Summary Mariel of Redwall (Redwall, #4)
Brian Jacques is the New York Times best-selling author of Mattimeo and Mossflower. In Mariel of Redwall, he tells the tale of two mice, Joseph the Bellmaker and his daughter Mariel, who are separated when the rat pirate king, Gabool the Wild, raids their ship. Mariel vows to find her father and recover the prized bell Gabool stole from their treasure. Mariel of Redwall (Redwall, #4)
Brian Jacques is one of my favourite children's authors. He is sadly missed. Mariel of Redwall (Redwall, #4) This was a fun read that was a buddy read with @Leila over there on the other side of the pond in England. This is one of the beautiful things about Goodreads. To have a friend to relate and learn from. Without Leila's suggestion to read this I would have never picked it up on my own so THANK YOU so much.
This was an adventurous story of a land called Redwall. The protagonist is a young, heroic mouse called Mariel. On losing her memory she meets wonderful critters at the Abbey that help her and her memories come back. She must save Redwall from the Searats. She is fierce and energetic and strong. She does not take crap from any living creature.
The searats are miserable, nasty pirates that kill for the thrill and power over the small and innocent. They have machismo and try to outsmart one another.
While I was reading this I imagined the movie cartoon version where Johnny Depth plays Gabool, the worst villain the sea has ever met. It was critter 'Pirates of the Caribbean.' Very fun YA. So full of imagination and friendship and revenge. Mariel of Redwall (Redwall, #4) I have read this book before, but it still enchants me. This was the first Redwall book that I ever picked up. I had heard that it was about mice, and I didn't want to read it. Then one day, I was soooooo bored that I picked it up and was enthralled, but was reprimanded for reading this one first, and so I took Redwall out from the library. It got better and better. I love these books. :)This is about Mariel and how she hunts down Gabool the Wild, in return for his imprisoning her and her father. Brian Jaques comes up with the coolest riddles! Mariel of Redwall (Redwall, #4) Actual rating: 3.5 stars
Redwall Abbey is always a wonderfully cozy place to revisit, no matter the plight facing its inhabitants. However, I have to confess that those plights are beginning to blur together in my mind, because each book is so formulaic. Almost without fail, the Abbey will be under some sort of siege by unsavory characters looking to enslave those within its walls and steal their home and resources. As this occurs, those most warrior-like from the Abbey are off on a quest far from home to defeat someone or win back an item that in some way correlates to the happenings back home in Mossflower forest and Redwall. And this tends to be under the guidance of the spirit of Martin the Warrior. Do I have any problem with this plot line? Not at all. But I have to admit that it’s becoming a tad redundant this many volumes into the series.
One thing I did really appreciate about this book as compared to those preceding it was the fact that the titular hero was a female. Mariel is brave and fierce and feisty and determined and terrifically skilled with a weapon for one untrained. I found her journey an interesting and intense one to witness. But there were a couple of things about this installment in particular that bugged me. First of all, I found the central villain fairly unbelievable. His level of obsession with this bell, to the point of no longer sleeping and then falling prey to madness, made no sense to me. He went from sly to completely mental over the course of a scant few chapters, and it simply didn’t feel believable to me. Even in a story about anthropomorphic animals running an Abbey and waging wars, this bell-induced insanity was where my skepticism couldn’t be kept at bay. There’s also a place near the end of the book where a couple of creatures fight over who has the right to kill another character. This is such a stupid discussion to me, whenever I happen to see it in media. Who cares who can claim the kill, as long as the beast in question is put down in the end? It’s utterly nonsensical and baffles me any time I come across it.
