Commentary on the Book Eulalia!

[Wylder Treejumper]

For discussion related to the book Eulalia!.

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

[belle]

Well, it had one of my favorite Redwall poems in it. It was interesting for the brier time that Orkwil was a flawed character. It was cool that one of the young vermin, cant remember his name, refused to go along with the villain in the end because he killed a harmless old rat. Other than that, it was just entertaining because it was Redwall, but nothing epic. The Tabura character was pointless, he just came out of nowhere and showed off how "wise" he was by preaching about apples and saying that Salixa and Gorath should be together, which was obvious. It was pretty laughable. I do like that there was a romance, since those are rare in Redwall books, but Salixa was more an archetype of Angelic attributes than a character.

[MeadowR]

Haven't got too much to say, to be honest, but want to have a bit of a say in this thread, having re-read the book.

People tend to rate this book low... I thought it  wasn't too bad, actually. I will admit I didn't remember anything about it other than what the front cover told me, and that I zoned out for a few pages whilst the Brown rats were chasing Maudie and the GUOSIM on the river... but the rest did keep me focused. The foxy villain isn't the most distinctive, granted, and I get that the book might be less interesting for people because the action is pretty much kept to the Redwall/Mossflower area, rather than someone going on a big adventure elsewhere. That latter part I'm okay with myself. I agree that the Tabura didn't do too much; seems simply there to fill a void in Redwall, and agree that Salixa isn't given too much of a character (that seems to be a problem in most of the books that there's a character or two not particularly developed, and it's worse when the character is bigged up, being chosen by Martin or so for a quest and ends up not doing very much in the little team of critters... Orkwil isn't too bad, though; he changes his ways very quickly, but his behaviour in the woods at first was believable and interesting. plus he's not annoying. That vole was a nasty piece of work. Okay, not the best book by any stretch - yet I really did not mind it!

Apologies for the mess of writing. For some reason chose to write this whilst I'm really darn tired... Might edit and add later.

[Cornflower MM]

Welcome to the nineteenth book in our series readalong event: Eulalia!!

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 Eulalia!!
• 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!

[clunylooney]

From memory of reading it almost two years ago (god, has it really been that long?) it was probably the most "fine" book in the series. The Plot,Characters and Storytelling were all very average.

[Tungro]

Probably the book I remember the least about, practically had to force myself to finish