I thought the first book was quite well done, but while I liked the story of this one, something about the pacing and the way it was done just felt off. I felt the first book did a fair job of switching between parts of the story and shifting views, but this one felt much messier. There was switching mid chapter at various points and I found myself losing the thread of the story and had to retrack several times to figure out what had happened and what was going on. It's very rare that I ever have to do it, so if I do, it's a problem.

A different set up than Redwall, but pretty similar in many ways. I can see a formula developing here- not necissarily a bad thing, I can roll with formulatic writing as long as there are things to keep it fresh.

That aside, I liked the building on Martin and getting to learn more about the celebrated mouse warrior from Redwall. Thought the villian was quite good, though I kept expecting something more to come with her brother and disappointed that there wasn't. It had an unfinished feel to it, which I suspect may be the point as I have been assured that the books jump back and forth in the timeline. This may drive me a little batty, I like to read things in chronological order. ^^ ;