I'm normally very critical of the later books in Brian Jacques' Redwall franchise. The general consensus within the fandom is that things started to go downhill around Outcast of Redwall (for me it's nearer Marlfox, but whatever) but Eulalia! is actually very decent. This is mostly due to its excellent cast of characters. Maudie is a refreshing addition to the series, never veering too far into Mary Sue territory as so many of Jacques' female characters are wont to do. Instead she's a fierce fighter on her own terms, a champion boxer, an excellent chef and an all-round capable hare who doesn't need a warrior/redemption arc to become a well-rounded character. Gorath the Flame is a bland but likable badger, with full kudos points for visible scarring, and his journey to conquer the blood-wrath and win the heart of Salixa, is never less than engaging. Salixa herself is another well-written female, handy with a sling and highly intelligent, but surprisingly gentle for a badger character. The supporting cast are predictably eclectic and endearing. I'm fairly sure Daucus is the first Abbot to lead a charge against oncoming vermin, and he has a beard so that's a winning combination. I only wish we could have seen a little more of Orkwil. His banishment and thievery arc was over far too soon, which is a shame as he had a lovely Martin and Gonff style relationship brewing with Gorath. I was also certain, thanks to some heavy foreshadowing and his obsession with getting Martin's sword back, that he was going to become a Redwall Warrior, but nothing really happened about that.On the villain front, Vizka Longtooth was vicious but not particularly charismatic. His anti-thesis Gruntan Kurdly was more fun, with his endless quest for eggs and subsequent death at the beak of a swan. And you have to hand it to his Brownrat horde, most of whom were cut from the Punch-Clock Villain cloth, that settling down to a peaceful life by a watermeadow seems a sweeter deal than invading the Abbey.This leads me on to my main sticking point with the novel, which is the plot, or lack of one. Once Kurdly is out of the picture his horde just give up being evil, settle down and are forgotten about. Once Gorath has had his revenge on Vizka, everyone just sort of pops off to Salamandastron and the rest of the book is told in flash-back. I was hoping for an epic quest and what I got was a couple of woodland chaps bimbling about and then leaving. We barely spend any time in the Abbey itself, but nor do we actually see much of Salamandastron. The woodlands are not particularly scintillating and Gorath himself spends a lot of the book asleep. Still, it all rattles along at a nice pace, and there's something endlessly delightful about Jacques' world, it might be the October Ale, it might be the shrimp and hotroot soup, it may even be Ambrows Spiks Faymiss Kopachir but as an old fan of the series it was lovely to immerse myself in Mossflower woods yet again. And how nice to have a Redwall story where even the characters find the riddles fairly obvious; I don't think I'll ever quite get over Tiria in High Rhulain: "I saw an otter who looked exactly like me, but slightly older, like me in the future, who could that have possibly been?" It's not the best Redwall novel by a long shot, but it almost lets me forgive the abominations of Triss and Taggerung. Almost.
Brian Jacques was one of the pillars of my childhood. I grew up with the Redwall series, pretty much literally; the full-cast production audiobooks were a constant on family road trip, and there were a lot of the books in my elementary school library. I now own nineteen of the books, plus three Tribes of Redwall booklets, the Map and Riddler, the official cookbook (and yes, I've made some of the famous feasting food; watershrimp and hotroot soup really is that good), two picture books, and the official Friend and Foe guide, which I suppose is now out of date. My dad used to have Lord Brocktree and Martin The Warrior... until I appropriated them. The jar in which my penny collection now lives has a red 'R' painted on the lid, because it used to be where I'd put all my money so that someday I could buy the official merchandise from the official website. I wanted a backpack like mad.This is all to say that I will never, ever, ever rate a Redwall book less than four stars. I just can't. So even though yes, they're all very similar and yes, this one was plagued with run-on sentences that were really very distracting and yes, Salixa's introduction was not very graceful, I DO NOT CARE. It's a Redwall book. That's all it needs to be. I have other authors I turn to when I want new ideas or thought-provoking conflicts or deep characterization. This is my comfort food. This is where I turn when I want something simple, uncomplicated, with heroic good guys and dastardly villains, without any love triangles or paranormal nonsense, with more than its fair share of Fonetik Aksents (burr aye), with that undeniable Britishness that's just fabulous. No messages, no agendas, no politics. Redwall books never pretend to be something they're not, and I love them for it. Also, there's the fact that after so many years of listening to the audiobooks, I can hear Mr. Jacques' voice in my head when I read, and that makes me think that while he may be dead, he's never really gone, because he left us this beautiful legacy and I think I can safely say he changed my life.So rest in peace, Brian Jacques, and know that you will always be remembered and loved by readers for generations to come. And thank you. Thank you so very much.
What do You think about Eulalia! (2007)?
This is basically the same Redwall novel that's been coming out for the last few years, but this round the main characters are a young badger (Gorath) that's been taken prisoner by a band of sea vermin, and a haremaid (Mad Maudie) from Salamandastron on a mission to find him and take him back to become the new badgerlord. The villain is Vizka Longtooth, a golden fox who is roughly the same as the other villains in the series.Still, despite the fact it is pretty much a formula novel, I enjoyed it. Redwall's basically a nostalgia series for me at this point, so reading anything in the series makes me feel happy, even if they aren't as creative as they used to be. Definitely a fun read, but nothing amazing or ground-breaking.
—Caroline
Brian Jacques has been releasing the same story since Redwall first came out, back in the 80s. Sure, there have been various small divergences, but none that really stand out.It must be a very GOOD story, though, because Eulalia is an enjoyable book. I felt like I had read it before, and since I'm one of those people who tend to read books over and over again, that's a good thing. All in all, Eulalia was not one of Jacques better efforts. The narrative states the obvious--over and over again, and the dialogue grates. However, I still enjoyed it. Figure that out.
—Moses Operandi
I have long been a fan of Brian Jacques's Redwall series. However, some of the content seemed a bit predictable. The characters for the most part were interesting, and I didn't feel as if I needed to force myself to keep reading. I was a bit bothered by the abundance of sentence fragments. Perhaps I had not noticed them in other Redwall books--it has been a while since I read one--but it sometimes irked me. It was a nice read, but I feel that it falls short of some of the other books in the series.
—Inkylizard
