#best redwall book

[redwalltournaments]

And the Winner is:

Mossflower!

Mossflower had been declared the Best Redwall Book, beating out Martin the Warrior at 58 to 42, with 101 votes for Mossflower, to 73 for Martin the Warrior.

I’ll be honest I fully expected Martin the Warrior to win.

First round of the next poll, Best Warrior, will hopefully be up tomorrow.

[book--brackets]

Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce (1983-1988)

From now on I'm Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I'll be a knight.

And so young Alanna of Trebond begins the journey to knighthood. Though a girl, Alanna has always craved the adventure and daring allowed only for boys; her twin brother, Thom, yearns to learn the art of magic. So one day they decide to switch places: Thom heads for the convent to learn magic; Alanna, pretending to be a boy, is on her way to the castle of King Roald to begin her training as a page. 

But the road to knighthood is not an easy one. As Alanna masters the skills necessary for battle, she must also learn to control her heart and to discern her enemies from her allies.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (2011-present)

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (2018)

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father's inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty--until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk--grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh--Miryem's fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. She will face an impossible challenge and, along with two unlikely allies, uncover a secret that threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike.

Bartimaeus by Jonathan Stroud (2003-2005)

Nathaniel is a boy magician-in-training, sold to the government by his birth parents at the age of five and sent to live as an apprentice to a master. Powerful magicians rule Britain, and its empire, and Nathaniel is told his is the "ultimate sacrifice" for a "noble destiny."

If leaving his parents and erasing his past life isn't tough enough, Nathaniel's master, Arthur Underwood, is a cold, condescending, and cruel middle-ranking magician in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The boy's only saving grace is the master's wife, Martha Underwood, who shows him genuine affection that he rewards with fierce devotion. Nathaniel gets along tolerably well over the years in the Underwood household until the summer before his eleventh birthday. Everything changes when he is publicly humiliated by the ruthless magician Simon Lovelace and betrayed by his cowardly master who does not defend him.

Nathaniel vows revenge. In a Faustian fever, he devours magical texts and hones his magic skills, all the while trying to appear subservient to his master. When he musters the strength to summon the 5,000-year-old djinni Bartimaeus to avenge Lovelace by stealing the powerful Amulet of Samarkand, the boy magician plunges into a situation more dangerous and deadly than anything he could ever imagine.

The Hollows by Kim Harrison (2004-present)

All the creatures of the night gather in "the Hollows" of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party . . . and to feed.

Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining—and it's Rachel Morgan's job to keep that world civilized.

A bounty hunter and a witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she'll bring 'em back alive, dead . . . or undead.

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (2017-2018)

The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around--and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was just five years old, he's been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the form of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever. 

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? And who is the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo's dreams?

Septimus Heap by Angie Sage (2005-2013)

Septimus Heap, the seventh son of the seventh son, disappears the night he is born, pronounced dead by the midwife. That same night, the baby's father, Silas Heap, comes across an abandoned child in the snow--a newborn girl with violet eyes. Who is this mysterious baby girl, and what really happened to the Heaps' beloved son Septimus?

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (1968)

The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone…

…so she ventured out from the safety of the enchanted forest on a quest for others of her kind. Joined along the way by the bumbling magician Schmendrick and the indomitable Molly Grue, the unicorn learns all about the joys and sorrows of life and love before meeting her destiny in the castle of a despondent monarch—and confronting the creature that would drive her kind to extinction….

Redwall by Brian Jacques (1986-2011)

Redwall Abbey, tranquil home to a community of peace-loving mice, is threatened by Cluny the Scourge savage bilge rat warlord and his battle-hardened horde. But the Redwall mice and their loyal woodland friends combine their courage and strength.

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani (2013-2020)

With her glass slippers and devotion to good deeds, Sophie knows she'll earn top marks at the School for Good and join the ranks of past students like Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow White. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks and wicked black cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil.

The two girls soon find their fortunes reversed--Sophie's dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School for Good, thrust among handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.

But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are?

[swan2swan]

Yeah I believe that was Taggerung? RedWall had so many good stories.

