Mid-Reading Thoughts and a Slight Rant on Martin the Warrior (Redwall #6) by Brian Jacques

Let me just get the small rant out of the way first, seeing as I would like to move on to my thoughts about this book (which, by the way, is quite good):

Why would anyone put this on the back of the book...

...if Martin the Warrior is not, in fact, the first book in the series? The first one happens to be Redwall, which is listed as the seventh book on the back of Martin the Warrior. The annoying thing is, I not only own Redwall but had a sneaking suspicion that it was, because of its title, probably the first one in the series. I get that, listed the way that they are here, they follow a more chronological order in terms of the story itself (Martin the Warrior happened before Redwall Abbey was built, apparently), but Redwall was the first to be published. Isn't it better for people coming to the series decades after it was first published to read the books in the same order they were read by the first people to pick it up? Isn't it weird for new readers to read the series differently? I suppose I understand why this new order is provided, considering that it is a children's series and it might make more sense to children if they read the stories in the order that they "happened" as opposed to the order in which they were published, but the reader in me feels slightly sinful now that it knows it's reading books "out of order" in terms of publication. Now, with the semi-rant out of the way, on to the mid-reading evaluation of Martin the Warrior!

So far, I'm really enjoying the book. I love the concept of anthropomorphic animals, and putting them in a forest/wilderness setting (another thing I like), giving them swords (woo!), and making the protagonists kind and chivalrous (yes!) pretty much hands this series a full basket of things that would make me like it. The setting is lovely and takes the characters to a variety of different environments, from beaches to caves and marshes to forests, all nicely described so that the reader can easily imagine them. The dialogue is good and I love that the author uses different dialects for different kinds of beasts. Corsairs don't speak the same English as polite company does, and some animals, like moles, have their own ways of speaking that make it easy for the reader to hear an accent in his/her head. It reminds me of a parent making up different voices for each character when reading out loud to a child, and it's very charming.

That said, the forests of apostrophes that spring up every time one of these dialects is used sometimes make reading a bit slow going ("'asten," for "hasten," had me stuck for a moment), and I can imagine that they would trip up and discourage a child who isn't an especially strong reader (how many children know the word "hasten?"), even if he/she is enchanted by the Redwall universe. It would be a real shame if a child got turned off of these books just because some of the dialogue is a bit difficult to read.

Another thing that occasionally gets on my nerves is the characters' tendency to blindly trust one another. In some cases--particularly in the case of the villains, Badrang and Clogg--the characters are rightfully wary of one another and tread carefully, but, most of the time, the "good" characters seem to assume that everyone they meet on their journey is also a "good" character. I couldn't believe it when two of the main characters just spilled their guts to some animals they had run into after getting separated from their friends. How do you know you can trust them? What if they're unsavoury folks who will tie you up and ransom you to Badrang? Without giving too much away, let me just say that these particular two characters should really have known better and been well aware that not everyone (or "everybeast," as they would say) is a good guy, given their previous living situation. Even for a children's book, the characters seem a touch naive from time to time.

One last semi-criticism (I call it a semi-criticism because it's more something wrong with my brain than something wrong with the book itself): I find the scale of the Redwall world a little hard to picture at times. Foxes and mice having conversations and living in the same quarters... are the buildings too small for the foxes or too big for the mice? How can a stoat (weighing about 200g) fight a fox (5kg) and win? The fox is more than 20 times heavier! I mean, yes, okay, they're talking animals, so I can suspend my disbelief a bit when it comes to something like size, but it just makes things hard to imagine if you start thinking about the relative sizes of some of the animals too much.

Returning to the positive, there is one thing that anyone considering reading Martin the Warrior (or, to my understanding, any other Redwall book) should know: do not read these books if you are hungry! Oh, goodness, the food. Nobeast, not even lost travellers, goes hungry for long in the world of Redwall. They feast, and they feast, and they... well, you know the rest. The descriptions of all the wonderful food, from scones and cakes to wines and beers (oh, yes, they talk about alcohol--that's something to think about if you're intending to read this with a child and you're sensitive about that kind of thing), are enough to make anyone's stomach growl.

Overall, Martin the Warrior is an enchanting read so far, and I can see how it's a beloved children's series. Attention to little details, like the accents that some characters have and the descriptions of all the different foods that the characters enjoy, are really making this a pleasant read for me. The journey so far has been interesting, and I can't wait to see where and how it's going to end. I desperately want the main characters to get to Noonvale, their intended destination, just because it sounds so beautiful, but I don't know... halfway through and there's still no promise that they're going to make it. The suspense!