The Redwall series is one of the most underrated things I've ever seen. For how successful the books were in their day, hardly anyone I've met knows anything about the series. I didn't grow up with the series, but I have read all the books. I thought that the series overall was rather clunky, not a true, continous story nor an anthology, and not every single book lands quite well, but there is some fantastic stuff here. Mattimeo in particular is one of my favorite books that ive ever read. Like in the top 3.
It's interesting I think Mattimeo tends to always be up there as far as favorites in the series! I think as far as popularity redwall is super intersting because it's not like a giant harry potter but it's had pretty huge influence over the years, it's more popular than people realize I think!
I read almost all of them and yeah, a lot of them are really well done but he never really escaped the formula of the first 11 of them so after that you're getting into samey territory. Marlfox is the last one I'd consider good and not basically a reskin of previous stories. But those first 11 are great!
Recently listened to Taggerung again for the first time in probably fifteen years, and still cried at the end lol. Really cannot recommend the audiobooks enough. I think what resonates with ppl about Redwall in particular, is the sense of community and loyalty that all these disparate creatures have in comparison to the bleakness and isolation of modern real life.
The huge success of Bloomburrow, Magic the Gatherings recent set, shows how much love there still is for anthropomorphic animals for all ages. Redwall was fantastic to read as a kid and inspired me to write my own stories of brave mice fighting vicious beasts. Mouse Guard (gorgeous graphic novels) channels the same energy too. Long live the medieval micemen!
I remember this game called overgrowth with a humanoid animals that fought. And on the website it had a couple of short comics that were kinda graphic but had a good story and each displayed the different species that were in the game. As a kid it was so damn awesome and I wished it didn’t die off like it did. You should definitely check them out
I get that Redwall was supposed to be clear cut good vs evil, but I'm honestly sick of carnivores being vilified in media just for being carnivores. Foxes, weasels, and wolves in particular. What gets me is that IRL herbivore animals, even mice, can be just as if not more so brutal yet they're always portrayed as good guys. I think having nuance can be a good thing if done well, like Mouse Guard. Will you cover the Johan and Peewit comics, especially given that without Johan, we wouldn't have The Smurfs. Also, Johan and Peewit also make some appearances in the Smurfs cartoon, yet Johan got unfairly phased out of the cartoon after a while.
I read and enjoyed a number of the Redwall books when I was growing up, but I always felt kind of lost in the world, as there were entirely different characters in the books I was reading, and it wasn't clear how they were connected to each other, there was nothing to indicate which book came before another in the series, and it was a little too confusing for little me to handle, so I never really got into it.
This be my first time hearing of Redwall sure I heard it be mentioned within the other mouse story saga but man its been 3 minutes of the video and I'm hooked in. Speaking of the colour red did anybody here watched Red Dwarf its a British comedy show, for it was pretty moving with its story.
The stories and characters got somewhat repetitive after enough books (the insistence on how it was somehow a revolutionary advancement to have no complicated or unpredictable characters Jaques showed in interviews still bugs me), but as I remember they were remarkably cozy and atmospheric books! Prime relaxation stuff. The book equivalent of hot chocolate and pumpkin pie on a cold night. I don't think I'd like them as much now, but as a child they were very influential on me. It's just such a letdown that the main (really, 'only necessary') predictor of whether someone's a good creature or not is what kind of animal they are. Though, maybe avoiding emotional attachment to characters that turn out to be bad guys is important to some people? I shouldn't minimize the potential value of that. It's just... hard to tell a large variety of interesting or valuable stories when everybody more or less can be read entirely at a glance. Regardless, I used to love reading as many as I could get my hands on from the library, even if they got samey over time. The ability to read them out of order without losing very much was really handy, too! The accents and cuisines and 'set dressing/texture' were pretty magical, in general. I love how many places are now drawing inspiration from this amazing aesthetic.
I don't think I've even heard of it! What's it vibe? I put it on my list now! (edit* it was actually on my list before but I haven't had time to delve into it more, how does it compare to redwall?)
@@exitsexamined I actually already asked about it in your dark sun video and you asked the same question. If you need a reminder you can just look back at what I said in the comments there for a description.
Thanks I'll check it out sorry about that! I've bee a bit all over the place with all the series I'm checking out, especially been on a bender with conan which is a doozy of a series. When I get to green ember proper I'll let you know!
I think something is wrong with a society if they want nuance even with a children's book that wants to show them virtue and morality. There is enough media out there to confuse them, this is one of the few materials Jaques wanted it to represent amid the moral ambiguity.
