Matthias Mouse, whose home is being attacked by the evil rat Cluny the Scourge, is on a quest to recover the legendary sword of Martin of Redwall, so that he can meet Cluny in battle. There are riddles and secret passageways, old enemies and unexpected friends, and of course, several mighty battle scenes!

I adore the full novel, Redwall, so seeing it in graphic form was exciting! There is so much more depth to the story that couldn't be included in this format, but it still managed to fit most everything in there, although it feels a bit rushed.

I wasn't really a fan of the artwork. Too many teeth. Literally every evil creature was just all teeth and gaping eyeballs. bleh. And I had pictured the good creatures as more cute, not quite so ferocious and homely. After all, they are supposed to be peaceful abbey dwellers, so I imagined them as dignified for the old ones or cute for the younger ones. Oh well.

I would recommend reading this if you've already read the novel Redwall, and it's a lovely revisit to the story!

This is an epic poem in four Cantos about a young man, disillusioned with life, who goes on a tour of Europe, reflecting on wars fought in various countries and their histories, and ultimately deciding that life sucks, and there is no love or peace to be found anywhere. (Yay. So it's a happy poem.) There are many references to a hidden emotional pain of Harold's that forced him to leave England and haunts him wherever he goes, marring his enjoyment of life. What that painful secret is, we never find out.

The poetry itself is beautiful, of course, but I was hoping for more of a plot instead of all these ramblings and reflections on history and society. The entire poem is rabbit trails with no real resolution! There's little to no structure in the story.

Most of the references to history, wars and battles, poets and politicians, were ones that I did not immediately recognize, or although I recognized a historical name, I did not remember the story attached to that person. Who was Sappho? I forget. A poet who killed herself, I think. I don't know what happened at the Convention of Cintra or the Battle of Morat, so... yeah.

The only thing that Harold finds to console him in his despair is Nature, and there are some beautiful passages about the Swiss Alps, rivers, oceans, and forests. Harold decides that he cannot connect on any meaningful level with others in society, so he must turn to Nature for the peace lacking in the human race.

Mostly, I just let the beautiful words wash over me, and enjoyed what I could.

Tozer goes through most of the verses in 1 Peter, giving an overall view of what it means to be a Christian: what the true Christian believes, how the true Christian acts, and how the true Christian lives in a fallen world.

I found some of the writing to be wonderfully deep and insightful, but other parts were almost childish in their simplicity. There's also a lot of repetition of the same ideas, same words, over again, and that got on my nerves.

The content is excellent with strong doctrine, but the writing is flabby and could use more editing.

Tozer sometimes makes fun of situations or beliefs of certain people, and his somewhat rude style of humor fell flat for me. Maybe because it was written in the 1950s era, I just don't get that sort of humor. We are much more careful about how we treat opposing beliefs these days, but Tozer comes right out and says, this person is idiotic in their beliefs. I prefer to see an apologist PROVE that false beliefs are idiotic, and not just say so. Maybe he just didn't have room in the book to disprove every fallacy though.

Not his best book, but still a wonderful read with lots of spiritual encouragement!

This first book was a little disappointing for me. I'm not sure if I expected something different from the anime, or if I wanted more from the artwork. Something just didn't click for me with this first one. I've heard that the artwork gets better through the series though.

I adore Tohru and Kyo and Yuki! They are characters with a lot of depth, and we see from the very beginning how they each deal with pain and anxiety. They are all grieving over something in their past, and searching for healing.
In the middle of all the comedy and magic hilarity, there are many darker themes hinted at already in the first volume.

I'm loving the depth of this manga, and how things are similar and yet different to the anime.

There are so many of my favorite scenes in this volume! I love how Tohru keeps finding Kyo on rooftops, usually surrounded by cats. haha!
I love any scene with Tohru's friends, Hana and Uotani. They are both such weird and wild people, and I adore their strange dialogue!
Random Momiji kisses and hugs just make me happy. I really want to see Momiji doing his New Year's dance!

I did NOT like that Yuki was dressed up as a girl to increase sales at their fair. That was weird and gross and creepy. But it was very cute when he got a button caught in his hair!

Once again, I was heartbroken by Hatori's backstory. So sad to lose someone you love!

In this volume, we meet Hatsuharu with his wild hair and dark side. I love this guy! I think it's hilarious how the guys are always fighting and Tohru is so upset, always trying to make peace between them, but in the end all these zodiac guys really do care about each other.
They may fight and get on each other's last nerve, but they are still family.

I love the whole storyline with the Valentine's chocolates. It's funny how something so small can be very telling in people's relationships.
I'm so annoyed with Shigure for being so mean to his editor and not meeting his writing deadline. Get the job done, man!

