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Books: Martin the Warrior

A party for the ears! This is a swashbuckling adventure full of pygmy shrew tribes, valiant mouse warriors, and noble squirrels bent on revenge. The prequel to the Audie Award-winning REDWALL has as its hero its own Martin the Warrior. This is the story of that Martin's father. Imprisoned from childhood at Marshank, a seaside fortress run by that evil stoat Badrang, Martin escapes and sets out to free all the slaves and reclaim his father's sword. Your mind's eye will spin out a full-color... - Amazon.com

The introduction of this book is more of a treat if you've read Mariel of Redwall. Honestly, though, it makes little or no difference at all - it's just an introduction. Now, on to the actual review...

Ah, Martin the Warrior. This book is a favorite of a great number of Redwall fans. Many people started the Redwall series with this book. (Although I'm not really sure if there's a reason for this... maybe it's because it was chronologically first for a long time?) In fact, "Martin" is the third Redwall book I read. Does this mean that I'm going to use this review to praise the tragic beauty that is "Martin the Warrior"? Not quite...

Let me fill you in on the story. Martin, son of Luke the Warrior, has been captured and forced to work as a slave in Marshank. What is Marshank? A castle in the Northlands, run by despicable vermin. Luke the Warrior left his sword to Martin. When Martin was captured, Badrang took the sword for himself. And so Martin vows to take it back. Inevitably, Martin starts trouble in the castle. Naturally, the vermin tie him to a pole and leave him to be pecked at by the Seagulls. Lucky for our hero, he gets a little help from two passing travellers - Laterose and Grumm of Noonvale. They save him from certain death by pecking, and they agree to help him and a few other prisoners escape. And so Martin, Felldoh the valiant warrior squirrel, and Brome (Laterose's brother who was also captured) escape from Marshank. They meet up with Pallum the hedgehog. Then they're split into two groups, and adventure ensues. Okay, it's not that bad, I'm just not so good at summaries. You get the picture, right?

What killed "Martin" for me is the lack of connection to other books. Sure, it's a good book in it's own right, but it's just too... remote. Forced. It seems kind of like fanfiction, how it sort of squeezes around the pre-established facts of the storyline. *sighs* Even still, it's got a few really good points, too. More specifically, Brome's "Bucktail" alter-ego and what it leads to, Laterose's tie in with "Redwall", and a few scenes that would spoil the book for you if you haven't read it yet. So, in conclusion, you should read this book. It's just my least favorite of the Redwall series.