100% that one

And, yeah, it had a lot of good stories, but the brilliance of that one was that SO MANY of the stories had those Convenient Reunions. Those Earned Happy Endings. The end of suffering.

That one said "Lol, nope. NOT THIS TIME. Also we're killing off a character from a prior book for the first time since Mattimeo."

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: June 5

"Matches to Paper Dolls" by Dessa

[pitviperofdoom]

Any book recommendations? That remind you of fanfics you write? That inspire you? Or you just plain like?

Pretty much anything by Tamora Pierce, she's the kind of writer I want to be. The Protector of the Small series is my favorite of the bunch, but you do kind of have to read Song of the Lioness and The Immortals first, which are both also extremely good. They're all four-book series but I race right through them.

Favorite Neil Gaiman books are: Good Omens, The Graveyard Book, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao is Pacific Rim meets Handmaid's Tale meets Hunger Games in a science fantasy version of China. Great book if you love it when a female character is also a rabid honey badger.

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee. Bisexual british lordling goes on his Grand Tour with his best friend/crush, hijinks and manhunts ensue. I haven't read the other two books of the trilogy yet but I intend to.

Currently rereading The Lord of the Rings and loving it.

Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams: cat-based xenofiction, but tone-wise it's more Watership Down than Warrior Cats. Rich animal fantasy with a kiss of cosmic horror.

Big fan of Jane Austen, favorites are Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice. In the same vein, Evelina by Fanny Burney came out before Jane Austen's novels but occupies a similar vein of romantic satire of 18th century British society.

The original Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories are genuinely so good, I need to reread The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The Redwall series basically raised me as a child. A lot of my feelings about how stories should go come from what I absorbed from Redwall.

If graphic novels count, Mouse Guard by David Petersen.

[octoagent-ray]

not seeing enough people talking about how fucking COLD Luke the Warriors ending was.

Not like the end of the book sorry, the ending for Vilu Daskar is quite literally keeping me up at night rn. Like ik Luke was not the BEST father but thanks for one of the coolest fucking villain deaths ever

LIKE HOLY FUCK PINNED TO THE WHEEL OF YOUR SHIP BY THE SLAVE YOU BOUND TO IT AS HE DRIVES YOUR SHIP INTO ROCKS!??? BEGGING FOR YOUR LIFE AND HES ALL LIKE

"T'was a bad day for you when you killed my wife." OH MY GOD THAT IS SO AWESOME!!! AND RANGUVAR HOLDING BACK THE CREW TRYING TO KILL LUKE IS LITERALLY INSANE WHHHHAT

To be fair all the Villain deaths are so peak, it's been a while since I've read the bellmaker but I remember how insane that Villain went out

n e ways I luv redwall 😋💕

[kotir-propaganda]

Mossflower has so much going for it, like I’m not even being biased because my blorbo is in it. I will die on the hill of it being Best Redwall Book for several reasons.

-It’s as early Redwall as you can get without actually being Book 1. As such, it avoids a lot of subjects and patterns that would later become repetitive tropes... but it also avoids the Book 1 jankiness of horses and human structures and the implied existence of Portugal. The world as we will come to know it feels more or less fully realized here. The abbey’s not here yet, but its foundation literally is- and we also get our first look at Salamandastron and the extent of Mossflower Wood as a whole.

-It has some of the most solid protagonists around. The legendary hero Martin is here, but he’s at a low point for most of the story and has to work his way up to that legacy! And this is where he does it, this is what future Redwallers remember him for, not the events of Martin the Warrior. Also, Gonff is here? Hello? Maybe the single most charismatic character in the series? Not to mention Dinny, how often does a humble mole actually get to go on a quest in these books?

-This isn’t even getting into how badass all the rest of the woodlanders are, too, but... they absolutely are. This is a small band of rebels that’s been driven from their little houses, they don’t have the luxury of those huge sandstone walls to protect them, but they’re still fighting like hell and outsmarting their enemies to boot. Some of them are seasoned fighters, but some of them are just ordinary families, all banding together to take back their homeland. And they keep it up the whole time! They’re not just waiting around for a guy with a sword to tell them what to do!

