Book Review: Doomwyte

Doomwyte (A Novel of Redwall) by Brian Jacques

Recommended For: Ages 7 to Adult

Rating: PG for violence

"Traveller, beware of the Doomwytes!"

Set your paws on the track of a great adventure, my friend. Who stole the jeweled eyes of the Great Doomwyte Idol long ago? What horrors dwell in the caves beneath the wooded hill - the realm of the fearsome Korvus Skurr, the black-feathered raven?

Young Redwallers and their friends find themselves in the grips of adventure, solving mysterious riddles and battling villainous foes in daring underground forays. Join them in the quest, the feasts, the songs, and the fray. Unite with the tribes of the Guosim and Gonfelin against vermin, carrion, and the dangerous Wytes. Discover why the black avenger haunts the wooded slopes. But most of all, beware of the dreaded Balissssssssssss!

Just be forewarned, I'm trying to watch a football game while I'm writing this, so if this review is incoherent, I'm sorry. But the Falcons are playing the Colts right now. 

So, on to the review! This is my first venture into the Redwall world. A friend at church talked about Redwall enough she convinced me to try one out, and while I enjoyed the book, I'm not sure if I'll take another venture in.

Writing: 3.75/5

The writing, while pretty good, wasn't as good as it could have been. It seemed as Brian Jacques was semi-trying to write deep POV. He didn't pull it off very well. And there was a really annoying quirk that pulled me out of the writing more than once where he would blend two sentences together with just a comma which should have been replaced by a period. Gah, grammar issues. I tried to overlook it and enjoy the story. Other than that, it was fairly well-written, just not spectacular.

Setting: 4.5/5

It wasn't spectacular. I couldn't really tell if it was supposed to be in a separate world from the text, although my friend at church assured me so (I think). Other than that, it seemed pretty good, just nothing stood out.

Plot: 4/5

Well? You've seen me say before I couldn't pinpoint the plot, but I loved it. I sort of pinpointed the plot, it just wasn't a very dynamic or moving one. There wasn't even a reason to be searching for the lost Great Eyes of the Doomwyte other than the adventure, and there was absolutely no clear idea what they were going to do with them when they acquired them all! SPOILERS When they got them, all they did was rebury them, which was...a huge anticlimax, to say the least. SPOILERS They ran into trouble and everything, so there was excitement, or it would have been, if I had been more invested in the characters, but I'll get to that in the next section.

Character Development: 3.5/5

I know why I didn't connect with the characters well. There was no clear protagonist. I'm serious! There was no protagonist. There characters were fairly well-developed, but there was no clear main character. The characters were a little more two-dimensional than three-dimensional, but they were well enough developed that I was invested enough to keep reading.

In review, I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I had been younger. It was definitely an adventure story for a younger reader, although it has a more mature tone. I don't know, maybe being a writer has made me more picky about stories, but I'm not sure if I enjoyed it enough to read more of the series.