Product Description

Queen Silth rules Castle Marl from behind the curtains of her palanquin. Greedy and vain, she has sent her six children into the world to plunder treasure. Stealth and cunning are the traits of the Marlfox. Known only in Redwall country by legend, they are said to able to appear and disappear by magic. When the strange creatures begin to appear in Mossflower Woods, it is clear that evil is abroad. A kidnapping and a cunning raid to steal the beautiful Redwall tapestry confirm the worst; Redwall is under threat! Three young friends, fated by the prophecy of Martin the Warrior, pursue the villains in a quest of daring, courage and wit to return the beloved tapestry to its home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #302051 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
For this enchanting novel Brian Jacques has brought to bear the experience of his eventful and adventuresome life--a life which has taken him all over the world and seen him variously described as folk singer, playwright and broadcaster. No doubt his usual writing environment, garden in summer conservatory in winter, provides him with the ideal theatre for observing the wildlife on which the book's unusual central characters are based.

It is, perhaps, appropriate that the story line revolves around the theft of the famous Redwall Tapestry, for Marlfox is a richly woven tapestry, skilfully running together threads of the magical and mythical with the "natural world", to give its audience a heady blend of fairy tale and medieval adventure. The result is a tale of grand themes and conflicting human passions played out against a backdrop of humour and uncertainty; yet the author manages never to lose sight of the reality of life as experienced by the human and animal kingdoms alike.

Young readers will gorge themselves on this literary feast, a spread worthy of comparison to other classics in this vein such as The Hobbit,Duncton Wood, The Mythical Knights of the Round Table.

From the Back Cover
Queen Silth, vixen ruler of Castle Marl, has one mission: to create a rich oasis of beautiful treasures on her island home. And with an army of water rats and the cunning Marlfox offspring with their legendary magical powers at her command, the murderous Queen seems destined to succeed.

About the Author
Brian Jacques was born and bred in Liverpool, where he lives today. At the age of fifteen he went to sea and travelled the world. He has worked as a stand-up comedian and playwright and now hosts his own programme, Jakestown, on Radio Merseyside. His bestselling Redwall books have captured readers all over the world and won universal praise.

Customer Reviews

Jacques at his best
Well, to sum up this book in 1,000 words is a daunting task, but I shall try my hardest to convey my emotions about what is arguably the best book in the redwall saga. This is essentially a tale on two fronts, one of revenge and one of destiny. The revenge comes in the form of teh young shrew Dippler who whilst on guard falls asleep and the log boats are lost. He is subsequently bullied by the harsh Fenno who has lofty aspirations to be the new log a log. The one of destiny becomes intertwined with the tale of Dippler when the great Redwall tapestry is stolen and Log a log slain by Fenno. So Dippler accompanied by his new friends Songbreeze and Dannflor (Who is setting out to prove himself to be a warrior worthy of his fathers respect) they set off in search of the tapestry stolen by the Marlfoxs'. Through a series of trials the three friends struggle on towards their final reckoning with the dominant male Marlfox, Mokkan whilst at the same time at Redwall abbey is under attack from the remaining four Marlfox's. So we reach a crossroads where not wanting to spoil the story for you I will cease my narritive, Song, Dann and Dippler are out to seek their own private quests whilst still united by their goal to retrieve the tapestry. At Redwall, the harsh warrior Rusvul Reguba, the compassionate warrior Jangular Swifteye, and the perilous Hare Florrian Dugglewolf Wilffachop all battle to save the abbey from the massing vermin.

An excellent book, my favourite of the series and well worth its five starts in my opinion. the three friends are perfectly created for us to see their young boundless energy. The old season warriors Jangular and Rusvul are apparent to us as concerned parents as well as strong warriors. But the entire book is given a life by the two comedy acts, the irrepressible Florian who is arguably the best hare since Pikkle Ffolger way back in Salamandastron, and the little baby Dwopple is as cute as he is develishly fiendish. An excellently entertaining ride, and the ending is not to be missed.

Beautifully written, but heavily cliched
I'm a big Redwall fan, and love the whole series very much. But this book was too much like all the other Redwall books, maybe worse. It lacked the excitement and adventure of 'the Long Patrol', it lacked the awesome villains of 'Redwall' and 'Salamandastron', it lacked the emotions of 'The Pearls of Lutra'. Overall, it was a disappointment. The characters are bland, the plot is sometimes a bit farfetched and the humour runs pretty low sometimes. But that's not saying that this book's a total piece of trash: the scenery is described in amazing detail, especially the storm at the beginning and the waterfall. A performance group from Noonvale, reminescent of 'Martin the Warrior' come to Redwall and add charm to the whole situation. And at last we have some goons who only obey their masters wishes and are actually not at all that bad.

On the whole, this is not the best Redwall book to read, but read it anyway - the Redwall magic still runs strong.

Overuns all other books by miles
It is hard to review a Redwall book if you ever buy one you will now what i mean. The story behind the book is: a tipe of fox has war with Redwall abbey while the heroes go questing to return the heart of the abbey(a tapestry with Martin the Warrior the hero of Redwall on it). The heroes Dann, Song and Dippler muster a huge army against the tirant of the lake Queen Silth the biggest, oldest and meanest of the Marlfoxes or Marmfloxes as dibbuns call them.