Rating: 
Summary: An Adventure Packed Tale
Review: "Loamhedge" is another epic Redwall tale jam-packed with adventure and intrigue. The 16th book of the Redwall series is exciting from the very beginning. I have read all of the other Redwall books and every new book has been a little better than the last.
There are two main characters whose lives are portrayed in the story. Lonna Bowstripe is a badger who has always been a wandering warrior. The other main character is Martha Braebuck, who is a young haremaid always searching for knowledge. Both Martha and Lonna have friends that help them in their adventures. Horty Braebuck (Martha's brother), Abbot Carrul (head of Redwall Abbey), Bragoon and Saro (two of Redwall's best warriors), and Toran (the otter cook) all guide and advise Martha throughout her life at Redwall. Lonna's friends are the Abruc Sea Otter Clan (who healed him from a terrible vermin attack), Garfo Trok (a river otter who gave him passage up the Mossflower River), and Figalok Twigbenda (who hid Lonna from a horde of Sea Rats). Brian Jacques incorporates two separate plot lines into his story. He begins his novel by introducing Lonna Bowstripe through a tragic experience. The Abruc Otter Clan find Lonna near the Sea Coast with a gashed face, lying on the ground next to a dead older badger. After being brought in and healed by the Clan, Lonna begins his adventures to avenge his close friend's death. The Clan tells Lonna that Raga Bol and his Sea Rat crew have come inland from the coast for the winter and he then vows to kill every last vermin including Raga Bol himself. Lonna sets off on his quest with the aid of the river otter, Garfo Trok. The foundation of Brian Jacques' second plot line is the life of Martha, the young haremaid. The reader is informed that Redwall Abbey is a peaceful fortress in Mossflower County that houses and protects all sorts of working woodland creatures. This Abbey is where Martha leads her life, bound to a wheelchair. Handicapped from birth, Martha often finds free time for reading and gaining knowledge. When Martha discovers that another abbey beast from ancient times, who shared the same condition as Martha, had figured out how to walk, the plot line is revealed. Horty, Fenna, Bragoon, and Saro all set out to find the lost abbey of Loamhedge where the cure for Martha has been supposedly recorded. This begins the adventure to Loamhedge. A main theme that appears often throughout the story is good triumphing over evil. Bragoon and Saro left Redwall as Dibbuns (young babes) to search for adventure. They become great warriors and fight vermin in Mossflower for a living. Whenever Bragoon and Saro fight they rarely shed blood. The reader sees them trick a fox and his filthy vermin crew out of their lunch and later save woodland creatures from ten score nasty vermin without a scratch. This theme is also evident in the actions of Lonna Bowstripe. Lonna saves Figalok and her squirrels from a terrible vermin threat that had been harassing the squirrel colony for their entire life. This theme is emphasized throughout the book.
I encourage any Redwall enthusiasts to read this book and if one has not read a Redwall book yet, do it! You will not be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: Apparantly Brian hasn't lost his touch.The sixteenth book in the Redwall series.Martha the hare is confined to a wheelchair so a group of animals set out to Loamhedge to find a cure.Meanwhile at the Abbey Raga Bol and his hord are attepting to capture the Abbey.With the help of a badger, can they stop him?To find out you have to read this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Welcome Surprise
Review: As most of us who have been reading the Redwall series for a while think, ever since the book Marlfox, the quality of the books have gone down a bit. It's apparent that Brian Jacques was writing for a younger audience (the dibbun humor, and the humor in general), and his books mainly follow the same plotline: A few friends go on an adventure, one of them carrying Martin's sword, magically learning how to use it like a pro without any previous training. Loamhedge was a nice change from that story line. It's also his best coming of age story yet! I think BJ is coming out of his slump, and I cannot wait for his next book, Rackety Tam. Keep it up, Brian!!! ^_^
Rating:
Summary: Another Redwall story of animal warriers and heroes
Review: Brian Jacques' Loamhedge provides another Redwall story of animal warriers and heroes to kids who read at the middle through high school grade levels - and many an adult. Here a young hare-made, wheelchair-bound since infancy, decides to investigate the secrets of a deserted abbey Loamhedge in hopes of a cure for her condition, only to encounter young rebels who may hold her key to freedom. Add a number of sub-plots to this moving tale and you have an appealing account.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable read
