Over the past few years, I have heard some people compare the Redwall books with The Lord of The Rings series.  Actually, the Redwall books are very different from the LOTR. It is true that both deal with fantasy and good vs. evil but there the resemblance ceases. The Redwall books deal in intense violence and bloodshed all throughout the books. There is evil in the LOTR too but in LOTR, I think that the evil is not so graphic even though it is, in my opinion, a darker evil. Of course, in the end of both books, good wins and evil is conquered but is that a good enough reason to fill a story with a lot of harsh talk and cruel characters? I agree with the fact that it is necessary to make your readers understand how wicked the evil characters are but I think that this can be done without using so much violence and rough language. It is very easy to tell who is wicked in the LOTR but Tolkien still does not use so much of what Sam calls "orc-talk" in his books. The Redwall books dwell so much on the evil side of the story. To state it simply, I think that the LOTR are inspiring books, whereas the Redwall series are really just rough adventure tales.

            Another difference between the LOTR trilogy and the Redwall series is that in the LOTR, the characters and creatures are either invented or used in other stories but they are all more or less, "human" in their looks and speech. In the Redwall books, the characters are animals that dress and talk like humans. I do not think that nature should be changed like that and turned into something evil. After all, rats aren't, by nature, evil creatures. They are just innocent animals.  I know this is just a preference of mine, but I love nature and have a hard time looking at sparrows, owls and other animals in the same way, after I read some of the Redwall Series. I don’t know, I just feel like the author tampered with God’s creation too much.

            Of course, all this doesn't mean that the Redwall books are bad like some books are. I just think that they are not really good enough to be worth my time.  Dissenting opinions are welcome, but please don’t throw stones. 

Frodo