Friday, July 15, 2011
Redwall-Section 3
The intensity heightens, Matthias makes a dangerous gamble, and meanwhile Cluny resorts to underhanded means to get a foothold in the Abbey...the final section of the book is action-packed and has a bit more graphic description of battle scenes than most would expect of a book often marketed to children. Thoughts on the battle descriptions and the give and take of the Abbey-dwellers and the vermin? For being peaceful creatures, the Redwallers come up with some rather frightening schemes for stopping Cluny...from a giant crossbow to boiling water. Thoughts on the fact that Jacques isn't afraid to let characters die, such as old Methuselah and the Abbot? Thoughts on the book in general?
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2 comments:
I'm not entirely surprised that Jacques is ok with letting characters die. That's a sign of a good author, I think. but at the same time, can't just kill them for the sheer fun of it. Its sad, but it also highlights the fact that no side gets through without a scratch.
I am rather surprised at how a bunch of peaceful mice (and others) set up some cunningly merciless traps. The crossbow wasn't too much a surprise, if only because its a bit of a natural step from the bows they were using, and cutting off the head of the snake is generally a good idea. But the bees? Well...good thinking, heh.
The boiling water though? That surprised me. I mean, I figured it would've been used on the guys with teh battering ram, but down there...that has to be a hellish way to die, under mud and boiling water.
I rather liked how Matthias was able to gather so many allies. The Sparrows, Captain Snow and that cat whose name escapes me at the moment, and those silly shrews...he really is Martin the Warrior reborn, heh.
All in all, I enjoyed myself. It was more mature than I expected, but at the same time, like I've said, refreshingly simple. Good and bad, even when one character, Chickenhound, seemed to be going good, he ended up bad and killed Methuselah. So in the end, no gray, just good and bad.
Oh, and Mattimeo? That's...an odd name, really, haha.
The story shows the maturity of the author when it allows a character to be able to win with the support of allies rather than relying solely on their own resources. However, there is no doubt as to who the protagonist is.
As much as I enjoyed the book, I'm not going to jump into any other books in the series. I can see how some kids can get immersed in the stories but it's not really my genre.
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