Redwall

The Redwall series was one of my favorites when I was younger. I basically inhaled these books in middle school, trading them back and forth with my best friend and reading them sprawled in chairs at my house or hers. We were completely captivated by this world and the rodents and small mammals, both noble and treacherous, who inhabited it. There was always another fight between the forces of good and evil, another quest to go on, another new friend to make.

I'm pleased to say that this book basically holds up to my memory of it. It's a bit simplistic, things are a bit easier for Matthias than I was expecting, but that's alright. This is a book for children. It's a classic hero's journey. The good guys are all stalwart and true. The bad guys are easily identified. Everyone lives happily ever after. You have to believe in the lie when you're a kid. And it was fun to revisit it as an adult.

My favorite part of this book was the extended quest with riddles that Matthias and Methuselah must solve to find Martin's sword. I was surprised that it ended up being a fairly short part of the book, but it also makes sense. The riddle isn't all that hard to solve, and it would have been frustrating if it had taken the characters too long.

The thing I didn't expect was that gender parity. Sure, the bad guys are pretty much all male. But the good guys are almost evenly split. There's a warrior queen, a brilliant tactician, an impossibly strong fighter. There's even a scene where I was convinced that Matthias' love interest was about to be taken hostage and instead she single-handedly saves the day. It was amazing.

I may have to go back and read the rest of this series. I never finished it, since it was still being published when I started high school and outgrew the series. But it just might be worth it to finish it off now. Or at least grab up Mossflower and Martin the Warrior and a few other old favorites.

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