-The villains are probably the most nuanced in the whole series. Seriously. There are four whole wildcats here (don’t forget Sandingomm!) and only ONE of them is unquestionably evil. It’s absolutely implied that Verdauga was a fearsome warlord in his day, but if nothing else, he raised ONE kid who turned out to be about as Lawful Good as you can get, and he actually scolds Tsarmina for being mean to her brother!! I wish we could have spent a little more time with Verdauga, honestly, I have so many questions for this man.

-There are a decent handful of morally grey characters here, actually. Chibb spies for the woodlanders, but he’s not the most dependable and is motivated by payment more than sympathy to their cause. Snakefish allies with our questing heroes, but he minces no words in warning them that he’ll just as soon eat them if it comes down to it. Even Argulor is really just out here looking for a bite to eat and can you really blame him, because ashleg is a snack

-Tsarmina herself is irredeemably cruel, but even still there are multiple facets to her. On one hand, she’s scary- big and powerful and ready to rip into anything/anyone with her bare claws. At the same time she can be a clever strategist when she wants to be- poisoning her father and framing her brother, and later manipulating two of her obstacles, Argulor and Bane, into taking each other out. And still yet it can be kind of funny to watch her in action, as she gets humiliated by the resistance on multiple occasions. And maybe there is even a little pathos there, as we see her mind start to slip, and get some glimpse into the deep fear and paranoia that completely overtake her at the end.

-There are just great supporting characters on both sides. Mask is amazing, Fortunata is fantastic. And yeah, Blorbo Supreme Ashleg is here, and I don’t NEED to write a whole essay about him to promote Mossflower as a whole but... having him here is nice! It helps!! May we all follow his example and pursue happier lives for ourselves!!!

-Mossflower laid the foundation for so many events and characters of later books. I mean yeah, it’s a prequel. It’s there to support the first book and by extension, everything that comes after. But so many other great titles in the series have a direct line to Mossflower, from Outcast to Long Patrol to Lord Brocktree and more. Did you enjoy those books? You’re welcome. The threads were already there, just waiting to be expanded upon.

-at one point a wooden leg gets used as a projectile weapon and if you don’t think that’s the best thing ever, I don’t know what else to tell you buddy

[lilacnothlit]

I read an awful lot of xenofiction, of various degrees of obscurity, most of which don't have a lot of fanfic to their name. Thoughts:

- The Plague Dogs. Book's about two dogs who escape from a medical testing lab in Lake Country and join up with a Geordie fox to become wild animals and kill sheep to live. And the whole time, they're still arguing about belief in God and the goodness of Man and how much they wish their Masters were there. And the government is trying to kill them to cover their tracks, so it tells everyone they have the plague. Jara and Ket would have a field day with the world it paints. Some OC gets trapped in dog morph and has to communicate these realities while the yeerks pursue any reports of talking dogs. I don't know, man, it's so depressing, it's perfect!

- Guardians of Ga'Hoole. Canonically, the owl knights in a war with nazi owls led by a demon witch queen exist in a world after the extinction of humans - the "others" who built stone temples, made oil paintings, had no feathers, and whom the nazi owls force the owlets to sleep in crypts of human bones. There are fifty methods of brainwashing and molding the mind to your will. Ax would be astonished by their libraries. Four giant mythological beings end up in your world, accompanied by a great diurnal predator and an alien vegetarian who doesn't believe in magic? Actual warriors versus knights whose strategies are often affected by "I saw the future in a dream?" Digger and Cassie going for midnight flights and debating the meaning of existence. Twilight teaching Rachel how to rap. Tobias going native in a world designed for birds and getting a whole suit of armor, but always feeling out of place for his size and his diurnality. Sure, they've managed to basically farm rodents on a scale where one island can sustain an entire fortress of predators, and invent a whole cuisine! They're geniuses! And yet, he's constantly awake when his new friends are asleep and vice versa and he's just as lonely as ever. Meanwhile, the humans are starving for want of food that's big without being sentient and have a time clock towards getting home... Doesn't this just write itself?

- Animalish series I can't believe I haven't seen crossover fanfic with, given their size: Redwall, Narnia, Lonely Werewolf Girl, Shiver. Imagine Ax feeling depressed Reepicheep is a more honorable Andalite than him. Imagine Cassie debating the ethics of curing werewolves with meningitis. Imagine how Tobias feels in a world where all the good guys are delicious, tiny mice - and how Ax reacts to Redwall cuisine in mouse morph.