Review: Fans of Brian Jacques should be delighted with this latest installment of the Redwall series. As in the fifteen books preceding, LOAMHEDGE is full of mystery, adventure, romance, tragedy, and a myriad of characters we care about. In this book we are introduced to the wheelchair-bound hare named Martha Braebuck. More than anything, Martha would love to walk again, and this possibility comes to her through a vision/dream in which Martin the Warrior gives her some hints concerning the old abbey. If she can uncover these secrets, Martha should be able to lead a normal life. When she shares her vision with other folks at the Abbey, they all work together to turn this miracle into a reality. This "quest" is helped along by the zany and loving characters of Braggon the otter and Sarobando the squirrel, best friends and former pranksters of the abbey who have been on their own world adventures and are ready and willing for yet another. As always there are many layers to these stories, as interesting little characters weave in and out, creating subplots and more adventures. They include Martha's mischievous brother Horty --- who runs off with Sarobando and Braggon to help his sister, the evil searat Raga Bol (who holds the abbey under siege) --- and of course, all the fun "Redwallers" who are part of the colorful tapestry of the Redwall series. Jacques's ability to create these wonderful personalities, evil and good, from animals is the height of skilled anthropomorphic writing. He has a huge following with a web site that is visited by many fans around the world (www.redwall.org). Outstanding artists lend these books an even greater depth --- all the covers are beautifully done, including this one with Troy Howell's beautiful painting. Charming ink drawings by David Elliot introduce each chapter and are also often featured on the web site. Even if you have never read any books in this series before, you will still enjoy this latest addition to Redwall. --- Reviewed by Sally M. Tibbetts (...)
Rating: 
Summary: Slightly disappointing
Review: First I would like to say that Sir_wishall made a few good points about Loamhedge,which i would like to agree with. Yes,it is same old same old, and yes the villans are always the same,but isn't that the point of Redwall? I personally get satisfaction from reading familiar-ish stories that are related.E.g at the end of 'The Taggerung' where Russano turns up with the long patrol,it isn't a surprise and that sort of 'last-ditch help' has happened before,but its an excellent moment nonetheless.I own all of the Redwall books and am an avid reader,but I don't take the books as a serious novel,more an enjoyable yarn.The points though are fairly true.The formula is starting to tire, and 'Triss' was a pretty poor book.Anyway,Loamhedge is a good read.It is enjoyable throughout,and Jaques' ability to whet the (fans) appetite with infomation on the history of the world of Mossflower is good here,especially with the nostalgic nods toward Mattemio (though my lips are sealed).The characters are good,but not as good as previous characters,as Jaques doesn't explore the charaters fully,leaving them as a seeming supporting character.The main characters therefore are probably Horty and Martha. Problems arise here,as the characters seem very distant. Another problem is that the book is overly predictable and there is no huge battle ,instead there are smaller ones,that seem rushed.Also Jaques at times seems to get carried away,and as in previous books writes something out of turn with the world he has created.When Martha just gets up and walks,the point of the book becomes irrelevant.Moments like this have hampered an otherwise great series through all the books,where his 'animals are medieval humans' idea becomes unrealistic and off balence with the major idea.Still,problems aside this is a good book,so read it,and you will enjoy it,but Jaques needs to prodoce something aweome from his next book to keep his fanbase,as they have started to drift away since 'The Legend of Luke'.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring and Uninventive
Review: I am 18 years old and have outgrown Redwall. There's no question about that. However, I own books 1-13 (Redwall-Lord Brocktree), and am still a huge Redwall fan. Having said that, this book is terrible. The last two installments in the series before this one, Taggerung and Triss, are also terrible. Now, I read all three of these books within the space of the last year or so, when I was just beginning to lose interest in the books, so a case could be made that I didn't enjoy the books simply because I have outgrown them. But I still enjoy my old Redwall books, and will still read them every once in awhile, and I foresee that I will continue to do so for many years, because many of the early Redwall books (particularly Redwall, Mossflower, Martin the Warrior, and The Bellmaker) are timeless classics that I will enjoy for the rest of my life. Yes, they are childish, and yes, I have outgrown them, but I still find it enjoyable to re-visit that period about five or six years ago when I was reading these fantastic stories for the first time. These are books that are fun and entertaining to read. But not so with books 14-16, and especially this one, Loamhedge, which I believe is the worst Redwall book yet. There are several primary reasons for this book's lack of appeal, and I'm going to try and explain those to the best of my ability: 1. It's boring. I don't really know of any other way to say it. It was an arduous task to get through this book, and the only reason I did finish it was out of respect for Jacques' past work, and out of a hope that his previous form would eventually show up somewhere in the story. But it never did, and after I finished I couldn't help feeling that I had just wasted several hours that could have been spent doing something constructive, because I certainly didn't get anything out of reading Loamhedge. 