Bookish Tuesday: Redwall

I've been reading the Redwall series ever since I was about 9 years old, and even now I will go out of my way to be sure that I get the newest book in hardcover to add to my collection.

It's been compared to Watership Down in its talking animals style, but I think it's an unfair comparison. Watership Down is told as a story within our world where the rabbits live like rabbits and are learning to survive human interaction. Redwall on the other hand, takes place in a world without a trace of humans and the animals are all humanlike in their interactions and behaviors.

Redwall itself is an abbey in the middle of Mossflower that is the center of attention for nearly all of the books within the series. From this point, the books tend to follow an all too similar plot where the bad guys will hear a rumor that there is treasure and the simple life to be found within the walls of the abbey and will attack. A hero will rise from either the abbey or the surrounding area and the creatures will band together and defeat the invaders in the most gruesome and violent of battles.

And that is why I loved reading these books as a kid. Reading about animals who have a society is cool, but toss in animals wielding deadly weapons... and that equals complete awesomeness. I know that as I keep reading them I see how formulaic they've become (and have even thought up a few plots that would be really awesome within that universe), but even that hasn't been able to stop me from enjoying the series.

I highly recommend this series for kids who are interested in brutal animally violence... and for adults of the same persuasion.