pure quality of its telling.

When writing of the good creatures of Mossflower and the Abbey, Jacques' writing has a lyrical quality that makes you feel like you are lying in the sun and enjoying the landscape yourself. And his baddies are the worst mob of wicked chancers and evil, self-serving turncoats you could ever be unfortunate enough to meet.

Don't write this off purely as a children's book. Redwall is a true tale of the fight of good against evil. Heroes and villains. White hats and black hats. Champions and challengers. It's wonderful. Read it!

Redwall is available in paperback from Amazon at £5.99, ISBN 0099512009.

Allie xx

[This opinion was donated to the FORCHARITY account by ajools. To read more about this initiative go to the FORCHARITY profile page where all will be explained!]

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