#redwall book 1

[knightofthenewrepublic]

[bluepunkmon]

Interspecies Hanky-Panky in my Redwall? It's more likely than you think

Redwall book 1 has a lot of elements that don't occur anywhere else in the series - horses, towns, beavers, and the like - but I thought this example was especially interesting.

Early on, at Abbot Mortimer's Golden Jubilee feast, Colin Vole makes fun of Mathias and Cornflower taking care of Tim and Tess Churchmouse together - "Would you look at Matthias an' Cornflower there, a-nursin' those two babbies like they was an old wedded couple. Well, crumble my bank!"

(I can only assume 'crumble my bank' is an inexcusably rude bank vole phrase)

Brother Alf reprimands him - "Don't you know that someday Matthias will be a Redwall mouse?"

Brother Alf is implying Colin's teasing is inappropriate because Redwall mice are expected to be celibate. It's been a while since I've read these, so I'm not sure if Redwall adults have to be chaste in the rest of the series. I don't remember it, so this mention surprised me.

As did this, as Brother Alf continues to berate Colin - "'... I could say a thing or two to your mum and dad. Only last evening I saw you playing 'catch the bulrush' with that young harvest mouse. What was her name now?'

Colin Vole blushed until his nose went dry. He flounced off, swishing his tail, muttering about going outside to take the air."

I'm not sure what 'catch the bulrush' is a euphemism for, but it sounds elicit based on the context. This is interesting, because as far as I remember - aside from a few barely-elaborate-on crushes, there aren't any woodlander relationships that are interspecies.

The only substantial interspecies romance examples I can think of are hybrid children amongst vermin. Most common are wearets, weasel ferret hybrids. Only two wearets appear in the book series, and both are described as physically deformed monsters. (There is a wearet in the Redwall game, but I'm not familiar with the game and so leave it out of the discussion here). Wearets are massive, earless, and constantly slobber. The Rogue Crew also featured a Wearat, a rumored weasel-rat hybrid. The wearat in question is described as monstrously ugly.

I have no conclusion or accusation towards the books here, only the observation that the series took a conscious turn away from any interspecies relationships within the good woodlanders, making something that only occurred among the almost always-evil vermin. Make of that what you will.

[incorrectredwallquotes]

Matthias: But what about Basil? Jess: Don't worry about him. Jess: I once saw him fall down five flights of stairs, stand up, and keep eating his scone like nothing happened.

[redwalltournaments]

Upon request we’ve got percentage breakdowns from Round 1. I decided to math out how many votes each got for fun. Apparently I’m invested enough in this to do math:

Redwall won over Eualia at 89.3 to 10.7, with 67 votes for Redwall, and a mere 8 votes for Eualia

Marlfox won over Lord Brocktree at 56.4 to 43.6, with 53 votes for Marlfox and 41 votes for Lord Brocktree

Mariel of Redwall won over The Long Patrol at 67.1 to 32.9, with 49 votes for Mariel of Redwall and 24 votes for The Long Patrol

Martin the Warrior won over Rakkety Tam at 72.8 to 27.2, with 59 votes for Martin the Warrior and 22 for Rakkety Tam

Triss won over A Redwall Winters Tale at 82.8 to 17.2, with 48 votes for Triss and only 10 votes for A Redwall Winters Tale

Mattimeo won over Outcast of Redwall at 64.1 to 35.9, with 59 votes for Mattimeo and 33 votes for Outcast of Redwall

Salamandastron won over High Rhulain at 55.6 to 44.4, with 45 votes for Salamandastron and 36 votes for High Rhulain

Pearls of Lutra won over Doomwyte at 82.2 to 17.8, with 60 votes for Pearls of Lutra and 13 votes for Doomwyte

Mossflower won over The Bellmaker at 79.3 to 20.7, with 65 votes for Mossflower and 17 votes for The Bellmaker

The Sable Quean won over the The Great Redwall Feast at 71.4 to 28.6, with 35 votes for the Sable Quean and 14 votes for The Great Redwall Feast

The Taggerung won over Loamhedge at 79.2 to 20.8, with 57 votes for The Taggerung and 15 votes for Loamhedge

Legend of Luke won over The Rogue Crew at 81.5 to 18.5 with 53 votes for Legend of Luke and 12 votes for The Rogue Crew

[abbeyarchives]

GOOD MORNING IT'S GAME TIME BAYBEE! We're playing Lost Legends of Redwall: The Scout Act 1!

