A review by isaacmcintyre
The Builders by Daniel Polansky

2.0

The Builders is quick, fun, and bloody, but two of those three things work against the book just as much as for it. It is undoubtedly fun and that's its shining star, but the quick pace means by the time every character has been introduced it's time for the 'stunning finale' and you walk away wanting more time with them (good and bad, especially when the characters seem so enticing but then you never really get to go beyond that). It's bloody too, which is interesting for an anthropomorphic story, but sometimes it feels like brutality and bloodshed for their sakes and it never really hits the perfect old-time charm the best Redwall books command. There's a gentleness and a peacefulness to the Redwall world that means when everything goes wrong at the abbey or on the adventure you want to see the heroes win back that peace and that same feeling is lacking here a little in The Builders.

The book also suffers from short, stilted chapters and similar prose. There are a few paragraphs and longer chapters that feel like you're getting time to breathe, but in the end, they're too few and far between to really enjoy the writing style.

Did love the very final chapter; a fitting end to a well-wrapped revenge story.