The
‘Pointless’ QBIII Review
By Geo
Holmes
Six months ago, a tale began, that
of ten creatures destined to become Questors, of a mysterious group of
creatures that each received a message of sinister intentions, of an evil power
lurking deep in Mossflower, and of a journey of dangers untold.
It was the third tale of the
Questors Bold, the writing ‘survivor’ story from the great minds of Terrouge.
The premise of this one dwells on
a facet of the Redwall series that left an open-ended question of ‘What
if…?’ It revolves around the empire of
Malkariss, which collapsed at the end of the book Mattimeo, and goes on to the tangent that another evil force is
emerging there. The ten Questors of this contest are each following the ‘Voices’
of this force…and that’s where the adventure begins.
First off, in the opening posts,
the Questors’ back stories are excellent, unlike many of the generic setups
that often overpower the incentive of many RP characters. The categories range
from psychological aspects (Fidget and his jealousy of his sister, the unsure
temperament of Lyosha), a pulling of nature and instinct (the unpredictable
Claude stalking Julius), or a mission of self-understanding and rebuttal (Nian
following a traitor of her tribe), or even an unexpected death (Vitora’s
murderous clash, the death of Almakar’s mother, and Torry’s master being
caught) or other conflicts that drive the characters into this tale.
Little is revealed about the
‘mystery’ of the plot in the beginning; it mostly deals with the expansion of
nature and the meeting of each other on their once-individual paths: Fidget
flies into Lyosha; Claude finds Torry, and soon afterwards Almakar, and lets
them tag along with her; the group of Nian, Ildiko and Romiette tensely meet in
the woods. The only creature that does not interact with any of the Questors
before reaching the city of
A small kink in the storyline, for
the Questors at least, was an unexpected ‘dose of life’, or lack of time to
write; for instance, the otter prisoner escapee died after only three posts due
to this. One of the groups in the forest also had evident problems with this,
and the knowledge of what these characters were doing started to fade as the
other Questors kept posting at a steady rate, moving the story along without
them. Mostly it was time issues, so I can’t really blame the writers for that,
but it’s noticeable in the plot and, overall, affected the outcome of these
Questors.
Traveling on, the Questors all
made their way to the large woodland city of Atherton, a place that may hold
the answers to an unknown power intertwined with their quarries, the ‘Voices’.
The secondary character Daruk, a squirrel ‘warrior’ of Atherton and owner of
the tavern Blue Scarlet Inn, is introduced and makes an effect on most of the
Questors somehow, an interesting little touch that felt overpowering to some (I
didn’t understand why, personally).
Soon, Questors started to fall
along this strange quest, the curiosity of the remaining beasts grows through
each conflict they encounter, and the Questors grow closer to each other. These
relationships vary from beast to beast, from the simple, true friendship
between Lyosha and Fidget (and later Vitora) to the strange and entertaining
protective circle between these creatures: Claude, who is dealing with the
simple stoatling Torry, who becomes protective to Almakar, whom Claude
threatens to kill. This connection of the Questors gave the tale depth and held
the attention of the readers. The other travelers were…how shall I say…‘out of
the loop’, which caused awkward and cold receptions between the rest, blocking
potential nature points; and—according to trend—these were Questors that fell
into the shadows…
One last inconsistency to note is
‘empty posts’, the posts that retold large sections of the story from another
point of view, yet developed nothing of the storyline, keeping the tale in a frozen
mode instead of going further into the tale. This translated into a jerky flow
at some points but thankfully this small problem faded as the storyline
progress. For the most part, though, the flow was excellent, avoiding the
rapids and keeping it interesting along the way.
I wondered, as the Questors wandered
about Atherton pursuing the Voices, when the real conflict would began…
Week four started…
And that’s when they stole a boat
at the Atherton docks and the story took off, progressing to include plot
twists, gloom and doom conflict, huge battle scenes, character development, puzzle
quests, a love story, legends and prophecy, treachery, evil forces, and almost
heartbreaking death posts.
Wow.
I’m not going to spoil all that
stuff for you, but I will give thought on it.
Overall, it was seamless, an
incredible flow of events and mystery that kept me hooked to the tale; the main
characters that made it past the halfway point made a valiant effort to make
their every post count. I’ll admit, the death posts got even better (doesn’t
that sound bad?). The plot rocketed to new heights, and it rivaled the past
QBII plotline (and also mirrored it at times).
In total, this story was a great
read during the depressing months of winter when I was searching for a good
book. It had all the magic of an original Redwall story, the action of a summer
action movie, rich characters that I connected to, friendships that no conflict
could break, an environment that I lost myself in, a conflict that brought me
to the edge of my seat, and overall, the substance of ten great writers coming
together to make the incredible tale of the Questors Bold III.*
So what are you waiting for? This summer, when a few moments of free time
arise, why not log on to the computer and scroll through this story? You won’t
regret using the time.
Now, before I close the book on
the tale of Questors Bold, I have one more section to dwell on: the individual
Questors, in no particular order, in real theme, and very fast.
Madame Claude - The most bloody and unpredictable of the Questors,
a weasel of sinister intentions. A cynical nature and a lightning wit combine to
make this one of the most captivating characters to read about, despite the
shockingly vivid and blood-drenched conflicts she spins.
Romiette Sundell - A mongoose of broken body and nature from a mistake
of her past, and a defiant creature who is determined to be independent of
anyone’s help. This quality seemed to cut her off from connecting to the other
Questors, as did the lack of posts.
Fidget Alytirp - The interesting songless robin, who’s always stuck in
the internal thought shots of his mind, and holds a heart that refuses to quit.
The mix of this makes him a character that you just have to wonder about and is
overall enjoyable, though a bit disjointed.
Almakar - How can you create a wildcat character that’s both
deaf and dumb? Almakar answered this odd question and kept the character quite amusing.
In the long run, though, this dragged down the ‘cute’ wildcat in the storyline.
Lyosha Obolensky - So here is the bookwormish mouse in a ‘lost’ point
of his life, who goes on an adventure that changes his life and reacts to
conflict in unexpected ways. SPAG is the only thing that may have hindered this
mouse in his posts.
Nian Leafbright - A squirrel maiden, afraid of heights, trying to
finally prove herself by bringing down a traitor of her village and her trust. Too
bad that she became a little two-dimensional nature-wise, regardless of
personal story twists.
Vitora - A batmaiden tortured by the memories of her past and the
handicap of a hole in her wing. Also, the creator of a romance that is
surprisingly good to read. Her character
unlocks mysteries of the past, and is the ‘perfect maiden’ goodbeast of the tale.
Ildiko Soska - What can I say? I loved the accent. If only college
hadn’t sucked the time away, I would have heard it more.
Torry Steggims - The loveable stoat who’s got a quality everyone
just has to like, and who also expands subplots a bit more than most. He’s
simple minded and keeps on top of the situation, always knowing the right thing
to say or do. How could you say no to this little one? He just got more and
more entertaining through each conflict.
*the QBIII
contest is still continuing at Terrouge after a five month hiatus, so go ahead
and take a look.