- Finally... a crossover I talked about writing, but never did, because I wasn't afraid of the Fandom, I was afraid of the antifandom. All the people who know the story only on a surface level:

Cassie debates the ethics of killing her new friend's stepdad: security liability Humbert Humbert.

Anyone who's ever read Lolita knows that its best feature is the comedy from being narrated by an internet libertarian: "I am on trial for murder. I am explaining how I am the good guy for killing the other guy. To do this, I must heretofore thusly tell the story of how I married someone to lust after her daughter and then took an orphaned twelve-year-old around the country on a sexual road trip - now now! I believe you're starting to think mayhap that I may be the bad guy, this sounds 'gross!' But have you considered this: I am very intelligent! Here, have some facts and logic, you're being hysterical."

On a cursory reading of the plot, it sounds like it's justifying him. But that's because it's being told by a comically unreliable narrator who quotes French poetry, parodies Catullus, stretches the truth whenever he gets bored - and the universe is constantly conspiring to make him blameless in comically convenient ways, he assures you! The car crash just happened! It saved me the trouble of murdering my wife, as you saw me plan out ways to do, because I'm the good guy currently on trial for murder, but I'm still totally blameless! You can't trust a word of this guy.

Imagine a megamorphs where he's the villain narrator. It'd be the funniest book in the series. Inverse Visser One where it's the yeerk yelling at the host how much he sucks? Maybe. Cassie morphed as Illim? Imagine her trying to process those memories as he experienced them and still trying to retain her faith in the goodness of Man at heart.

I didn't write it, but the idea is free.

Is there any Animorphs crossover you really think someone should write?

I'd vote for Animorphs and Star Wars. I'm not nearly expert enough on the lore (and far too afraid of the fandom) to tackle that one myself, but I think it could be super cool if someone was willing to take it on.

[book--brackets]

Round 1, Poll 8: Redwall vs Warriors

To vote in this poll, you must simply ask yourself what kind of furry you grew up to be (please don't come for me I was a warrior cats kid)

Remember to reblog for a bigger sample size!

[kcrossvine-art]

Γεια σας! Here we are at the Penultimate Redwall Recipe we're going to cover, and this ones a two-fer as most of the drinks are. Today from the Redwall Cookbook we're covering both Applesnow and Mossflower Mulled Cider!

(you can also find the original recipe at the bottom if you’d like to follow along)-

MY NAMES CROSS NOW LETS COOK LIKE ANIMALS

SO, “what goes in to an Applesnow?” YOU MIGHT ASK

Sauce apple (such as McIntosh or Cortland)

Ground cinnamon

Sugar

Eggwhite

AND, “well, what goes in to an Mossflower Mulled Cider?” YOU MIGHT ASK

2 cups apple cider

3 tablespoons sugar

4 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

Pinch ground allspice

2 slices lime or lemon

Applesnow is essentially applesauce but fancy-ed with the egg, you can cook more or less time for various applesauce consistencies, the time this recipe gives will have it be less mushy (or not cooked at all…).

AND, “what does each taste like?” YOU MIGHT ASK

Theyre both very simple dishes that pack a lot of flavor!

Applesnow is definitely best served chilled

Eggwhites, when beaten enough, have a good texture to them (youll need to beat them until theyre soft-firm peaks!!! Don't underbeat them!!)

Though the taste of eggwhites on the applesauce is….. Acquired. I did not like it, it tasted too savory/breakfasty

the cider is sweet and smooth, buttery

citrus adds a really nice tang to balance out the more complicated flavors

The english have some damn weird desserts

. doubled allspice amount in applesnow . doubled cinammon/cloves amount in cider

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From deciding to make both to having both completed and ready to eat, id say it took about an hour- most of this was me double checking recipes and waiting for my electric stovetop to heat haha.