2. Same old, same old, and this could be said about any Redwall book other than the first one, but the lack of inventiveness in Jacques' storytelling seems to be getting worse. All his characters are exactly the same. In the scene where they are introduced, they might do something that actually shows a little bit of individuality; they will show some strange quirk or habit, or something like that, but then it'll be over. For the duration of the story, they will be identical to every other character. This is except for, of course, their speech type, which remains one of Jacques' best inventions; that is, the differing speech types for different species. But other than that, they're all the same. Hey, you want to know what makes a Redwall bad guy? Well, here's the outline for you so you can go create your own: Redwall Bad Guy Outline -must be one of the principle "bad" creatures: rat, fox, ferret, Greatrat, marlfox, stoat, weasel, marten, or wildcat (might be one or two outlandish ones I'm forgetting) -must be physically intimidating and a fearsome fighter -must be a coward -must have some odd trait or feature about him/her (the long tail of Cluny, the six claws of Swartt, the insanity of Tsarmina and Gabool, the hideous face of Slagar, the blue eyes of Ferahgo, the wolf's hide of Urgan Nagru, the hypnotic eyes of Ublaz, Damug Warfang the "Greatrat," the marlfoxes). Vilu Daskar (I think that's his name) of The Legend of Luke doesn't have any odd traits that I can recall, and I can't remember the names of any of the other books, but I'm sure they had some sort of a distinguishing trait or physical feature about them. What this does is to distract you from the fact that this bad guy is exactly the same as the last bad guy, and all the bad guys before him. He/she is a coward who doesn't actually fight in a real battle until the end when he/she is forced into a duel with one or more of the principle heroes of the story. This happens in every book. Note: This does not apply to Cluny the Scourge, who was not a coward, and who remains the best Redwall bad guy and one of the coolest bad guys ever created. But anyway, this reveiw has gotten kind of long and un-organized and I'm nearing the limit on words, so I'll have to finish it without actually finishing. The point is, I did not like Loamhedge because it was boring, uninventive, and, what it really boiled down to was that it was a task to get through a book that I was reading "for fun." I am now done with Redwall, and will do my best to keep from reading any new Redwall books that Jacques writes. It will be difficult because no matter how bad these new books become, I will always have my old ones that have stood the test of time.
Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK RULES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I am a HUGE fan of Mr. Jaques and the Redwall series, but Loamhedge simply didn't do it for me.
As other reviewers have noted, this is not a book about Loamhedge itself, but a story partly about a journey to the abandoned abbey to find a remedy for a young hare who is unable to walk. I found this to be a bit of a disappointment. Loamhedge continues to linger on the periphery of the Redwall series, and perhaps one day we will hear its tale in full. One can only hope.
There were the usual endearing characters that Mr. Jaques is so proficient at creating (the otters, Martha, the dibbuns, Lonna, etc), but this time I found too many of the main players to be grating and difficult to like. Horty and his companions in particular tried my patience, which is highly unfortunate since the majority of the book focuses on them.
Overall, the story is adventurous and well-paced, full of action and excellent dialogue. On occasion the plot was a tad bit predictable, but not necessarily to the detriment of the tale.
Loamhedge occupies a well-deserved place on my shelf with the rest of the Redwall series, just not quite as prominent a ranking.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest series ever just got better!!!
Review: I am not new to the series that is Redwall, I have read every book and own almost the complete set, and I am proud to say that Brain Jacques just wrote one of the best books I have ever read. It is filled with new villians, new friends, and tons more of that magic that only Brain can make. It is amazing!!!
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best!!
Review: I am so excited to get this book. My friend already got it and says it's the best. We both like the Redwall series. Im gettin it on Friday. I have a funny feeling something is going to happen to redwall.
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