[leopardsealz]

finally reawakened my childhood ability to read books at high speeds bc today i read the 1st 2 books of wolves of the beyond & am abt 30 pages into the 3rd book

[sixth-light]

13 books tag game, tagged by @amemoryofwot

1) Last book I read:

Starter Villain by John Scalzi, in an effort to 1) get back on my Hugo nominee completionist bullshit and 2) give him a second go, since I was deeply unimpressed by the first one a few years ago. It was...you know the thing about how badly-written books can help you learn more about writing than well-written ones? That!

2) A book I recommend:

I am metaphorically grabbing everybody I know by the collar and telling them to read Some Desperate Glory, unless the subject matter isn't for them which is fair, but it's so good.

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

I distinctly remember finishing Gideon the Ninth at like 11pm because I couldn't wait until morning, which must be seen in the context of me being asleep by 10pm every night of my life I get a choice in the matter.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more)

I went through a solid decade of reading Hogfather every Christmas and I've probably got a few more left in me.

5) A book on my TBR

I've got Mary Beard's latest book, Emperor of Rome, on reserve at the library.

6) A book I’ve put down

Tried The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart last year because it was blurbed well and I was in a fantasy mood, and got like...twenty pages in. It didn't leave enough of an impression for me to remember exactly why, just a general 'I don't care about these characters' vibe.

7) A book on my wish list

Kate Elliott is being very kind about progress updates in her newsletter and I want her to have the time she needs...but I am also chewing at the bit for Lady Chaos.

8) A favourite book from childhood

I was SO into Redwall as a kid. First fanfic I ever wrote.

9) A book you would give a friend

This is hard because I always want to rec specific books to specific people, I sincerely believe there's no generic book which is good for everybody. Um, maybe All Systems Red since Murderbot seems to resonate with a wide audience?

10) The most books you own by a single author

(Physical books only) An ACTUAL single author? Anne McCaffrey for sure. An alleged single author? I own 36 Trixie Belden Mysteries books.

11) A nonfiction book you own

Storm over Mono, which is a really interesting account of the fight to save Lake Mono in California, a scientifically interesting and historically and ecologically unique place.

12) what are you currently reading

Technically between books but I'm about to start The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older. I liked the first one fine but it didn't grab me grab me, so we'll see how it goes.

13) what are you planning on reading next?

My mostly-science book club is going retro and reading Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman which I have been putting off because I have Heard Things about Richard Feynman...but also I gotta gird my loins and get onto it.

I have not been around Tumblr enough lately to think of who to tag but with 100% sincerity, if you see this and it starts the wheels turning in your head about books you've read lately and so on, you're it!

[cosmerelists]

Reapplying Cosmere Names

I don't really know what to call this one...it's based on that meme where you take a phrase and claim it would be a "beautiful name" for something else. Like this post, pointing out that "Toxic Yuri" would be a beautiful name for a "heavily tattooed Russian bouncer."

So where in the Cosmere can we find such beautiful names for other things?

1. "Blackthorn" would be a beautiful name for a mouse who fights with a tiny sword made from a briar, ala the Redwall books

2. "Windrunner" would be a beautiful name for a sailboat or perhaps a kite.

3. "Lopen" would be a  beautiful  name for a pet rabbit.

4. "Worldhopper" would also be a beautiful name for a pet rabbit but an adventurous one.

5. "Invested Art" would be a beautiful name for your uncle who won't stop talking about his big stock portfolio.

6. "Vorinism" would be a beautiful name for the sexual act of no I shan't say

7. "Kaladin" would be a beautiful name for the paladin in your D&D game.

8. "Rockbud" would be a beautiful name for a fan of Dwayne Johnson.

9. "Essence Mark" would be a lovely name for your friend who won't stop trying to convince you to take essential oils.

10. "Wax and Wayne" would be a beautiful way to describe phases of the moon...if only they HAD one.