Applesnow is a fascinating concept- you dont often see egg whites alone used in end results. It doesnt have a strong flavor on its own but the texture is very satisfying because its layered with the applesauce, and the applesauce is delicious because its spiced. Measure with your heart on that also. But whipping egg whites is quite a bit of work and i think i wouldve personally liked this better with vanilla bean icecream? Making it closer to a sundae than Applesnow.

The Mossflower Mulled Cider makes about one large glass, so id recommend making the recipe in a larger quantity just given how long it takes for spices to incorporate. Also, try to shoot for a tall saucepan! I made mine in the same pot i use for pasta and had it been just a wee bit shorter on the walls it wouldve been impossible to stir enough for the sugar to incorporate.

Really excited to get to the last redwall recipe next review! I have some closing thoughts on the book and hopefully it wont take me too long to come out with it. Thank you all so much for reading along this far, it really does mean a lot to me how much folks have enjoyed this series and seeing people save recipes for cooking later :')

I give Applesnow an 8/10, and Mossflower Mulled Cider a 10/10 (with 1 being food that makes one physically sick and 10 being food that gives one a lust for life again.)

🐁 ORIGINAL RESIPPY TEXT BELOW 🐁

Applesnow Ingredients:

1 large sauce apple (such as McIntosh or Cortland), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

Sugar (or other sweetener), to taste

1 egg white (see Note)

NOTE: Raw Egg Whites For most healthy people, the risk of salmonella food poisoning from a fresh egg white is small. To minimize this risk, use the egg white directly from the refrigerator and serve immediately, or, to avoid all risk, substitute powdered egg whites. Follow package directions to reconstitute the equivalent of one white.

Method:

Place the apple slices in a saucepan with the cinnamon, if using, and add 2 tablespoons ofwater. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then cover the pan, reduce the heat, and simmer until the apple goes mushy, 5 to 10 minutes.

Transfer the apple mush to a bowl, add the sugar, and beat until smooth. Let cool.

Just before serving, beat the egg white in a mixer until stiff. Fold the egg white into the apple and serve.

Mossflower Mulled Cider Ingredients:

2 cups apple cider

3 tablespoons sugar

4 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

Pinch ground allspice

2 slices lime or lemon

Method:

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the cider, sugar, cloves, cinnamon and allspice and stir together until the sugar has dissolved. Continue to heat until the cider reaches a boil.

Take the pan off the heat, cover it, and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Strain out the whole spices and serve warm, garnished with a lime or lemon slice

[theriu]

Hey this sounds fun! :D

Send me 10 characters and I will tell you who I would…

Marry

Drink tea with

Party with

Kiss

Go out on a date with

Push down the stairs

Slap

Invade the dreams of

Take a nap with

Rob

[moonybadger]

Well it took four years, but I finally reread every single Redwall book!

Award for best book: Mossflower (shocking I know)

Award for worst book: Doomwyte

Award for most surprisingly good book: Rakkety Tam

Award for most underappreciated book: Eulalia!

Final Tier List:

[thereturningdemise]

Listen I need to get this out I know it's random as fuck but you don't understand just how infuriating books can be

Major spoilers for Redwall: Outcast not that you should care in my opinion if you do you could still read and enjoy it because I am only discussing the halfway point of the book and the ending

I would suggest for maximum yapping effect to refrain from skimming and to indulge my every enraged screech with your fullest and utmost attention

Now without further ado... The most aggravating book I have ever read in my life.

Redwall is a series I love. I had read a lot of the books and, finally, I was going to read one I had been looking forward to- Outcast. There's a ferret on the cover. That's right. A ferret main character, a race previously considered as "vermin" in the other books. The back alluded to their struggle for fitting into Redwall given the prejudice against their kind and I was so excited to dig my teeth into a cute and whimsical story about my favorite animal

But guess what

In a book in which the cover is a ferret and the back description is about the ferret... Do you want to know... What the book was actually about?

Because it wasn't about the ferret. No. Not until almost to the end of the book and they are a horribly treated side character that gets so astronomically butchered by the story I closed the book in disgust at the end.

The book should have been called Sunflash the Mace because that is actually the main character and he is not an outcast at all. He is more akin to a paladin of sorts. He is a great character and his companion is awesome I have no issues with him it is not his fault for the book being so grossly mishandled

You encounter the story of the ferret halfway through the book. He is the rejected son of an evil tyrant ferret that gets raised in a shitty environment only to eventually be saved and brought to the abbey.

