Fwirl vs Song!

[Wylder Treejumper]

Well, yes and no...

Regardless, the book Triss is one of my favorites.

[Cornflower MM]

I'll have to argue with you on Tries sometime. But not today. Brain. Fried.

[Wylder Treejumper]

What do you have against Triss?

[The Skarzs]

If you look at the pictures at the beginning of the chapters as what the characters look like, the entire story in your head is odd, because I personally think the pictures don't give the characters justice.

[Leatho Shellhound]

From which book, Marlfox or Taggerung? If there is one thing I didn't like about the book illustrations it's that there wasn't enough of them.

[Jasper]

Regardless, the book Triss is one of my favorites.

Spoiler alert: Don't read any more if you've never read Triss 





Yeah that was one of my favorites when I was younger. I was really sad when Shogg died.

[Cornflower MM]

What do you have against Triss?

It's just.....Meh.

[Leatho Shellhound]

What do you have against Triss?

It's just.....Meh.

Really, back up you reasoning.

[Wylder Treejumper]

What do you have against Triss?

It's just.....Meh.

You are so specific, Corny. I admire your gift with words. 

[James Gryphon]

Mod: I felt it'd be appropriate to warn y'all that the last three posts are exactly what I was talking about in that recent announcement. This board is not a chat room. I'm glad that you're posting here, and I encourage everybody to keep that up, but we need a little more content than one-line posts with very general remarks.

---

I read Triss a few years back, I believe at the same time I reread Mattimeo. I liked a lot of the book, but I do think that the group of central protagonists was one of the least interesting ones, particularly Triss herself. It seems that several of Mr. Jacques' later stories focused on the idea of having the central protagonist be destined to greatness, whether because of their background, or some prophecy. Taggerung, which was released right before Triss, obviously features this motif. We also see it come up in High Rhulain and The Sable Quean. I'm not altogether against having the descendent of somebody or another have their predecessor's strengths, but there's a point when it's been done too much.

Triss, in my mind, executed this more clumsily than Taggerung or Sable Quean. My memory of the book is fuzzy, so pardon me if I'm wrong, but as a slave, I doubt Triss had ever had the opportunity to handle a sword prior to arriving at Redwall. Yet in a matter of days, or perhaps a few weeks, she's already an elite fighter and capable of easily beating someone like Kurda. Now, I don't claim that Princess Pinkeyes was a great fighter; actually, I think she was quite mediocre, at best. Even so, though, her seasons of limited practice, and the positive experience she gained from fighting Plugg, should have given her an edge over her former slave. Yet this doesn't happen, and if I remember right, the main reason given for it is that Triss was the daughter of some great swordfighter.

There are more overpowered protagonists (Mariel and Tiria Wildlough come to mind), but just because Triss wasn't as overdone as some of the other heroes doesn't make it okay. Besides, the part where Kurda basically just ran away and died, and then the heroes easily took over Riftgard, was really anticlimactic. I understand that the snakes were really the main villain(s), but I think the ferrets should have gone down a little harder than that.

[Jasper]

Irrefutable points there James, all the villains fall in a matter of a dozen pages. Even the snakes are defeated quickly. I do think, however, that people don't necessarily enjoy Triss for the action scenes. Rather than focusing on battle, I think Triss spends a lot of time on  characterizing each and every one of its characters. That's why I connected a lot more with Triss, Scarum, Sax, Shogg and Kroova as each one went on a completely separate journey.

[Tim Churchmouse]

Definitely Fwirl

[The Skarzs]

Yes!

[Tam and Martin]

Fabulous
With
Injecting
Rancid
Leftovers



Gotta be somethin' better than that.

[TW]

It could be because Marlfox was my first, but I have to go with Song. She just sticks out in my memory more than Fwirl does. I just enjoy characters of her personality type. I really enjoyed Song's scenes in Marlfox and I enjoyed Cregga's reminiscences of her in Taggerung, especially the part about the monocle. It created a sense of familiarity.

I must admit, though, my memories of some of the side characters in Taggerung are a dim. I haven't read either one in a few years. I'm passively rereading the series chronologically, but I'm reading other books in between. I'll revisit this after I've reread both.