In Salamandastron, I’m getting to the exciting part – the climax! Last night, I had trouble putting it down. When I have trouble putting a book down, that means I’m really enjoying it. Does Thrugg succeed, or will everyone at Redwall die? Who will win Salamandastron – Urthstripe or Ferahgo? Do Samkim and Aurula ever get the sword of Martin the Warrior back? I won’t tell you what’s going on – I don’t want to give anything away – but I will tell you that those questions are being answered as I read. I want to know the answers!
Brian Jacques, the author, keeps switching between seemingly separate stories, so that you don’t tire of reading just one. He leaves one on a cliff-hanger and then switches to another, and as a result, there are multiple cliff-hangers at once. You want to keep reading to find out what happens next in one story, so you want to read until you get there. You end up reading part of one of the other stories and you get hooked on that one, so it goes on and on. (Is there a name for the technique of having multiple plotlines and switching between them?)
In the series, the characters are all animals. Mice, squirrels, hedgehogs, moles, otters, badgers, and shrews are always good, while rats, ferrets, weasels, stoats, and foxes are always evil. I actually care about every one of the species listed as “vermin,” and I think it’s a bit unfair never to let them have a chance to be the heroes. I mean, in most children’s stories, the wolves and foxes are bad guys but the mice and rabbits are good guys. This series pretty much sticks with the traditional good-evil roles stuck to those species. That is pretty much the one thing that bugs me about it. What would make things really exciting would be to have, say, a good fox or weasel, or even more unusual, an evil mouse or hedgehog.
Well, I’m into talking animal stories. At the moment, I’m making attempts at a series of my own – but in mine, species makes no difference in matters of good and evil.
Josh,
ReplyDeleteSome interesting thoughts about _Salamandastron_. Good observation about the cliff-hangers. Do you ever have trouble keeping the different stories straight? Sometimes, if I'm reading a book like this with many characters and different plot lines, and I put it down for a while, I have to reread a bunch to remember who's who.
How many books by Jacques have you read? I started to notice some similarities between all the plots. Have you seen this? I mean, you say you don't know what's going to happen, but don't you know the good, cute, furry characters will win and survive and the evil, greasy, dirty ferrets and stoats will be defeated? Speaking of sides, where do you think frogs, toads, and snakes fit in? Good, bad, or indifferent?
josiah
P.S. I know you were very worried about whether or not this was complete. I'd say you have good substantive writing and some good points here, and you explain your points in some depth.