On This Page
Description
When three young residents of Redwall Abbey go on a quest to recover a tapestry stolen by the Marlfoxes, their bravery removes the curse of these evil animals on a lost island.Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Not bad - at the beginning it was a little too cutesy, especially with the stupid hare and spoiled-brat mousebabe, but as the adventure developed it settled down (and I could skim where the hare was being stupid). Like all the Redwall books, it's obsessed with food, and has a simplistic set of villains (carnivore=bad guy! fox=treacherous!). But nice setting(s), interesting adventure (chasing after the tapestry - who wove that, anyway?), and lots of connections to the other Redwall books. Badgermum Cregga, who used to be Cregga Rose-eyes; the villains are on Urthwyte's island; and Abbess Song is mentioned in at least one other book. As usual, I'm almost more interested in the Redwall timeline than I am in the story.
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.
I'm not sure exactly when the Redwall books stopped being enjoyable, but Jacques should have stopped writing them before this. There are only so many ways he can re-imagine the same plot, and by the 11th book in the series, we've learned about Martin, the founding of Redwall, Salamandastron, and pretty much everything that we wanted to know. There are no major flaws in this book, but it isn't as appealing as the earlier titles in the series.
There's nor much I can say that has not already been said by other reviewers. This book stands decently on its own so it can be read by nearly anyone, but foreknowledge of the Redwall world will definitely help with some of the details and references here. A solid volume by an author who has consistently proven his merit in writing a fantasy world with animals.
The Redwall series is a good choice for students in late elementary, early middle school, who are looking for a good fantasy series. Over the years Brian Jacques has written numerous books for the Redwall series, and as a child and loved that once one book was finished there were always other books from the series waiting to be read. The use of animals should appeal to both boys and girls, though the fighting present in the work may not appeal to all students. Marlfox was my personal favorite as a child, and to this day remains a fun and well-paced read.
Reading Level: 6.9
Reading Level: 6.9
good - Elijah Heatwole
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
NPRs Ultimate Backseat Bookshelf: 100 Must-Reads for kids 9-14
222 works; 30 members
Books I've Read More Than Once
602 works; 49 members
Childhood Favorites
427 works; 24 members
Read in 1999
62 works; 1 member
Books We Couldn't Put Down
443 works; 197 members
BOOKS READ IN 1980's and 1990's
52 works; 4 members
Kindle Action/Adventure - Junior and Teenage Re-Read
247 works; 1 member
Author Information
136+ Works 95,572 Members
Brian Jacques was born in Liverpool, England on June 15, 1939. After he finished St. John's School at the age of fifteen, he became a merchant seaman and travelled to numerous ports including New York, Valparaiso, San Francisco, and Yokohama. Tiring of the lonely life of a sailor, he returned to Liverpool where he worked as a railway fireman, a show more longshoreman, a long-distance truck driver, a bus driver, a boxer, a police constable, a postmaster, and a stand-up comic. During the sixties, he was a member of the folk singing group The Liverpool Fishermen. He wrote both poetry and music, but he began his writing career in earnest as a playwright. His three stage plays Brown Bitter, Wet Nellies, and Scouse have been performed at the Everyman Theatre. He wrote Redwall for the children at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind in Liverpool, where he delivered milk as a truck driver. His style of writing is very descriptive, because of the nature of his first audience, for whom he painted pictures with words, so that they could see them in their imaginations. After Alan Durband, his childhood English teacher, read Redwall, he showed it to a publisher without telling Jacques. This event led to a contract for the first five books in the Redwall series. He also wrote the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series. He died on February 5, 2011. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Marlfox
- Original title
- Marlfox
- Original publication date
- 1998 (original) (original)
- People/Characters
- Songbreeze Swifteye; Dannflower Reguba; Lady Cregga Rose-Eyes; Mokkan; Janglur Swifteye; Florian Dugglewoof Wilffachop (show all 17); Queen Silth; Lantur; Ziral; Ascrod; Vannan; Dippler; Gawjo Swifteye; Torrab; Mighty Megraw; Log-a-Log Bargle; Skipper
- Important places
- Castle Marl; Redwall Abbey
- Epigraph
- PROLOGUE-
Who are we but strolling players,
Wand'ring through the long ago,
Joys and sadness,hopes and longings,
Keep us traveling onward through
The laughter and applause of others,
Who view the passing cav... (show all)alcade,
Leave echoes hovering some far summer,
Floating round a woodland glade.
'Twas but a tale for your amusement,
Like my small unworthy rhyme,
Gone, alas, into those realms,
The land of once upon a time. - Dedication
- To the memory of a true Redwall friend and talented illustrator, Allan Curless
- First words
- Eternally serene, the moon ruled over star-strewn vaults of cloudless sable night, like a round shield of flecked amber, casting pale light to the earth below.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)We crave your indulgence for this deviation.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Fantasy, Kids
- DDC/MDS
- 823.914 — Literature & rhetoric English & Old English literatures English fiction 1900- 1901-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PZ7 .J15317 .M — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Juvenile belles lettres
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 3,712
- Popularity
- 4,293
- Reviews
- 7
- Rating
- (3.84)
- Languages
- 5 — English, French, Italian, Korean, Russian
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 28
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 16