A Mild Endorsement for the Novel; Enthusiastic for the Author

Mossflower by Brian Jacques
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I read Redwall, I was very charmed. I liked it enough I bought all the books as they came available. But I never got into Mossflower, and that stopped me from reading any of the others. (They all went to school with me, sitting on the shelves in my class library, and though they got handled some, none got much attention from my students.)

Literally decades later, I decided to persevere, and I finally read Mossflower. I'll say I liked it, but not much, and not nearly as much as I liked Redwall.

Some of this novel is still very sweet, some of it entertaining, and I like many of the characters--Gonff especially, and the rabbits--but the plot is, for me, too drawn out. So many events seem redundant, the action flat, when I remember finding Redwall very engaging, very entertaining. (And I am sympathetic to books written for all ages, just as a natural interest, but also as a long-time English teacher.) I see others really liked this and remember it fondly. It didn't strike me that way.

I am, however, encouraged to read some of the others, especially after the last handful of pages in this one. Those pages, set years after the action in the novel, have the tone I remember from Redwall, and maybe the later books resemble that more.

Fingers crossed.

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