Everyone going to the hotsprings was really fun, and it's nice to see Tohru getting a little vacation. Oh, that crazy Momiji! He is so full of energy!
I loved Momiji's story about the "Most Foolish Traveler in the World", and his philosophy on generosity. That's one seriously wise little boy!

The hostess at the hot springs was much less annoying in print. In the anime, I had to mute her dialogue, because she screams everything and I hated it. Calm yourself down! So it's not my favorite, but she was tolerable in the manga.

Once again, Momiji is doling out sage advice, this time on the subject of memories. I adore that kid! Knowing more about his backstory in this volume is just heartbreaking.

Spoiler

But why is Momiji wearing the wrong uniform? Why? What is up with the crossdressing? It makes no sense.

One of my favorite scenes is Kyo protecting Tohru from high school guys trying to chat her up, and then he calls her a doofus. Every time Kyo does something nice, he has to be rude later to make up for it. haha!

Akito completely freaks me out! I am so scared of that maniac. He is nuts and violent and horrible. But I suppose a good villain brings the heroes closer together.

Aaya is such a jokester, you can never believe a single word he says. He barely has one serious sentence in the entire volume, and his stories about his high school days are weird. I don't know if I like him, or an annoyed by him. In real life, I would hate being around him, but in a book I like him. And Yuki is a serious person, so no wonder Aaya's jokes just annoy and offend him.

I liked that everyone rallies around Tohru though. They all truly care about her!

This volume begins with everyone vacationing at the lake. I'm not really sure what purpose the lake has in the plot, but our characters resolve some personal issues and we see the Mabudachi Trio supporting one another and offering advice.

Once again, Ayame is trying to bond with his younger brother, without any success because Ayame is a self-centered idiot. But he's so funny that I like him anyway!

I DO get tired of Tohru apologizing to everyone all the time. Why does she always assume that everything is her own fault?

Kisa makes her first appearance and the cuteness level jumps up to super nova! That child is so adorable it makes my eyes hurt! The way that Kisa's emotional pain and fear is mirrored in Yuki's experiences is wonderful writing, and it's so perfect that Yuki is the one who encourages Kisa to show bravery. Even Momiji's fears regarding his mother are brought into the emotional mix with Kisa, and I loved how Tohru is an inspiration to all of them as these characters become closer.

The storyline with Motoko, the president of the Yuki Fan Club, was hilarious, and I loved seeing Hana at home. She's so mysterious and weird and I love it!

I love how any time that Tohru is in trouble, there are more and more people who rally around her, to fight for her, to take care of her, or maybe just to study for exams together.

This volume felt like it was out of order to me, since the storyline follows a different order in the anime. It seemed like there was a lot of action in the beginning, and then the action sort of fizzled out in the following chapters. It was also very serious and dark in the beginning, and lighthearted and silly at the end, which felt backwards.

I just adore Kyo! He has so much rage, and we finally find out some of his secrets in this volume. He starts to find out that in order to heal, sometimes you have to cut open the wound again to clean it out. It's a tough time for him, but he's lucky to have Tohru around to support and encourage him!

Yuki is also making strides towards becoming a better person, opening his heart to those around him. He goes to visit his brother's clothing shop, and finds that it is not quite what he expected! But as always, Yuki has Tohru to pull him through and inspire him!

Tohru always seems to know exactly the right thing to say to show compassion and heal the specific hurts that people have. I think it's because she has a good imagination that allows her to place herself in that person's shoes and empathize with their pain.

Lots of character development in this volume!

In this book, Tohru's friends can't stand seeing her in her old middle school bathing suit, so they pool their money and buy her a new one! While they are shopping, Uotani opens up about her past running with a gang, and how Tohru's mother helped her find self-respect again. I love the flashbacks!

We meet Hiro Sohma for the first time here, and I hate that stupid kid so much. He's consistently rude to everyone, and while I understand that comes from some deep pain, I can't really forgive him for it. He pushes everyone away, and he's so mean to Tohru! I do love seeing his friendship with Kisa though. I'm hoping to see lots of character development from Hiro in the future, because that horrid little monster child needs some redemption or something.

I'm getting increasingly disturbed by all the domestic abuse going on from Akito, the head of the family. Is there any member of the Sohma family that he hasn't beaten up? And why do they all forgive him, and say 'it's not his fault', and 'you can't blame Akito'? Maybe it's the culture that the head of the family can do no wrong, but that guy needs to be in jail!

I swear, that Motoko, the president of the Yuki Fan Club, is nutso. She is certifiable insane and weird. She says the craziest things trying to express her love for Yuki, and her obsession is gonna cause problems.

Diving straight into the next volume!