Mossflower (Redwall #2) by Brian Jacques

This is the prequel to Redwall which follows Martin the Warrior when he first arrives in Mossflower woods. He is immediately taken prisoner by the foul cat Tsarmina and held prisoner along with the mouse thief Gonff. With the help of the nearby woodland creatures they escape and plot to take down the wicked cat and her castle of rats, stoats, and weasels. In order to accomplish the task, Martin sets out for the mysterious mountain Salamandastron to find the badger warrior Boar the Fighter.

This is a great addition to the Redwall story and introduces two of my favorite characters, Martin and Gonff. One of the great things about Jacques' writing is that he always has so much going on at once, such as Martin and Gonff's adventure, to the plotting of the forest creatures in Mossflower, to Tsarmina fighting with her horde. Together he weaves all these stories into one to create a brilliant tale.

Reading Level: A

Story: 5

The story continues to be amazing.

Characters: 5

I love all the characters, they each have a life of their own and it's hard to believe that they don't actually exist after reading the book.

Style: 5

The writing is gorgeous and flows great. It has an old-style feel to it, which fits the story perfectly.

Cover: 4

All the various editions have great covers.

Presentation: 3

As I mentioned before, I would love to see a fantastic collector's edition of the series, with a great layout and illustrations.

Epicness: 5

Spanning many generations with a rich, interwoven plot, Redwall is one of the most epic stories ever written.

Final Score: 4.5

This Week on the Vikingship!

This week I'm going to be reviewing The Magician's Nephew (The Chronicles of Narnia #1) by CS Lewis and Mossflower (Redwall #2) by Brian Jacques. Just two books you ask? Yes, for a few weeks I'm just going to be posting 2 reviews in order to catch up on some Magefable work.

Speaking of Magefable, I've written 28,424 words of Korel! This week I'm going to be taking a short break from Korel to work on the second Magefable Adventures story that reveals what happens to Logtooth and Wisslewort after Durbin, Morro, and Reverie left them tied up in the middle of Verdancia Forest.

The Field Guide (The Spiderwick Chronicles #1) by Holly Black and Tony Di'Terlizzi

Jared, Mallory, and Simon Grace are forced to move into their great aunt's old house with their mother after their parents divorce. After discovering a hidden room in the house, the kids wind up on the receiving end of multiple pranks, before Jared discovers the true prize of the house, Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to Fantastical World Around You. The book is filled with a catalog of magical creatures, one of which they discover has been the critter pranking them.

I enjoyed this book but really wished there was more to the story. It has a great concept and fantastic art that really adds to the adventure. However, it really just feels like the first two chapters of a book. It would be a great read for blooming readers who are just starting to get into chapter books.

Reading Level: B

Story: 3

I enjoyed the story, but it felt far too brief. At the same time, it feels that there's too much to the story for it to be a short and simple chapter book.

Characters: 4

The characters come off very well. Each of the kids are unique and the monster that they meet is very entertaining.

Style: 4

I felt the style worked well for the story.

Cover: 4

Decent covers that fit the story.

Presentation: 5

The art work is fantastic and is a great example of story and art melding together.

Epicness: 2

It has great potential but is far too short to be epic.

Final Score: 3.67

The Black Cauldron (The Chronicles of Prydain #2)

Taran and the rest of the group join up with Prince Gwydion and a slew of other warriors in an attempt to steal the black cauldron, the device capable of making an army of undead, from the kingdom of Arawn. The group gets separated and they find out that the cauldron had already been stolen by three witches. Together Taran, Eilonwy, Fflewddur, Gurgi, and several others travel to the swamp in which they live with the intent of bargaining for the cauldron.

The second book in this series is really written much better than the first and has a great flow and great story. I'm really starting to love the characters and the plot is really moving along much better.

Reading Level: A

Story: 5

This book I feel that the characters are really beginning to take lead of the story and carry it. The adventure is grand and the journey terrific.

