Title: Mattimeo

Author: Jacques, Brian

Book Preview:

Matthias, the great warrior of Redwall, has a very cruel enemy. His name is Slagar. Several years ago, when the battle in the northlands was raging, he and his mother were captured for treason (betraying their side). They killed his mom, but he hid in a tree trunk, which was shared by a serpent. He didn’t know that until it bit him, and it destroyed his face. He wants revenge. So, he captures all the young, hard-working kids and leads them to the city of Malkariss in the southern lands where everywhere there was evil. Join Matthias, Basil Stag Hare, and Jess Squirrel on their journey to Malkariss as they encounter great gorges and forests.

Rating:

This book is exciting and lively with lots of plots and problems.

The characters were very exciting, especially Matthias’ group. They have a variety of animal types as characters. They are similar to the characters in Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of NIMH because of all the animal types.

The description was spectacular. It was as if a pencil was drawing the pictures in your head for you. I bet that if they made a movie, the characters would look exactly like I imagined them.

This book had a very interesting plot. The beginning was a little boring, but after you finished about a quarter of the book it became really interesting. Two examples were when the rats attacked Matthias and his group and when Slagar traps them in the cave.

The ending was very exciting with Matthias’ group finally reaching Malkariss and the great battle. The Redwallers solved their problems too, but in a very cool and unique way.

The organization needs more work. One problem was that the author jumped from one situation or problem to another. It was kind of hard to keep in mind all the different characters as they came in the story. [Ravi]