Review: Redwall

Redwall by Brian Jacques
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Month Read In: February 2022

Challenge: 

N/A

Methodology: Audiobook read by Full Cast Audio, via Library on Libby

Genre- Fantasy: Low Fantasy

Although this is the first book in the series, it is not the first Redwall novel I've ever read (Mariel of Redwall as a preteen). As such, I'm familiar with Brian Jacques world and process. Animal society acting like humans in a sword fantasy? Sign me up. It jumps right in without letting the reader get their feet wet in the lore, choosing instead to drop kernels of it throughout in more manageable morsels. I listened to a full cast audio production with Jacques himself narrating. You know the pronunciation is correct when the author himself is saying the words. The characters by sheer volume can be overwhelming, but you get a sense of who they are by their actions. The world building and atmosphere is difficult to get around without maps with an audiobook, but the writing and plot make it so this is not necessary in the grand scheme. All in all I rated characters as a 7.5, atmosphere as a 7, writing got a 9 while plot was an 8. Intrigue was lower at 6 because it took me longer to get through because I just didn't want to always spend time with the characters. The logic being what it is in fantasy got an 8.5 and my overall enjoyment was a 7. Using CAWPILE, that gets us to 4 stars for this read.

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