I might’ve had qualms with this volume, but I still enjoyed the story and the setting. And, of course, the food. Jacques wrote food descriptions like no one else I’ve ever read, and they never fail to make me hungry for things I’m pretty sure would actually be vile in real life. I also love knowing that everything is going to work out all right in the end, which makes this series perfect for children just getting into fantasy and adults looking for something cozy and nostalgic to provide a brief escape from the darker world of most adult fantasy fiction. Even if this wasn’t a perfect book, it was a fun one, and I’ll definitely be continuing on with the series. Mariel of Redwall (Redwall, #4) Notable for the sheer scope of action and swashbuckling adventure, plus the introduction of Mariel and her father Joseph the Bellmaker. Even separated, believing one another to be dead, their wills to survive and their resourcefulness and ambition to do as much as they can to fight back against evil made this book and its sequel, The Bellmaker, two of Redwall's best installments. Mariel of Redwall (Redwall, #4)
rip brian jacques. So tough to choose a favorite from the Brian Jacques vault. While I am delighted to discover that there are yet a few books in the Redwall series that I haven't read, it saddens me to know that I'll never get to be a child eagerly awaiting the newest release in an ongoing saga of Martin the warrior and the peace-loving woodland inhabitants of the abbey. I no longer have the letter Mr. Jacques wrote in response to a third grade assignment in which I had to write 5 fanmail letters to celebrities (the other most famous people I could think of at the time and admired were Jim Davis, author of Garfield, and Charles Schultz, who I was devastated to learn was already dead.), but now as I am reminded of Mr. Jacques passage I believe that a more tenderhearted man never existed. I really think this series helped to indoctrinate me in the beliefs that good will always win over evil, and that even the most diminutive creatures can be heroes/heroines. I think Mariel is my favorite, because she's tough as nails and basically embodies all of the qualities I admire in a heroine despite the fact that she's a mouse. It's been at least a decade since I read this book, but I suppose my purview in writing this review is really to pay homage to Mr. Brian Jacques for providing me with some of the most valuable literary experiences I had as a child. Thanks and RIP Mariel of Redwall (Redwall, #4) This was another entertaining and endearing read from the Redwall series. Mariel of Redwall was one of the prequel stories to the first titular book of the series, and provided more history to the Redwall Abbey that we've come to known and love. Mariel as the eponymous character of the book was very easy to like, as was the case with most of the main characters of each title so far. There's really nothing new that I can say given that the stories are fairly formulaic (well, these are children's stories after all) but it's a formula that works and one which I really enjoy. Mariel of Redwall (Redwall, #4) 5 stars. Have I been binging Redwall? Why, yes. Have I wandered all over the chronological and published order? Well, rather. Am I still infatuated? Entirely.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the most similar books in the series are 1, 2, & 3—which still aren’t super similar to be honest. The rest are very different. This book, however, still had the traditional Redwall under attack angle, which I enjoyed. Our other setting was Terramort, the isle where Gabool the terrible has made his headquarters with his searats.
Mariel was honestly not my favourite character, either here or in other books. She doesn’t do much but whack stuff. She’s not super funny or sweet, like most other characters, and instead is a very serious, very dutiful, and very warring mousemaid. I felt she didn’t have much personality. However, she had an interesting storyline, so I didn’t care too much about how little I was interested in her. The rabbits—I beg their pardons, the hares—were a hoot and a half, as usual, but still varied! Tarquin was all fool (quite fun of course); and Rosie was an interesting mixture of warrior and dizzy haremaid; but Col. Clary and Brig. Thyme were absolute heroes and I am still not over their story!!! Rawnblade I remember nothing about; clearly he had no striking character marks to make him stand out here or among the other badgers. Dandin was also not a very original character but I liked him, and Durry was super cute (idk, he’s a hedgehog, ok?). I loved all the Dibbuns and other Redwall characters, even if I did get them a bit mixed up. Mother Mellus was delightful and Pakatugg was the crazy redneck paranoid guy that struck me as really comedic somehow. Simeon was a dear old soul, and Oak Tom is strangely fascinating?? Finally, the main searats had enough personality to stand apart and were the usual hilariously blundering but still scary villains, and Gabool was wild and quite terrifying—I know I say it every time about every villain, but it’s true.
I really loved the sea-bound atmosphere of the book! It was quite an enjoyable romp on the high seas, in my opinion. Mariel, Dandin, Durry, and Co.’s journey was reminiscent of other books as well, but still different enough. The underground revolution was an unexpected but really fun stroke; and also that Redwall siege was more anxiety-inducing to me than usual somehow… and amazing…
Overall, it’s been a bit too long since I read the book and I’m a jumbled mess of all the other Redwall stories right now, so forgive my helter-skelter and perhaps slightly inaccurate review, and just know that this was a great book and a lovely addition to the series and I highly enjoyed it.
*Content list & quotes to come* Mariel of Redwall (Redwall, #4) This felt very different in tone than the other Redwall books I've read so far, but I still enjoyed the adventures, especially the piratey-sea aspect. Getting to tie in parts of Mossflower to Redwall was very enjoyable. Tarquin reminded me so much of my own bunny. I loved him! Mariel of Redwall (Redwall, #4)
Draw close, now, little woodlander.
Take this to sleep with you:
My tale of dusty, far-off times,
When warrior hearts were true.
brb sobbing over the way this audiobook impacted Baby Olivia's story sense and the sheer amount of love I have for it now and always Mariel of Redwall (Redwall, #4)
