User blog comment:SaynaSLuke/The Ocean's Echoes/@comment-2142396-20160409203444

I’m still in the middle of chapter 19, but I swear your chapters keep getting longer, and since for some reason TotO isn’t receiving many comments, I’ll add my two cents.

I like that you still portray Piknim and Cracklyn as close friends, even if Piknim is more prim and smarten than her canon self. The little scene when they race brought a smile on my face, as well as the image of Hood with his paws full of roses. Arven is imaginative as always, I see. :D Come on, Clecky, did you really think that the little chap would be content with just hearing about the bones? Haha, I don’t think that saying that technically, Hood does have bones under his fur helps. :D Hood really held together well during the accident, though his behavior puzzles me. I expected an outburst or some other strong reaction. Instead, it looked like Hood… was ashamed? Hood is sure a mysterious character, I’m intrigued to learn more of him!

Uh oh, things are getting tense for Xzaris… I suppose he was lucky to cope with one monitor, but considering that the other monitors are still there and now know what Xzaris is capable of, the future is not something I would want to think about. But at the very least they found the monitors’ weak spot, that may be useful in the future. I really love that brother-sister bond he and Val seem to form, too. I was surprised to see Xzaris to be so proficient and comfortable as a blacksmith, since this occupation of his wasn’t mentioned before, though I figured he probably needed to work a lot of jobs to survive. But that explains where Mercy’s love of blacksmithing comes from! ;)

OMG, Romsca’s mother is alive?! Considering that being swept out into sea is as good as instant death, that was such a twist, and you didn’t even spoil it! :D And Arashi is a tough beast indeed, both in personality and in her abilities. Her attitude to faith raises some interesting and even controversial points there. Personally, I would’ve preferred to see her repent her life of piracy during the seasons she had spent marooned and become a truly good beast, but did not become Ignasa’s follower. I believe that it’s deeds that matter, not faith, and since we already had a character on the one side of the extreme – Lady Amber, who followed Ignasa but was too righteous and considered herself to be ‘holier’ than reformed vermin, - why not a character who is truly good but follows other deities or even doesn’t worship anyone at all?

Romsca raises some good points when she wonders about Sampetra being a trading nation, like, how could they get enough grain and gold to trade in those past seasons if currently there are just not enough to feed the island itself. I have a feeling that may have something to do with dragons… What if there was an alliance with dragons as well who let Scound and Aisha harvest grain/metals from their territory? Then the pirates could’ve lost the access to them once they turned evil and broke the contact with the dragons. Anyway, these were some valid points by Rafglan, even if he is brutally cynical about it. But poor romsca can never be happy, can’t she? Romsca, you don’t need to wish being a son Conva never had, he was perfectly happy to have a daughter. I know she wants to honor her father since making him proud is the only thing Romsca can do for him… Still, my heart aches each time she berates herself for not being good enough. ((

I find it unusual that Romsca would feel so guilty about capturing Durral, considering she went on raids that certainly had a higher casualty rate than a stealth mission like this. I suppose she mainly feels that way because during the raids the pirates usually fight only warriors who can protect themselves – though I doubt any pirate would be very lenient toward any woodlander, elders and children included. :( Anyway, the way Romsca reacted to Blacksnow speaking up was hilarious; I knew that the horses pirates ride at Sampetra are not sapient, but I assumed that they knew of talking horses? Seems like Mossflower held one more surprise for Romsca! :D Oh, and I like Blacksnow, he is such a cool old dude. He was Matthias’s mount, correct? If so, I’m looking forward ‘The Challenger’ even more, since he will be in it. :D It does seems to me that Romsca managed to find the pearls too easily, though I can see that it would’ve been unwise and inconvenient for the pirates to hang out near Redwall for too long. By the way, Fermald had a brother? I do wonder who he was. You mentioned that Fermald had something to do with ‘The Challenger’, but I don’t remember any squirrels from ‘Redwall’ except for Sam’s father and Jess’s husband…

I see that Romsca is still so easy to bait into losing her temper and starting a fight, even though it was her temper that initially caused the pearls to be stolen. When will you learn, Romsca? :D Maybe that was why I really enjoyed seeing Sayna totally kick Romsca’s tail. Fursonas’ clash was definitely awesome to watch! The outcome makes me worry for Sayna, though. The way she seemed to just slump down near the fight’s end cannot be good… I wonder if her old age finally catches up with her. But even when she is tied up, Sayna still behaves like a boss with Romsca. :D Wow, the fact that Romsca actually kidnapped Durral and Sayna with the sole purpose of saving them from Lask was unexpected. That was a surprising twist – and it showed us the less frequently seen side of Romsca. And I certainly didn’t expect Sayna’s mark to affect Romsca like that – do Sampetrians even know the legend of the marks? And if so, why Romsca would hide her own ‘mark’, whatever it is – though I have a feeling it has to do with her lightning bolt tattoo/marking… I know vermin are superstitious, but I doubt they would actually believe in the old tales. The only thing I kind of missed in Romsca’s second skirmish with Redwallers’ was seeing her reaction to Mattimeo’s sword wielding the same power as Sayna’s, because I could totally picture her having ‘What? Another one? How many of the things they got there?’ response. :D

Poor Grath, hearing of the pirates coming to Mossflower must’ve been a nightmare coming true for her. Once, she had already lost her family and home to them – and now they came to threaten her new home as well. No wonder she was so livid about the whole thing. And I completely forgot that Grath’s holt has a ship! That was a nicely hidden twist. I also didn’t expect Tansy and Cracklyn to actually join the quest, but I’m glad they are coming, since I don’t suppose there would be much happening at Redwall once the heroes leave, since the pearls are found already. I liked Grath’s meeting with Ignasa in the sense that Grath had already thought about chasing after the pirates even before it, so she wasn’t as much sent on the quest as encouraged to do so. Though I have to say that I would’ve liked the idea of some of the characters joining the quest not because they were sent to it, but just because their friends are coming and that’s a right thing to do.

I know it’s an odd thing to say about a middle-aged character, but I feel that Barranca matured a lot. Maybe because he had gone through a lot since Conva’s death, and him being weary and tired of constant raids makes it easier to sympathize with him. But I actually could see canon Barranca in his devotion to his family – and it’s interesting that Ublaz threatening Romsca becomes a breaking point for him, same as Ublaz threatening Conva was a breaking point for Barranca in ‘Pearls of Lutra’. And as in ‘Pearls of Lutra’, I suppose the consequences of it would be quite far-ranging for Ublaz.

It’s been quite some time since we last seen Rasconza, wasn’t it? This sly fox is sure just as brilliant a strategist as he was in ‘Pearls of Lutra’, even if we didn’t see that side of him yet. Too bad Ublaz had learned of his betrayal – but that makes things even more interesting. Let the game begin!