Book Review: Redwall

I just finished reading a book that I hardly remembered from my childhood - Redwall. It was an impactful story about personified rodents, essentially.

The Story (in brief)

So, it goes like this:

There is an Abbey in the middle of a beautiful woodland area named Mossflower. Inside this abbey lives a conglomerate of various rodents: various types of mice, badgers, hedgehogs, and many more. These creatures have lived here for decades, with the abbey being founded long ago by a group of scholars along with a warrior mouse. This warrior mouse protected the scholars and healers from those who wished to bring them harm. Over the years the scholars had made records of the abbeys deeds, along with the various creatures they had helped over the generations. They built quite a library of knowledge.

These abbey creatures are well respected throughout the woodland of Mossflower. They are free to pass into (almost) any area they please, as all creatures, hostile or not, know that these creatures are of a kind, healing nature.

Over time - these creatures got used to a life of peace and knowledge-seeking. I’m sure you see where this tale is going - eventually these peaceful creatures were found by one of evil nature. A being with no remorse, no guilt, no mercy. Only greed and gluttony. His name was Cluny the scourge.

Cluny sought to take what the peaceful creatures had made over the decades and have it for his own twisted needs. The abbey was surrounded by huge, strong, sandstone walls. The only entry to the abbey was though it’s enormous gatehouse door…but evil would not be deterred by such things. Cluny could only see his new castle, along with his new, skilled servants.

Longgggg story short - these mice had to upend their way of life and learn to be fighters and warriors - but their strongly held beliefs and the good things that they were fighting for made them much more powerful than their actually more powerful opponent. Despite being outnumbered and weaker they constantly prevailed through each of Cluny’s attacks. Through the hardships the little woodland creatures befriended creatures mice are’t meant to comingle with - shrews, a cat, an owl, a tribe of war-sparrows, and more than I can’t remember.

The Lesson

Why am I talking about this book? I think it holds many parallels to current real-life situations. The kind and warm-hearted are often seen as simply the meek, but such is not the case. These people are the ones who have something to uphold - they have values to fight for and they lift each other up. They mean something to someone else. They fight for each other. I feel like the book illustrated to me that, yes, while being kind and helpful to your fellow person is the right way to be, it’s not always the appropriate way to be. Sometimes we do have to fight for what we believe in. Simply laying back and saying “well things will work out” doesn’t really do shit in the grand scheme. Like they say, idle hands are the devils hands, right? (I’m not religious, just F.Y.I. I think it’s a good saying)

I guess the whole point I’m trying to make is: If we aren’t trying to make the world a better place for ourselves and the ones around us, if we just sit idly and don’t take action on the things that bother us, are we really any better than Cluny and the others who seek only for themselves? I don’t think we are. Specially not in these ages. We all have a part to play in making the world a better place.