Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series by Brian Jacques

Read by: Anna/Copley Teen Room

This is the story of a young, mute boy, Ben, and his faithful black lab, Ned. They are stuck aboard a ship called The Flying Dutchman, where an evil captain rules. When the ship is destroyed and the crew cursed to roam the seas forever, the boy and his dog are saved by one of God’s angels who curses them to roam the earth forever, never growing older. The angel gives them both special powers. Ben can now speak any language he needs to, and the two have a mind bond that allows them to communicate with each other via thought. Together Ben and Ned travel the world as directed by the angel and help anyone they can along the way. But even as they travel, The Flying Dutchman and its evil captain haunt their dreams and forshadow terrible things to come.

There are three books to this series: Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, The Angel’s Command, and Voyage of Slaves.  I’ve just finished the third book, but since I haven’t reviewed any of the books here yet, this review will cover the series as a whole. If you like adventures, especially seafaring adventures, you’ll like these books. These can be read by older kids and teens alike. While there is a lot of action, this series is very different from Brian Jacques’ Redwall series. The avenging angel directs Ben and Ned, but it’s not overly religious at all. It’s a historical fantasy series, so the religion is only included as part of the time period for the most part. In the third book, unlike the others, there are characters from all over the world, and sometimes they use pet names (such as My Sweet, or Little Girl) for each other in their native languge. Those words, when first used, are starred, and an English translation is put at the bottom of the page. Overall, this is a great series where friends are made, evil doers are caught, and everything is righted in the end. It’s a fun, relaxing read. The final book has an ending that works well as an ending to the series as a whole. I say this  because it was very possible the author meant to write more before his death, but I don’t know for sure. This ending could go either way for the series, so you, as a reader, are not left hanging, needing to know what happens next. The books should be read in order, but each story is wrapped up at the end of each book.

Doomwyte by Brian Jacques

Read by: Anna/Copley Teen Room

This is the story of the woodland creatures of Redwall Abby who live by the code of honor and friendship to all. A riddle is found that was written by Gonff the Prince of Mousethieves many seasons ago, detailing the whereabouts of the Doomwyte Eyes. These are four precious jewels Gonff stole from the Wytes, a murderous band of birds and their snakes, who still harbor a hatred toward any creature they can kill and eat. Not only is there one riddle to start off the search for the jewels, there are several more along the way. Not only are there riddles, there are plenty of songs, feasts, fights, bad guys, good guys, laughter, love, and lots of fun.

I just finished this wickedly awesome fantasy adventure novel this afternoon and completely loved every minute of it. Some of the Redwall books seem to be the same as the others, but this one provided a fresh story with new creatures and very different adventures that made it fun to read Brian Jacques all over again. I was constantly wondering where the book would end up because at no point was the ending obvious. I especially loved the character of Umphrey Spikkle who showed that one doesn’t need to know how to read and write in order to do good work, have fun, and save the day. He also shows that it’s never to late to learn what all those squiggles on the page actually mean.

A note about Redwall as a series: Brian Jacques (pronounced Jakes) wrote the series to be read in any order. Each novel makes for a good stand alone story. However, I highly recommend reading Redwall and Mossflower first, as they explain the story of Martin the Warrior, the eventual spirit guide who appears in later novels, and the beginnings of Redwall Abby.  I also highly recommend Mossflower because it’s the prequel to Redwall, and is by far, my favorite of all the Redwall books.

But, why not do the same thing on our blog every week? I’ll post their question and you can put your answers in our comments section, or on your own blog and link back to it in our comments (and theirs too, if you’d like, because I’m sure they’d enjoy reading your answers!)

YA Highway is a blog (www.yahighway.com) by a group of young adult authors from all over the world! And every Wednesday YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination, from their blog, and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

But, why not do the same thing on our blog every week? I’ll post their question and you can put your answers in our comments section, or on your own blog and link back to it in our comments (and theirs too, if you’d like, because I’m sure they’d enjoy reading your answers!)

This week’s topic:

Happy Groundhog Day! If the groundhog sees his shadow, we get six more weeks of winter (and we’re hoping he doesn’t, since 2/3 of the US is covered in blizzard right now).

In the movie “Groundhog Day,” Bill Murray has to relive the same day over and over. What books would you pick to read over and over for the rest of your life?

Don’t forget to give the title, author, and your reasoning as well!

Here’s mine: Mossflower by Brian Jacques

This is the prequel to Redwall, and is part of his ongoing/never ending series. This has been a favorite of mine since the first time I read it. It includes awesome animal characters, each with their own voices and accents, lots of adventure and dangerous situations, humor (even during a dangerous battle scene there’s plenty of humor to go around), and even a little romance too.  That’s why I like it. It has a little bit of everything for everyone.