Redwall

I get a lot of flack for how unoriginal and formulaic my book, 7th Moon, is, so I feel it's time to point out a very successful book series that, in my opinion, defines formulaic unoriginality, Redwall by Brian Jacques. Now, don't get me wrong fans, I don't hate the book series, I just realized after reading a few that they are all the same story. It's a good story the first time, but seriously, it's amazing it went on for so long considering how by your third book, you should be able to predict the outcome because everything happens the same way everytime.

First of all, every book takes place in Mossflower Country and features some key characters, including Skipper, the leader of the otters, Foremole, leader of the moles, and Log-a-log, leader of the GUOSIM, or Guerilla Union Of Shrews In Mossflower. I would suppose these are titles rather than names as they are not truly the same character, but they might as well be because they act the same in every story, and if they have other names, they are never revealed. In fact, that's part of the problem, the variety of species is offset by the fact that each species seems to embody an archetype that they fit so uniformly that as soon as the species is mentioned, you know exactly what this character will do for the rest of the story. The two most hardcore typecast species are badgers and foxes, both of which are usually only represented by two individuals in all of Mossflower. The badgers have the Badger Mother and the Badger Lord, the former staying at Redwall Abbey and watching over everybody, the latter staying at Salamandastron and leading the Long Patrol, composed entirely of hares, to protect the west coast of Mossflower. The Badger Lord is uniformly stoic, the Badger Mother tends to be a bit more laid back, but their roles as guardians come before anything else. The foxes are always the same, mytics, often gypsy like, they are fortune tellers and healers, they are sneaky, but their roles are so pronounced that only one or two is ever needed in a story because, like the Sith, they can't stand being in large numbers because they invariably kill each other until only the most powerful is left standing.

This is also a driving factor in many stories, to stretch the story out and develop the villains as bad guys, there is almost always a mutiny among the vermin in which the leader is threatened and either gets usurped by the next wiliest creature or proves his own wickedness by killing his rival first.This stretches the story because not only is the villain dealing with a new problem bfore getting to Redwall, but this also leaves time for the protagonists to complete their quest, usually involving the sword of Martin the Warrior. The vermin themselves are a mix of sea rats and corsairs, usually stoats, ferrets, and weasels, all three of with are related species of the mustilidae family. The leader varies by species, but the personality is always the same, a ruthless tyrant, bent on conquering Redwall simply because it's there and mistakes their kindness for weakness.

The basic story starts out with a prologue during which an elder tells a child about some battle that happened when they were the age of the child they are speaking to.  Afte the prologue the story begins in earnest, often with a name day celebration. In Mossflower, time is measured by the season which gets named rather than a number of years as we measure time. The day the season gets named, there is a great feast, the one moment of enticing creativity when Jacques makes up a mouthwatering menu of different foods and cordials, to this day I still want to eat a honeymole(a raspberry and a  blackberry arapped in a pastry chell and glazed with honey, the mole part comes from the fact that moles invented it but the pastry itself bears no resmeblance). There is such a variety of food that the only item that gets repeated from one book to the next is the otter's signature shrimp and hot root soup, which, if you ask the otters, is the only food worth repeating. Meanwhile, there is a group of vermin that approaches Redwall, knowing the legacy of how it has remained unconquered and each vermin leader believes he will be the first to succeed where others have failed because he is more ruthless than the others. Somehow or another, some quest comes up for young members of Redwall Abbey to go looking for something which invariably leads to the revealing the warriorbeast, the one who wields the sword of Martin the Warrior. The warrior beast doesn't formally discover his or her identity as such until the end of the story, but in an abbey of pacifists, be assured that whoever is doing most of the fighting is the one who will take this particular honor. The quest usually involves the warrior beast and immediate friends to become accquainted with the Badger Lord and the Long Patrol a well as the Guosim and unite them for a triple battle cry"Redwall! Eulailia! Logalog!" respectively which is importnat when they all storm the enemy, the well-armed hares coming from the west, the shrew berserkers coming from the east, and Redwallers proving that you don't mess with mice who are friends with sling wielding otters, squirrel archers, hedgehogs with spikes and moles that can dig strategic tunnels under enemy lines. All of this leads to the showdown between the warriorbeast and the leader of the vermin, which is hyped up but invariably, the warrior beast wins. There, you now know the plot of every novel of Redwall, you don't actually have to read any of them.

Another common element  is accents, particularly hares and moles. Hares have a slight cockney and frequently refer to others as "sah" which is clearly "sir" in dialect and finish sentences with "wot wot" so that it feels like Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Still, the hares are refined compared with the moles who have such a thick accent that not only can I not imagine what it's supposed to sound like, even Jacques provides translations knowing that readers can't understand them. The mole dialect is somewhere between the Swedish Chef from the muppets and a drunk scotsman. Otters have a bit of a salty sailor dialect hich makes them the most similar to vermin in speech patterns. Occasionally, other species pop up and have even stranger dialects, sparrows speak in pidgin english and reptiles and amphibians seems to have their own languages and speak the more common tongue as a second langauge, though this is more extrapolated from their thick accents rather than actually having any lengthy dialogue in other languages. The dialects can break up the monotony, but it also helps cement the characters in their roles because you never hear anyone break the mold.

In fact, the main reason why I'm writing this post this way is because of two books that held hopes of breaking th mold and failed, and these are Outcast of Redwall and Taggerung. Each one presents an individual who is raised by the opposite group of animals, the former a ferret raised in Redwall, the latter an otter raised among vermin. Sadly, the nature vs nurture debate lands squarely on nature as the ferret, despite being raised from infancy with love, becomes a brat and then begins poisoning good beasts, while the otter, despite being raised from infancy among the worst vermin, still feels noble enough to wield the sword of Martin the Warrior in defense of the Redwallers who he never met until the day battle is upon them. Jacques stayed too true to his rules and roles for his characters and it made the books sorely lack any kind of depth.

Despite my complaints, the story Jacques spins is good enough for at least one go around, and I recommend Mossflower. I know Redwall was the first and namesake, but all of the books revolve around the legacy of Martin the Warrior, founder of Redwall Abbey, and Mossflower is that story, so reading that story will give you the necessary background to fully embrace every other book in the series. I did like this book and I hope one day it will be made into a movie, and I believe it has great otential as an action movie for all ages.