Commentary on the Book The Bellmaker

[Wylder Treejumper]

For discussion related to the book The Bellmaker.

@James Gryphon: If these topics are considered unnecessary please delete.

[belle]

It was entertaining and good, liked it better than Mariel of Redwall anyway.

[alexandre]

     It had BLaggut  also, I like how it continued the story instead of leaving it like they did in Salamandastron, and Samkin and Arula returned home and grew old (there is proof in the epilouge) and never did anything of interest again. In The Bellmaker it continued the story of Mariel and Dandin and even indicated that they went off in search of more adventures at the end of that(sounds like worthy material for a fanfic...)and it just doesn't seem like all the Redwall heroes in other books could have just settled down after tasting adventure, it would have been nice if there was some indication of that in other books, but alas no. Only the Bellmaker.





        - The Redwall Resident Rat

[clunylooney]

I love this book. I love all the plot lines. The characters in this book are great such as Joseph, Mariel, Dandin, Rufe Brush, Hon Rosie, Rab Streambattle, Egburt the Scholar and of course, Finbarr Galedeep. Finbarr is one of my favorite redwal characters of all time.

Finbarr Arc

I nearly cried at his, (spoiler!) death.

[close]

Almost forgot Blaggut! He is also one of my favorite characters in the entire series, he was so nice and sweet and I love how he became friends with the abbeydwellers. The only downside to this book is that, like it's predecessor, the main villains kind of sucked.

[Rosie Willowwater]

Welcome to the seventh book in our series readalong event: The Bellmaker!

For those who have not already seen, here are a couple things to note before you start discussing:

• Please keep your posts here and in the entirety of the General Discussion board on-topic and constructive. When discussing topics like favorites, it always helps to give reasoning as to why you chose your favorite character, scene, etc. When in doubt, add more! It is always fun to see what other people think and respectfully debate with them.
• If you would like to participate but don't own the book, there are a few resources that may be of use to you. Libby, Audible, and (of course) your local library, are all good ways to rent books/audiobooks for free (Audible is free only for the first 30-day trial). There is no harm in permanently expanding your Redwall collection though if you can afford it!
• If you want even more Redwall discussion, please check out the Recorder on the Wall podcast episodes for the book! Every three weeks we will be posting the relevant episodes, so please check them out. Here are the episodes for Parts 1, 2, and 3 of The Bellmaker!
• If you have created any writing, art, voice acting, or any other form of media based on this book and/or its characters, send a link (or image if it is art) to me through PMs and I will share it in this post! Seeing how other people portray the story through their own work is a wonderful way to be drawn deeper into the story and wider Redwall community.

Finally, here are a few guiding questions for discussion if you are unsure what to talk about:

• Who is your favorite character, and why do you regard them as your favorite?
• Who was your least favorite character, and why did they bother you?
• What was your favorite scene? What stuck out to you about it?
• What are your thoughts on the book as a whole? Where does it rank against other Redwall books and why?
• Do you have any theories or small details others may not have picked up on when reading?
• And anything else you want to mention!

Have fun, and happy discussing!

[Sailears]

I also love this book - it's the closest Redwall gets to more of a traditional "fairy tale" kind of setting.

But more importantly the good characters are all outstanding (including Blaggut). Best crew in the entire series - each one is full of personality. Helps that we had a prequel to build up a number of characters - Mariel having gone through the trauma previously and now in a confident space, Dandin from another angle but likewise has grown a lot from the previous book, Rosie - arguably one of the best hares in the series (Rockjaw Grang is still top here!), and amazing new characters of Finbarr etc. Also a major reason I use this avatar.

A good variety of locations - on sea, on land, in the Abbey and in Southsward. Favourite scene is probably the section around the Maelstrom in the sea. Terrifying and compelling at the same time - I always wonder how deep the sea/ocean is in Redwall relative to the size of the creatures. It's never really explored given of course no diving gear, and only having contact with the few tribes of sea creatures in a few books. So it remains a big mystery and could be anything down there.

And I love the little rhyme at the beginning of the book - "...This is the Bellmaker's story, because the dream was his." One of the most compact and memorable in the series.

I rate it very highly - only prefer to rate Loamhedge above it because usually that book isn't well received so I like to stand up for it. But Bellmaker is so good.

Always wanted to imagine where they sailed off to in the end - did they ever return to Redwall, did they survive etc. One of the bigger mysteries - most characters you know what happens to them in the end (in the Epilogues or whatever), but this is one of the few instances where the fate of two major characters (and Bowly) is up to the reader's imagination.