I found it hard to separate myself from the wonderful bonding experience Redwall provided between my six-year-old daughter and me and look at the book critically. We read it in little bits and pieces several nights a week over MONTHS, which certainly hampered my realization that the book has some serious pacing issues.

That said, if you pick up this book expecting a richly painted environment (beautiful landscapes, delicious foods, textures and scents) and above-average vocabulary (compared to other YA fiction these days), but with no character development and some rather dull stretches, you shouldn't be disappointed. For all the slow, dull parts that came up, there were certainly many past-paced exciting parts as well.

Really, my biggest complaint with this book comes from the villains' side of things. My daughter and I enjoyed the main villain (Cluny the Scourge), but so much of the story time was wasted on listening to him talk to his commanders, and listening to them talk to each other, and listening to them talk back to him. Some of that was funny, and lent itself well to making Cluny out to be even more terrible. But there was too much of it.

I hope in future Redwall books we're allowed to go deeper into the workings of this world. But for now, this little taste of a hero and his friends at Redwall abbey was enough to get us hooked.