Loamhedge

Brian Jacques' Redwall books were a staple of my childhood reading and I remember hauling home three or four at a time from the library. It little mattered that the stories all shared the same basic plot and character types; they were adventurous and fun—and thick, to boot. While these stories were never quite favorites, I spent many hours with the entertaining inhabitants of Redwall Abbey. So I was looking forward to revisiting them through the full-cast audiobook recording, narrated by the author.

Unfortunately, the experience was not a success. I only made it through two discs (of twelve) before setting this aside. First off, the story takes forever to get going. We are introduced at great length to the latest set of Redwall show more dwellers and the vermin horde headed their way. The vermin horde undergoes no fewer than three changes in leadership (due to assassination) in the space of those two discs, and it gets a bit monotonous after awhile. And the Redwallers were more cutesy and juvenile than I remembered.

Plus, there are technical issues with the recording and the way Jacques narrates. Ordinarily I love the idea of an author narrating his own book, but Jacques sounds like he has a cold and his accent comes across as sloppy and indistinct, sometimes to the point where I had trouble understanding him. This is especially noticeable in the way he pronounces the ends of words; he half-swallows them. And I'm not sure where this was recorded, but there is an awful tinny sound on many of the voices, like they were recorded in a can. In addition, occasionally the audio spikes into distortion when the characters raise their voices. It was annoying to listen to. I probably wouldn't have cared if I listened to these as a kid, but I've picked up some niceties with my years and apparently a clean, clear recording is one of them.

I wonder if I would enjoy Redwall more if I revisited in print rather than audio. The plodding pace of nothing happening would be alleviated, the technical issues of the recording would be non-existent, and the repetitious characters and plots may be less noticeable. I'm reluctant to give up on my childhood reading pleasures so easily, and anyways I've been collecting quite a number of Redwall books over the years. No particular book of the series stands out in my memory; perhaps a fan can advise me as to one of the stronger titles. Ah well. show less

Loamhedge, the deserted Abbey, has been forgotten for countless seasons. What secrets do its ruins hold? When it becomes clear that wheelchair-bound Martha might be cured by a formula buried there, two old warriors are inspired by the spirit of Martin the Warrior himself to go on a quest for the ancient Abbey and three young rebels are determined to go with them. Meanwhile. the giant badger Lonna Bowstripe thirsts for vengeance as he relentlessly pursues Raga Bol and his murdering crew of Searats...who are on their way to attack Redwall itself. The valiant Abbeybeasts must defend their home, but how can they, when their boldest warriors are away on their quest? Will Redwall fall to vermin invaders at last?

I first read the Redwall books years ago and I still enjoy them when I recently re-read them. I love the world building and the creativity with which these animals were anthropomorphized. The level of description is really well done and very detailed. So adventurous and so very entertaining.

In this book there are lots of parts, In the first part there's this badger Lonna Bowstripe. His foster father got killed in a battle with Raga Bol the searat captain so he vows to kill all searats in his crew . In the other part of the story is about a vermin gang. They go looking for Redwall Abbey for a magic sword, the sword of Martin the warrior ! But the Abbeybeasts won't let them in.The third Part of the story is of the defenders of Redwall .The main character in the Abbey is Martha a Haremaid who cannot walk. The fourth part of the story is about the quest for the cure for martha. The Main characters are a squirrel and an otter Bragoon and Saro. The final and fifth part of the story is about Raga Bol and how he is trying to flee show more from the badger Lonna. All parts lead to Redwall Abbey.

The book was amazing ! I cant believe the overall rating was a 3.68! This book was just right for me.
It had tons of action and fighting. The story was awesome as well.I love these books .I hope you do to. show less

While Martha of Redwall has never been able to walk she finally finds a way to obtain the power she has never known. This will not come easily. Unfortunately she can't undertake the journey. Martin tells several others to set out for her on a life changing experience through brutal deserts and fatal traps of nature on the same path traveled in Mattimeo.

I enjoyed the journey, but had a tendancy to want to skim over descriptions in this story for some reason.

I enjoyed the journey, but had a tendancy to want to skim over descriptions in this story for some reason.