#mongoosewrites

Two books in one year? Woah there Brian, take it easy, it's not a race. That said it's impressive that both Lutra and Outcast came out in '96 because they're both very solid books and don't feel rushed or half-assed at all! Where Outcast may have fallen a little flat with its titular character this next installment more than makes up for it, giving us one of the most memorable and well-received vermin characters in the entire series... we'll get to her eventually. Y'all know who I'm talking about.

This is one of those novels where most of the action takes place away from Redwall Abbey, and the main villain never even leaves his territory at all. While I do tend to prefer stories where the bad guy has more motivation beyond obtaining some macguffin, there's still plenty at stake here, and the social commentary is unfortunately very relatable in this day and age as so many characters suffer just so this one wealthy asshole can decorate a crown for his stupid vain head. Eat the rich, is what I'm saying. Maybe they do taste like pine after all.

The Primary Protagonist- Grath Longfletch You might argue that Martin takes the lead as the book goes on but Grath should be the main character and she's on the book cover, so there. She's definitely got more reason than anyone to be pissed, as her entire family and clan was slaughtered for their treasure, with Grath herself driven to the brink of death. After she recovers she does what any reasonable person would do. She builds herself a bow, gets herself a boat, and heads out to kick some pirate ass. Along the way she meets up with the Redwallers and it's here where she sadly starts fading into the background. In the end I feel that Grath Longfletch gets shafted (ha ha. arrow pun. get it). Her story doesn't even get a satisfying conclusion as she exits the novel off-camera and the Redwallers handwave her away. It would have been nice to get her thoughts on finally avenging her people, or at the very least a mention in the epilogue about how she's moving forward with her life. As it is Grath Longfletch is like a wave on the ocean, building up huge momentum before dissolving completely, and that's a real shame. She could have easily carried the book on her own without the Abbey Warrior coming along to steal her thunder.

The Primary Antagonist- Emperor Ublaz Mad Eyes Holy crap, it's a pine marten! Why were these guys so insanely rare throughout the series, anyway? Ublaz isn't the most interesting out of them if you ask me, but that's not really a knock against him- he manages to be a pretty decent villain even if he never threatens Redwall personally. I think a rich pompous dick who does nothing but hoard resources on his own private island is someone we can all agree to hate these days. The Emperor's entire motivation, besides clinging on to what he's already got, is acquiring more. This whole drama starts because he wants a set of six pink pearls for his crown! That's literally it! Ublaz couldn't care less about Redwall Abbey or Mossflower Woods. The only reason they're on his radar at all is because the pearls are there. He's shallow, vain, greedy, conniving and arrogant. If he's not the most threatening villain ever then I'll argue that he's at least one of the most loathsome just for being the 1%. Ublaz is notable for having some sort of weird hypnotic power with his eyes, hence the nickname. It's never explained how this works but simply making direct eye contact with him is apparently enough to drive his own minions to suicide. If this sounds cheap it's because it is, but Ublaz isn't much of a fighter otherwise. He's explicitly gotten weak and soft from living like royalty for so long and I appreciate that detail. Mad Eyes's greatest asset is his mind, whether he's literally puppeteering others or attempting to outsmart them as even his followers are sick of his shit. The moment he does get in a swordfight he goes down like a sack of candied chestnuts.

Other Notable Major Characters: Martin- No, no, not THAT Martin, the OTHER Martin, Mattimeo's son who was named after the legendary Abbey Warrior. That is a lot to live up to and probably makes for some awkward introductions. No. Sorry. You’re thinking of someone else. Can we just call him, like, Marty instead? Morton? Bort? I'm getting off track. Anyway, Martwo here fails to live up to his predecessors. He didn't rise from adversity like the original Martin, he didn't come of age like Matthias, he didn't have to learn a hard lesson like Mattimeo, he's just there because you gotta have a token mouse warrior in the abbey, I guess. Bort is as generic a hero as you can possibly get. This makes it all the more disappointing that he comes along to push Grath Longfletch out of the spotlight and steal her kill. Mar2n is just... extraneous. You could take him out of the story entirely and still accomplish the same thing. Rollo and Auma are still around so it's not like you need this guy to establish that Pearls of Lutra is the direct sequel to Mattimeo. Without this Martin, more interesting characters would have the chance to shine.

Tansy- When Redwall is threatened by the Emperor's agents it's up to this young hedgehog to find the coveted pearls in order to pay the ransom. With help along the way from her friends, she displays enough courage and wisdom that she ends up being nominated as Redwall's next Abbess by the end. There isn't a whole lot to say about her beyond that, but she does fulfill an important role and has the good sense to slam dunk those pearls to the bottom of the sea where they belong. She knows what's up.

Rasconza- The biggest thorn in Emperor Ublaz's side throughout the story is one of his own corsairs. This fox isn't even the one who first orchestrates the rebellion, he just swoops in later to run the show and ends up being a persistent threat up til the end. When mutiny happens in the Redwall series it's usually quashed pretty quickly so this is kind of a cool thing to see. It's nice that Rasconza is there so Ublaz can do something other than twiddle his thumbs while he waits for those pearls.

Romsca- Okay, okay, you can all sit down now. Romsca is probably one of the most memorable Redwall characters ever and even if her role in the plot is actually pretty small I would be remiss if I didn't include her here. She's a corsair ferret who is tasked with guiding Ublaz's creepy lizard army to Mossflower and obtaining the pearls. Why is that so notable, you ask? Because out of the precious few 'vermin' throughout the series who have any suggestion of morality to them, Romsca has a complete little character arc and ends up doing something unquestionably good and selfless. Unfortunately because we can't have nice things it comes at the cost of her life. In a perfect world we could see her go on to thrive and have nautical adventures forever, but it does go to show just how determined she was to stick to her guns, and shows us that vermin don't have to be innately bad. Except for when they are. (Lookin' at you, Veil.) I think we can all agree that Romsca is a breath of fresh air and the series would be better with more characters like her in it. They're few and far between to begin with, and those that do exist need to get on this ferret's level.

My Favorite Minor Character: Oh, we already did Romsca? Okay, then, I like Viola for sort of going in the opposite direction, starting out as the abbey's resident crybaby and going on to find a taste for adventure. She's a shallow, fun character and that's all right. They did a similar thing with Cynthia in Mattimeo which makes me wonder if bankvoles are just Like This? Is this a stereotype bankvoles have? What even is a bankvole, really?

Pearls of Lutra is probably one of the better books, I feel like it suffers from too many characters more than anything. Marty could be cut in favor of Grath Longfletch. You could ignore all the rebelling corsairs who came before Rasconza. Even Tansy isn't really as interesting as her buddies Piknim and Craklyn (who are totally a couple if you ask me). The narrative is solid but it starts to get bogged down by the sheer number of players competing for the reader's attention. This is a story about fighting for what's really important: life is more precious than any trinket, and it's worth defending to the bitter end. It's also about eating the rich. Wealth and influence will only get you so far: if you act like a jerk, nobody is going to put up with your crap forever. I feel that this might be, like, the most political of the novels in that regard. You can have your whimsical talking animal story but there's some serious subtext here too. Beyond that, the ninth Redwall installment is also memorable for being the one where they burn down a church (wow) and the one with an absurdly large percentage of reptiles and pinnipeds in it. There's also something I noticed while reading: the naming convention in this book gets really redundant. Like weirdly so. Grath. Grall. Graylunk. Grimjaw. Groojaw. Guja. Kuja. Two of these dudes who don't matter are even named on the same page! It's a minor nitpick but I just find it bizarre. It can't be that hard to think of various names for filler characters, can it? I hear Sampetra is completely sold out of Gort license plates.