Martin the Warrior

[theradicalchild]

Martin the Warrior by Brian Jacques
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Martin the Warrior, a hero of legend to Redwall Abbey and the son of Luke the Warrior, began life as a slave to the stoat Badrang the Tyrant, with a weasel named Hisk overseeing the mouse’s slavery. Martin’s friends include the mousemaid Laterose, nicknamed Rose, her brother Brome, and the mole Grumm Trencher. One day, Martin saves an aged squirrel, Barkjon, who has a son named Felldoh also in slavery. Backstory is provided on Luke the Warrior, who left his wife Windred and son Martin to fight the vermin, with the mother and child captured as slaves.

Martin vows to take his father’s sword back from Badrang, and is early on in the story intended as a carrion sacrifice. The novel also reveals Badrang’s chief rival, but also an antagonist of Martin and company, a fellow stoat named Captain Tramun Clogg of the Seascarab, who initially attempts to take Badrang’s fortress of Marshank. Martin and company ultimately escape bondage, coming into the court of pygmy shrews lead by Queen Amballa. The two villainous stoats further set aside their differences to focus on combatting Martin and the good animals.

Other characters introduced include the supposed magical rabbit Ballaw, with a lizard tribe also briefly capturing Martin and company, and an encounter with Wakk, Chieftain of the Gawtrybe. The foundation of the Fur and Freedom Fighters marks the concluding action of the novel, which is ultimately another enjoyable yarn of the Redwall universe, although akin to other books in the series, it always depicts specific animals in black and white terms, with species determinant of whether a character is good or bad. Even so, it’s definitely another one of the cornerstones in the talking animal literary subgenre of fantasy tales.

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