Characters: 5

I really am starting to fall in love with the characters, they are proving to be great.

Style: 5

This is a huge improvement over the previous book.

Cover: 3

The newer books have a decent cover, but looking back at the older covers makes me cringe.

Presentation: 3

Nothing special. The series really needs a grand hardcover version, maybe with all five books in one!

Epicness: 5

The epicness has really turned up a notch.

Final Score: 4.33

The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Brian Selznick Collection #1) by Brian Selznick

Hugo Cabret is a young boy living in a train station in 1930's Paris. He lives in hiding and works each day adjusting the clocks of the station while at night he tries to fix a broken automaton, using the book of notes that his deceased father had left him. One day when he is caught stealing parts for his project from a store, the store owner takes his prized book and uses it as a lure to get the boy to work for him.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, but at the end of the book I was left quite disappointed. The story was only okay, for the size of the book I just expected a lot... More. I also would have like more of an adventure. The great overarching mystery of the story just came together too easily with very little payoff.

What I did like about it was the references to classic movies. Milies was a film genius who is a major plot of the story. His films such as A Trip to the Moon are haunting and mysterious and were absolutely groundbreaking for their time. To see them referenced in a children's book is fantastic.

Reading Level: B

Story: 3

It was enjoyable but lacks depth and adventure. Could have been done in a much shorter format.

Characters: 3

I didn't hate any of the characters, but I never truly felt attached to any of them, only slightly to Hugo himself.

Style: 3

The writing was rather dry and felt as though I was reading a translated piece of work.

Cover: 4

The cover really drew me in and is what sold me in purchasing and reviewing the book.

Presentation: 4

The pictures were a fantastic touch and was truly the most interesting factor of the book.

Epicness: 1

Fails to be epic on any scale.

Final Score: 3.00

This Week on the Vikingship!

This week I will be reviewing The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Brian Selznick Collection #1) by Brian Selznick, The Black Cauldron (The Chronicles of Prydain #2), and The Field Guide (The Spiderwick Chronicles #1) by Holly Black and Tony Di'Terlizzi.

On Korel, I've just broken the 26k mark with 26,028 words! As the world of Korel is coming together, I've been doing a lot of mapping and getting that visualized and put down on paper (one of my favorite parts of writing!).

--Heimdall Thunderhammer

Inkheart (Inkworld #1) by Cornelia Funke

Meggie is a young girl who loves books and lives alone with her book-repairer father Mo. One night a strange fire-eating man named Dustfinger appears at their house and encourages Mo and Maggie to flee. Maggie winds up learning that Mo is capable of reading characters out of books and that one of the villains that he read out, a fiend named Capricorn, is seeking him to use him for his skills.

This is a great concept but a mediocre book. I attempted to read it a few years ago and got so bored by it that I stopped after a few chapters. I forced myself to read it again and was finally able to finish it. Once the story got going it got better, but it still remains a rather slow and ho-hum read.

I think she really missed a fantastic opportunity that would have made this book much greater. They should have written and published the actual version of Inkheart that Mo read from. How cool would that be? I was really more interested in that book as opposed to the one I was reading. I think that would have really made the characters mean more to me, for the most part I found most of them rather flat.

Reading Level: A

Story: 3

The story was okay, but not nearly as good as it could have been.

Characters: 3

The characters for the most part weren't very interesting. The only one I really liked was Dustfinger. The others were bland, even the villain Capricorn. He seemed much more interesting when they spoke about him from the book that he was read out of, but when you meet him he's just very... Meh.

Style: 4

The style worked for the story, but it might be too slow for most young readers.

Cover: 3

Nothing special here.

Presentation: 3

The pictures at the end of each chapter repeated every few chapters and didn't add anything to the book. Other than that it was very plain.

Epicness: 2

It fails to be very epic, I think tweaking the story and following my idea would have raised the epicness of the story.

Final Score: 3.0