[kotir-propaganda]

Mossflower has so much going for it, like I’m not even being biased because my blorbo is in it. I will die on the hill of it being Best Redwall Book for several reasons.

-It’s as early Redwall as you can get without actually being Book 1. As such, it avoids a lot of subjects and patterns that would later become repetitive tropes... but it also avoids the Book 1 jankiness of horses and human structures and the implied existence of Portugal. The world as we will come to know it feels more or less fully realized here. The abbey’s not here yet, but its foundation literally is- and we also get our first look at Salamandastron and the extent of Mossflower Wood as a whole.

-It has some of the most solid protagonists around. The legendary hero Martin is here, but he’s at a low point for most of the story and has to work his way up to that legacy! And this is where he does it, this is what future Redwallers remember him for, not the events of Martin the Warrior. Also, Gonff is here? Hello? Maybe the single most charismatic character in the series? Not to mention Dinny, how often does a humble mole actually get to go on a quest in these books?

-This isn’t even getting into how badass all the rest of the woodlanders are, too, but... they absolutely are. This is a small band of rebels that’s been driven from their little houses, they don’t have the luxury of those huge sandstone walls to protect them, but they’re still fighting like hell and outsmarting their enemies to boot. Some of them are seasoned fighters, but some of them are just ordinary families, all banding together to take back their homeland. And they keep it up the whole time! They’re not just waiting around for a guy with a sword to tell them what to do!

-The villains are probably the most nuanced in the whole series. Seriously. There are four whole wildcats here (don’t forget Sandingomm!) and only ONE of them is unquestionably evil. It’s absolutely implied that Verdauga was a fearsome warlord in his day, but if nothing else, he raised ONE kid who turned out to be about as Lawful Good as you can get, and he actually scolds Tsarmina for being mean to her brother!! I wish we could have spent a little more time with Verdauga, honestly, I have so many questions for this man.

-There are a decent handful of morally grey characters here, actually. Chibb spies for the woodlanders, but he’s not the most dependable and is motivated by payment more than sympathy to their cause. Snakefish allies with our questing heroes, but he minces no words in warning them that he’ll just as soon eat them if it comes down to it. Even Argulor is really just out here looking for a bite to eat and can you really blame him, because ashleg is a snack

-Tsarmina herself is irredeemably cruel, but even still there are multiple facets to her. On one hand, she’s scary- big and powerful and ready to rip into anything/anyone with her bare claws. At the same time she can be a clever strategist when she wants to be- poisoning her father and framing her brother, and later manipulating two of her obstacles, Argulor and Bane, into taking each other out. And still yet it can be kind of funny to watch her in action, as she gets humiliated by the resistance on multiple occasions. And maybe there is even a little pathos there, as we see her mind start to slip, and get some glimpse into the deep fear and paranoia that completely overtake her at the end.

-There are just great supporting characters on both sides. Mask is amazing, Fortunata is fantastic. And yeah, Blorbo Supreme Ashleg is here, and I don’t NEED to write a whole essay about him to promote Mossflower as a whole but... having him here is nice! It helps!! May we all follow his example and pursue happier lives for ourselves!!!

-Mossflower laid the foundation for so many events and characters of later books. I mean yeah, it’s a prequel. It’s there to support the first book and by extension, everything that comes after. But so many other great titles in the series have a direct line to Mossflower, from Outcast to Long Patrol to Lord Brocktree and more. Did you enjoy those books? You’re welcome. The threads were already there, just waiting to be expanded upon.

-at one point a wooden leg gets used as a projectile weapon and if you don’t think that’s the best thing ever, I don’t know what else to tell you buddy

[kcrossvine-art]

Γεια σας! Here we are at the Penultimate Redwall Recipe we're going to cover, and this ones a two-fer as most of the drinks are. Today from the Redwall Cookbook we're covering both Applesnow and Mossflower Mulled Cider!

(you can also find the original recipe at the bottom if you’d like to follow along)-

MY NAMES CROSS NOW LETS COOK LIKE ANIMALS

SO, “what goes in to an Applesnow?” YOU MIGHT ASK

Sauce apple (such as McIntosh or Cortland)

Ground cinnamon

Sugar

Eggwhite

AND, “well, what goes in to an Mossflower Mulled Cider?” YOU MIGHT ASK

2 cups apple cider

3 tablespoons sugar

4 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

Pinch ground allspice

2 slices lime or lemon

Applesnow is essentially applesauce but fancy-ed with the egg, you can cook more or less time for various applesauce consistencies, the time this recipe gives will have it be less mushy (or not cooked at all…).

