The Bellmaker (Redwall)

Fun, like most of the Redwall books. A bit scattered, since for most of the book we're dealing with 3-5 groups doing different things at (approximately) the same time - it actually gets the most unfocused just before the climactic battle, with Mariel in one place, Dandin in another, Joseph and the

Show More

rescuers coming up, the Southsward group recruiting for battle, the villains making their plots...and a few pages back in peaceful Redwall, wondering what the adventurers are up to and dealing with their own adventure. Interesting variants on culture, from the Marshtoads to Southsward to Egbert the Scholar (who is a cultural rebel, though he can fall back into molespeech as necessary). Oh, and the Butcherbird, too. Ridiculous amounts of luck throughout most of the story, as the heroes run into and safely out of extreme danger (the Hole in the Sea, the flying mast, imprisoned by the hordebeasts...), and only evil creatures (and most of them spearcarriers) die. But the final battle is final for several of our friends, and there's even a violent death in Redwall (two, but one falls under "evil creature"). I was reading casually, and intermittently, for most of the book - but the climax made me late for an appointment, I had to finish it. The frame, and the revelation of who the squirrel and hedgehog were, was amusing. Good story - not deep (if I start going deep, the inherent prejudice against carnivores gets unpleasant), but fun on its own level.

Show Less