#there's genuinely only a few books in the series that I'm meh about though | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

taleweaver-ramblings · 9 months

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In the tags on the Mossflower post you reblogged you said that it wasn't your favorite (like it seemed to be op's). Which would you say Is your favorite 👀

This is a very hard question, and my Great Redwall Reread of a few years ago actually made it harder. It is, to be frank, easier to tell you my least favorite than my favorite. But if I must make some choice, it's a five-way tie between Lord Brocktree, High Rhulain, Rakkety Tam, Pearls of Lutra, and Mattimeo.

Lord Brocktree has the fabulous dynamic between the main characters (especially Brocktree and Dotti), Bucko's challenges, pretty much EVERYTHING with the hares, a stellar example of rivals-to-friends, and a pretty epic ending.

High Rhulain, Pearls of Lutra, and Mattimeo all have the riddles/treasure hunt thing going on, which I will never not love. As far as I was concerned, that was a plotline Jacques could repeat as many times as he wanted and I'd be happy.

High Rhulain is probably also a major source of my love of the "young person has nobility unexpectedly thrust upon them; must figure out How Does One Royal?" trope. And it has both hares and otters (my two favorite Redwall races) in major roles! This makes me happy.

Pearls of Lutra is actually my favorite of the treasure-hunt plots, and I think it's the best of the seafaring Redwall books. It's still in the era where we're seeing the overlap of different generations, and we see the young characters from past books grown up, and I really enjoyed that while it lasted. It also has one of the best sympathetic villain characters in the series . . . and I just like Grath Longfletch as a character, what can I say?

Rakkety Tam is Scottish squirrels. Enough said.

(Ok, but actually you have Scottish squirrels, plus the Long Patrol, plus Tergen (who is Excellent), plus a really cute romance? I also love the poems that bracket the different sections. And can we TALK about the final battle? It is arguably the MOST impressive fight, at least in terms of power imbalance, since Martin vs. Tsarmina in Mossflower. Rakkety Tam takes on the evil equivalent of a badger. And WINS. Literally the only reason this is not hands-down my favorite book is the existence of Yoofus, who annoys me so much.)

Finally, Mattimeo really just has almost everything I love about the Redwall series, both the A and B plots are excellent, and it's another one of the stories where you get to see some of the next generation. And it has the Sparra in it — I was so sad when Jacques dropped them from the narrative.

So, yes. Those are probably my favorites. I do love a lot of the series, though, so it's very hard to choose! And I recognize that not all of these have the Significance or Weight of Mossflower, and some of them may be technically weaker books . . . but they're the ones I've loved since the first time I read the series, and that I've only come to love more in the times I've reread them.

#taleweaver answers #asks answered #firefletch #redwall #marlfox + mariel + bellmaker + long patrol + mossflower + triss all nearly made the list #there's genuinely only a few books in the series that I'm meh about though #(those being outcast + salamandastron + eulalia)

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