05-09-2005, 06:53 PM | #101 | ||
Co-President of Entmoot
Super Moderator Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Canada
Posts: 8,397
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Nice bump Rakkety.
I really like the Redwall series, and it is a very detailed world, which is cool. I especially enjoy the books about badgers, and the earlier history. My favourite part in Mattimeo is when they find the ruins of Loamhenge (IIRC). I also enjoy the Badgers and the hilarious Rabbits quite a bit. Brian Jaques also writes dialect very well; dialect normally annoys me but I find his adds flavour to the characters. I also love the feasts. I really want a meadowcream tart with strawberries. Mmm... I have few complaints with the series. Minor: the excessively cute dibbuns and their excessively cute antics, being indulged by matronly nurses. (Fortunately it doesn't happen very much, and isn't central to the plot). Also, the heroes solve complex puzzles and riddles just a little to easily IMO. (Though I really like the puzzles and riddles he writes. They are interesting plot devices, even though he uses this multiple times.) Major: The abuse of anthropomorphism. I don't mind that all the animals talk, build stone abbeys, etc. but dividing animals into good and evil based on their species annoys me to no end. That and the fact that each book has more or less the same plot, are the only things that keep me from ravenously reading the entire series multiple times. These are extremely well-written books, but why is it that rats, stoats, weasles and foxes are evil, while squirrels, mice, voles, shrews, rabbits, and badgers are good? (It's also slightly odd that they're all about the same size - at least to the degree that badgers and mice are happy living in the same building together. But I'm happy to overlook that.) I mean really, what did a stoat or a rat ever do to you Mr. Jaques? It just seems unfair and arbitrary, and the stereotyping of each species (including the "good" ones, like shrews) is dull and irritating IMO. I am not fond of the idea that just because someone was born a rat, they are inclined to being lazy, evil, and dishonest, and just because someone was born a squirrel, they are inclined to being athletic, kind, honest, and brave. The worst example of this was the young otter lad who was raised by pirates or something and turned out to be a decent, honest, and fairly well-adjusted chap. Um... how? (I think it was "The Pearls of Lutra", which was an exceedingly cool book aside from my one gripe.) Well, enough of my rantage. They are great books, despite the boring stereotypes, and are very fun to read.
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05-09-2005, 10:52 PM | #102 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: The Internet
Posts: 803
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There was at least one good rat in the series. Didn't he make boats or something at the end? Sorry, haven't read them for a while.
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05-12-2005, 06:30 PM | #103 | |
Sapling
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 13
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Is this the rat you were talking about? |
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05-12-2005, 06:40 PM | #104 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: The Internet
Posts: 803
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I think so. It is kind of weird though how some species are good and some evil. I know lots of people who really like having rats as pets.
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05-12-2005, 08:04 PM | #105 |
Sapling
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 13
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I'm writing a Redwall Fan Fiction, and my gf's editing for it. I've also gotten a Redwall Messege Board up, but Narinya and myself are the only two members.
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05-14-2005, 04:30 PM | #106 | |
The Chocoholic Sea Elf Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: N?n in Eilph (Belgium)
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So far the only Redwall-book I've read is Marlfox that I picked up at a cheap book fair. I liked it, it's pleasant to read without appearing childish. And it has some very distinct, well-established characters that keep you interested. It gave the idea that the world is much larger than the bits that are covered in the book, which is something that definitely adds to the story. Of course, at that point I had no idea there were so many books.
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05-15-2005, 06:53 AM | #107 |
Warrior of the House of Hador
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 4,651
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I've read all of them apart from the last two. My favourite is probably Taggerung, I mean how cool are the otters
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Then Huor spoke and said: "Yet if it stands but a little while, then out of your house shall come the hope of Elves and Men. This I say to you, lord, with the eyes of death: though we part here for ever, and I shall not look on your white walls again, from you and me a new star shall arise. Farewell!" The Silmarillion, Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Page 230 |
05-15-2005, 10:13 AM | #108 |
Sapling
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 13
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Not as cool as squirrels, J/K, but, serisouly, I love squirrels.
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08-27-2005, 04:12 PM | #109 | |
Fenway Ranger, Lord of Red Sox Nation
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: College!
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Quote:
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Adventure...betrayal...heroism... Atharon: where heroes are born. My wife once said to me—when I'd been writing for ten or fifteen years—that I could always go back to being a nuclear engineer. And I said to her, 'Harriet, would you let someone who quit his job to go write fantasy anywhere near your nuclear reactor? I wouldn't!' (Robert Jordan) |
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10-05-2005, 12:28 PM | #110 |
Sapling
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 1
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[EDITED] No advertising is allowed outside the advertising thread.
Last edited by Earniel : 10-05-2005 at 06:03 PM. |
05-23-2009, 12:15 PM | #111 |
Enting
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: the two rivers
Posts: 57
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I like Mossflower,Mariel of redwall, The Pearls of Lutra..oh I like them all! I haven't read them all though. I read Doomwyte the most recent. I actually sent a letter and a picture, I drew, to brian Jacques and I got a letter back, with a lot of other cool things.
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