Mossflower

Returning to the Redwall series with the second book Mossflower not only takes me back to my childhood but back in time in the stories themselves because this time? We go deep into Mossflower and meet Martin the Warrior before Redwall Abbey itself existed.Brian Jacques wrote such a beautiful and immersive series, and Mossflower is no exception and we’re all drawn into the world where Wild Cats are ruling the woodlands and making the poor woodlanders suffer greatly, with some having fled their homes and others near to starving. Once again, Jacques broke the rules of what was expected in children’s fiction for the time showing such problems as a family of hedgehogs afraid for their safety and fearing they’ll starve. We also encounter a mouse Gonff, who is a ‘Prince of Thieves’ and gets up to mischief just like a younger Jacques did around the Liverpool Docks.Once again, Mossflower highlights how different it was to children’s books at the time both in its length at just over four hundred pages, and also shows the true struggles of characters and sadly the death of ones who became a firm favourite of the reader. It was apparent that Jacques wanted to showcase the good and the bad of life as well as showing that children were capable of reading long books and maintain a love of the story and remain immersed in whatever was happening to the characters of Mossflower woods.Mossflower continues the underlying lesson of good versus evil, and we learn of Redwall’s history through storytelling from Bella the Badger as she recalls the adventures of times past in the woodlands to a sleepy mouse. As I said, we are far back in time, Redwall Abbey doesn’t exist just yet and a Wild Cat, Tsarina, is in power and there’s a rebellion in the woodlands from hedgehogs to wood and church mice and more little animals who simply want to live freely again. I loved how we learned about how Martin came to Mossflower, and helped his new companions win many fierce battles - some that made younger me hide in my pillows.It’s the way Jacques writes the world though that always keeps me lost in the world, from the descriptions of the world because this time we stray from Mossflower to find a giant badger who could help them all win against Tsarina; to the wonderful food that whilst not ones we could eat always sound lovely for the sweet animals. From evil do-ers to the joys of friendships and found family fighting back to live happily once more, and learning about the founders of Redwall? Mossflower is a firm favourite of mine.Everything once again takes me back to time with my Dad, and with Brian Jacques too who was a wonderful loud and larger-than-life man…