I chose this as our family audiobook for the month in order to connect with my eldest who is deeply immersed in the world of Redwall and wanted his Dad and siblings to understand what he was enjoying. Although my tastes have shifted since I read the first book as a child and the endless small animal combat was tiresome to me this time around, the audiobooks of this series (executively produced by Brian Jacques) are excellent. Especially because of his work with blind children Jacques was very in...

What can I say? It's a Redwall book. It's excellent. It was weird getting thrown back to the days before the first Redwall story, but I greatly enjoyed reading it and getting to meet all the new characters and go on their adventures with them. The beautiful thing about these stories that you rarely find nowadays is the beautiful, pure simplicity and joy that are in these books. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, and the differences are clearly shown. Plus, the adventurers and descript...

5+ stars (7/10 hearts). Okay, I love this series. This book is all about the Redwall’s land/forest before Redwall existed, and how Martin the Warrior and his friends freed Mosswood and Redwall was built. <3 I was worried I wouldn’t love this much as I loved Redwall, but that proved a groundless fear. The setting was similar to Redwall (how surprising!) but it focussed mostly on the forest, with the Mossflower folk in hiding, and the fortress of Kotir, with the enemy horde, so it was a tot...

Once again, this is a children's book, while I am far, far away from my childhood...Just finished Redwall#2, and it was adorable! I liked it just as much as the first book, but I thought the author is a bit too bloodthirsty for such young audience. Loved the characters, including some of the ones on the wrong side of the conflict. The story is a bit better structured than the first one and if you are listening to the audio, the songs of the poet are an absolute treat!!! I am so glad I got to rea...

For this Redwall prequel, I decided to get the audio version on mp3 to listen to during my daily walks. What I didn't realize until I started listening was that there is so. much. singing. What is it with fantasy novels (featuring animals or humans) that requires so much fucking singing? Remember The Hobbit? SO MUCH SINGING.And while it's rough enough at times to read all the songs, it's worse having to listen to it. There was a lot of eye rolling as I walked, let me just say.Before the abbey of...

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Update (2018-05-10):
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This book is still very nice, but also rather longer than I thought…

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original review
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This book is massively well done and, as such, is wonderfully enjoyable. The plot was fun, the characters most hilarious, and the setting was… you know, a setting. There is naught to define the absolute goodness of a setting that I can think of in my current unenlightened state, but it worked well with the other aspects of the book.

Picture the scene, if you will. Here's your erstwhile reviewer, aged twenty-four and about to have her first tooth removed. Gifted with three hours to kill before the dental happening, she sets off in search of vittles and something new to read, having been stuck in the waiting room so long she's already made it through the two books she brought with her. Lo, she went a wandering in W H Smith's and her gaze chanced upon Mossflower, the first and greatest of her Redwall loves, her favourite child...

July 2006 Review:The second book in the Redwall series, Mossflower provides much of the backstory for that novel, recording Martin the Warrior's time spent in Mossflower wood and his battle to free the natives from the tyrannical rule of Tsarmina the wildcat. This text shows remarkable improvement, both in style and in setting, from Redwall and even now remains one of the best books in the series. Martin is a true hero and an enjoyable protagonist, both supporting characters and villains are wel...

I love the Redwall books written by the late and sadly missed Brian Jacques.'Mossflower' is a wonderful and magical book among the many he wrote about Redwall. The novel begins with Bella the Badger telling of the plight of the creatures of Mossflower Wood many years ago before Redwall Abbey was built. They were oppressed by the evil Tsarmina the wildcat and her father. The young mouse Martin strayed into the wildcat’s territory and was imprisoned. Many twists and turns follow in the ensuing adv...

If you asked me to pick a single favorite Redwall book, I'd probably splutter at you a lot and then mutter 'Mariel, if I have to pick just one'; but if you asked me for a list of my top 5, Mossflower would definitely be on it. Early on, before I'd read the rest of the series, it was far-and-away my favorite - for the interwoven quest and siege plots (two of my favorite fantasy structures, tropey as they can be, likely because of Redwall books), for the humor, and for the absolutely glorious take...