AND, “what does each taste like?” YOU MIGHT ASK

Theyre both very simple dishes that pack a lot of flavor!

Applesnow is definitely best served chilled

Eggwhites, when beaten enough, have a good texture to them (youll need to beat them until theyre soft-firm peaks!!! Don't underbeat them!!)

Though the taste of eggwhites on the applesauce is….. Acquired. I did not like it, it tasted too savory/breakfasty

the cider is sweet and smooth, buttery

citrus adds a really nice tang to balance out the more complicated flavors

The english have some damn weird desserts

. doubled allspice amount in applesnow . doubled cinammon/cloves amount in cider

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From deciding to make both to having both completed and ready to eat, id say it took about an hour- most of this was me double checking recipes and waiting for my electric stovetop to heat haha.

Applesnow is a fascinating concept- you dont often see egg whites alone used in end results. It doesnt have a strong flavor on its own but the texture is very satisfying because its layered with the applesauce, and the applesauce is delicious because its spiced. Measure with your heart on that also. But whipping egg whites is quite a bit of work and i think i wouldve personally liked this better with vanilla bean icecream? Making it closer to a sundae than Applesnow.

The Mossflower Mulled Cider makes about one large glass, so id recommend making the recipe in a larger quantity just given how long it takes for spices to incorporate. Also, try to shoot for a tall saucepan! I made mine in the same pot i use for pasta and had it been just a wee bit shorter on the walls it wouldve been impossible to stir enough for the sugar to incorporate.

Really excited to get to the last redwall recipe next review! I have some closing thoughts on the book and hopefully it wont take me too long to come out with it. Thank you all so much for reading along this far, it really does mean a lot to me how much folks have enjoyed this series and seeing people save recipes for cooking later :')

I give Applesnow an 8/10, and Mossflower Mulled Cider a 10/10 (with 1 being food that makes one physically sick and 10 being food that gives one a lust for life again.)

🐁 ORIGINAL RESIPPY TEXT BELOW 🐁

Applesnow Ingredients:

1 large sauce apple (such as McIntosh or Cortland), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

Sugar (or other sweetener), to taste

1 egg white (see Note)

NOTE: Raw Egg Whites For most healthy people, the risk of salmonella food poisoning from a fresh egg white is small. To minimize this risk, use the egg white directly from the refrigerator and serve immediately, or, to avoid all risk, substitute powdered egg whites. Follow package directions to reconstitute the equivalent of one white.

Method:

Place the apple slices in a saucepan with the cinnamon, if using, and add 2 tablespoons ofwater. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then cover the pan, reduce the heat, and simmer until the apple goes mushy, 5 to 10 minutes.

Transfer the apple mush to a bowl, add the sugar, and beat until smooth. Let cool.

Just before serving, beat the egg white in a mixer until stiff. Fold the egg white into the apple and serve.

Mossflower Mulled Cider Ingredients:

2 cups apple cider

3 tablespoons sugar

4 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

Pinch ground allspice

2 slices lime or lemon

Method:

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the cider, sugar, cloves, cinnamon and allspice and stir together until the sugar has dissolved. Continue to heat until the cider reaches a boil.

Take the pan off the heat, cover it, and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Strain out the whole spices and serve warm, garnished with a lime or lemon slice

[redfagdiver]

There's so many series I couldn't include so I'm doing a few more polls! I love seeing all the love and nostalgia pouring out of the notes <3

~

Part 1

[doyou000me]

Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better:

Tagged by @lurkingshan - thank you for the tag!

3 Ships You Like:

Luca and Vincenzo. They're my rare pair hell ship and I'll keep it afloat singlehandedly if I have to. Luckily I don't, because there's two of us holding up the fort on Ao3, and @ristique-xy and I are basically feeding each other at this point.

