Mattimeo (Redwall #3), Brian Jacques. New York: Ace Books, 1989.

Summary: Mattimeo, the spirited son of Matthias the Warrior, along with four other children, are kidnapped as an act of revenge by Slagar the Cruel. When Matthias and other warriors pursue, including the Sparra folk, Redwall’s remaining inhabitants must fight off an invasion of magpies and ravens.

Mattimeo is the spirited son of Matthias the Warrior of Redwall. When a guest of Redwall, Vitch, insults Matthias, Matthias violates the hospitality of Redwall to give Vitch a good beating. Turns out that Vitch, who is a spy for Slagar the Cruel, deserved far worse. Slagar, nursing a perceived grievance against Matthias going back to the invasion of Cluny the Rat, has been planning his revenge. He devises a plan to kidnap the children of Redwall including Matthias own Mattimeo, posing, with his followers, as a wandering band of entertainers who arrive in time for the great summer feast. With the help of Vitch’s intelligence, they drug the revelers, kidnap the children, pursuing a southward path to sell them as slaves to Malkariss, the rat king.

When Matthias and the revelers awaken, they find five of their children gone. Matthias with his impressive sword, along with Jess Squirrel and Basil Hare go off in pursuit, joined with others from Mossflower forest along the way including Orlando the Badger with his battle axe and Log-a-log and the shrews, staunch allies of the Abbey. They’ve also lost children and they join forces to recover them, relentlessly heading south, they know not into what.

This concerns the abbot who remembers that the founders came from the south. Perhaps they’ve left clues that could be of help to Matthias and his band. They find a map and a poetic riddle. But how to get them to Matthias? Enter Warbeak and the Sparras from the lofty parts of the Abbey. They volunteer to take the map to Matthias, leaving only the young and the old behind. This creates the second plotline of the story, the invasion of the ravens under General Ironbeak, assisted by magpies who occupy the heights of the abbey and gradually everything except for an underground shelter, amply stocked with food, a refuge for the now beseiged dwellers of Redwall, bereft of their warriors.

The plot goes back and forth between Mattimeo and the captives who grow up quickly, children no longer, Matthias, facing overwhelming rat forces, and the Redwall inhabitants, who must devise ways to fight off and defeat their bird foes.

Several things I enjoyed. First of all, Slagar is a truly savvy foe, clever in turning things to his own advantage, playing upon his followers ambitions while ruthlessly eliminating them when they’ve served their purpose, and never over-reaching. I also love how, even in hardship, the inhabitants of Redwall never fail to honor each other as well as enjoy a good meal! Even the prisoners look after each other and other enslaved, Mattimeo comforting fearful Tess, and becoming a leader in the process.

I also appreciate the combination of courage against overwhelming odds as well as the restraint against wanton killing. Yes, foes are killed in battle, but others are allowed to live, or they die by other means than at the hands of Redwallers. This mirrors the commitment of the Abbey to be a place of hospitality and healing. In contrast to cruel figures like Ironbeak and Slagar, the Redwallers expand their community and its alliances by hospitality and generosity and compassion and mutual aid. While not naive toward evil (perhaps careless and wanting in vigilance at points), they choose a world where beasts are won by kindness, if at all possible, and not brute force. These stories cultivate in readers both clear-eyed realism, and the love of goodness in creation and its fruits, and in peaceable community with one’s “fellow beasts.” They invite us to wonder whether this just be fantasy or worth pursuing in our own jaded world.