So, what happens?

He is abused and ostracized by his peers for being a ferret and then lashing out for being bullied. Yes he steals things but rather than just saying the ferret is a bad egg why not punish the bullies for once and help the poor ferret learn to be a bit better? The only supportive figure he had was his adoptive mom and you can see him getting worse and worse because of the lack of any sort of help

Then, eventually he runs away to join his dad. His dad, the evil tyrant. He fights for him against Redwall, and this is where things get infuriating.

His mother is almost killed. His adoptive mother. He steps in front of her and sacrificed himself to save her.

At the end of the book two characters discuss this. "I'm sorry, I guess he really wasnt evil from the start..." Another person says.

Then the most evil, sick bit of writing I have ever seen graces the last specks of the page. A phrase that rocked me to my core for all the ferret had been through and what he had done at the very end.

"no, he was. I was wrong."

From the mouth of his own adoptive mother.

Now. You may be wondering- surely, SURELY there's more to this? Maybe in the books ferrets are just evil!

EXCEPT IN ONE OF THE PREVIOUS BOOKS A RAT BECAME A TOY MAKER THAT GIVES BOATS TO KIDS, A PREVIOUSLY COMPLETELY EVIL RACE AND NEED I REMIND YOU THAT THE BOOK WAS SET UP ON THE COVER AND BACK AS IF IT WAS GOING TO BE ABOUT THE FERRET FIGHTING FOR HIS RIGHT TO BE LOVED? I BELIEVE IT WAS MARIEL AND THAT BOOK WAS INCREDIBLE AND THE BEST IN THE FUCKING SERIES

That's all I wanted to say

I wish with all of my fucking heart the book was renamed to Sunflash the Mace I would have been so much less angry. I wish it had focused completely on his ending, rather than randomly having the poor ferret bastardized by his mother in the end

Read Mistmantle instead, guys

[petermorwood]

That aged less than well.

I picked up a few common-subject books (The 1936 Abdication of Edward VIII, and what came after) from the library a couple of weeks back, and after reading several non-fictions, started on the single example of fiction.

It's "To Catch A King", a thriller by Jack "The Eagle Has Landed" Higgins, and Hoo-Boy, the opening made me roll my eyes:

The Higgins novel was first published in 1979.

The non-fiction books all came out much later.

"Much later" meant post-Charles / Diana / Camilla / Andy / Fergie / Harry / Meghan etc, and thus also meant "Much Less Deferential".

They used research material unavailable* when Higgins wrote his novel.

* That said, every single non-fiction writer commented about how many documents were Not Yet Available, or Lost, or Withheld, or Heavily Redacted, etcetera, etcetera.

Even without that excuse there's an unsavoury brown-nosing feel about the novel which seems very un-Higgins.

IMO, of course, and YMMV.

By contrast, one of the non-fiction books - this one by Andrew Lownie - was entitled "Traitor King". Make of that what you will.

Considering what came from the documents which WERE available, and wondering what might be in the ones kept out of reach - also WHY they're so out of reach - leaves me thinking there's a lot of "no smoke without fire" about the Duke of Windsor's doings before and during WW2.

And terms like "credit", "gallant", "honourable", even "gentleman" may be at best less than accurate, at worst completely false.

The show will, no doubt, go on.

Right now I'm turning attention to some novels from my TBR pile - including at long last a few "Redwall" titles - because after that other lot, fiction has a less dodgy flavour...

[chaifootsteps]

Speaking of Redwall, I almost got to meet Brian Jacques as a kid. Our city library was doing an event and he was gonna be one of the speakers and sign books for us and I was so excited because I was a huge Redwall nerd. But the day it happened, I came down with an awful stomach bug and couldn't go, and he died only a few months later. I cried so much when I saw the article about his passing and realized I'd missed my only chance.

If it's any consolation, I don't think you would have seen him at his best. Time and the stroke took their toll on him, and it really showed towards the end.

Hey, who knows? Maybe he does book signings in Heaven. If he does, I'm definitely hitting up him and Beatrix Potter.