For those of you who haven't seen it, Vincenzo is a Korean drama from 2021. Vincenzo is the main character and Luca has like 5-10 minutes of screen time in the entire series. Nothing can convince me that they're not murderous lovers for life.

Yoh and Mizuki from My Personal Weatherman. I watched it, moved on, and then was reminded of it after a certain picture and discussion with @candidamay, which made me go back and rewatched MPW and now I'm trying to write a fic for them. It is resisting me but I shall employ stubbornness and persevere.

Kinnporsche. Again, I watched the show when it came out and moved on. Now incredible fanfics (go read Bad Bet by @luckydragon10 and The Power In The Taking by @iffervescent. Both are excellent and very NSFW - proceed with caution and heed the tags) and tumblr in general are slowly making me slide down the slippery slope into the fandom. Can't say I'm putting up any resistance. The Kinnporsche plotbunnies are breeding in my already overpopulated head.

Honorable mentions: PayuRain and PrapaiSky. Need I say more?

First Ship Ever:

My first ship must be something like 15+ years ago, so I really don't remember. Also, I don't think I've ever been big on exclusively shipping one pair of characters, so OTPs aren't really my thing. I tend to pick one favourite character and then ship them with pretty much any other character depending on what dynamic I want in the moment. I still do, but now I've started entertaining the idea of just throwing them all together in one big poly relationship.

Last Song You Heard:

Wonder by The Rose has been playing on and off in my head the last few days

Favorite Childhood Book:

The Redwall books by Brian Jacques.

Currently Reading:

Nothing. I tend to read in short, intense bursts (like a book/long fanfic in 1-2 days), and then I read nothing for a while.

Currently watching:

Love is Better The Second Time Around

Deep Night The Series

Bingeing:

Bloodhounds (rewatch with a friend)

Sandman (watching with a friend)

Currently consuming:

Yoghurt and musli with banana. It's breakfast.

Currently craving:

Juice.

Tagging @ristique-xy @functionalasfuck, @cryingatships, @candidamay, @7nessasaryevils because I'm curious about what's going on in your heads! Do it if you feel like it, ignore it if you don't :)

[imagination-confusion]

I constantly think about the Redwall animated series (1999) and Watership animated series (1999)

When I re-watch those I wonder what Warrior Cats would've been like if they had an animated series in that similar style and vain. How much would actually changed?

Watership Down the series added a lot of newer conflicts, characters, pretty much this series exclusive things and their own twists to the story. Follows the story in the beginning and then it gets wild!

I should make a retrospective on these two series.

Redwall animated series pretty much follows the story where season 1 follows Matthias, Season 2 follows Mattimeo, and Season 3 follows Martin the Warrior.

But I was an idiot and I watched the series backwards from Martin, to Matthias, to Mattimeo. Still got the same enjoyment either way.

It'd make a fun exercise. Creating short animations of canon Warriors in similar style of these two already pretty fun to watch animated series of great books.

Might be actually pretty heckin' fun! I can feel the gears in my mind turning just trying to create this and make it come to life!

So which one of you guys read and watched The Silver Brumby on YouTube? I never got far but what are your thoughts? I never actually well.. fully finished but, as far as I seen it's pretty nice lol

[incorrectredwallquotes]

Jess: You’ve never once done jury duty or paid your taxes. Basil: Not until gay marriage is legal everywhere. Basil: And I stand by that.

[paladin-tourney]

Round 1, Side B - Thistle (Spells, Swords and Stealth by Drew Hayes) vs. Martin the Warrior (Redwall series by Brian Jacques)

Propaganda:

Thistle (Spells, Swords and Stealth by Drew Hayes)

Thistle is a paladin of Grumble, god of minions; as you might expect, Grumble doesn't get many followers who are willing to stand up and boldly act, so he's one of a very small number. In the second book he completed the work of Grumble's first paladin in destroying "a piece of the divinity" of the god of evil magic, which has naturally put him directly at odds with said god.

Martin the Warrior (Redwall series by Brian Jacques)

He's a mouse with a sword forged of star-metal and the fighting prowess of a full-grown badger. He smashes tyrants and helps all in need. Once he passes on, his guiding spirit appears to other heroes and Abbeyfolk in times of great need, so he's even got the holy guardian ghost thing down.