I do believe that one of the strong points of this fic is the reader's inability to foretell what will happen next. I honestly don't have a clue which side will win some of the battles sometimes (That one fight in Chapter XXXV comes to mind - the one fought in Mossflower. I couldn't guess who would win, but then it turned out that neither would actually claim victory).
I really like to read fics/books that can be unpredictable at times, so I think this is great. .

Hmm... one thing that I thought I could point out is that the segments could maybe be a tad longer... There are so many characters and so many different things going on that I think it would be kinda neat if you stayed with each separate group or character's segment a bit longer, ya know? But then again, I understand if you need to show a lot in one chapter, so you make the segments shorter. And this is all just my opinion, after all. It's your choice, mate. :)

Happy writing to you!

Why, Bungle!? Why?! You died much too soon, my friend!

You know, ironically, I had a very dark suspicion that Bungle was going to die in this chapter... I was starting to really like him and was like "Huh, I wonder if that's because someone is planning on killing him soon ...Nah! Probably not." Boy, I guess I was wrong. XD
That said, I *do* like how you did his death. A noble death for a noble character. The fact that he didn't even *want* to go on an adventure, but only did so because he wanted to stay and protect his friends, was rather... heart wrenching. :'(
For a moment I almost thought that Bungle had survived when the Guoraf found his body. But apparently not. WHY!?

Okay, hold up, Mervo raised a pretty good point there. I wonder if Salamandastron will be blow to bits by the end. You never know. Very interesting, though...

Ahem, very good chapter, mate, even if it was rather on the sad side. :'(

Happy writing to you!

Just think, Griv Bonecrusher is technically the first King that Redwall Abbey has ever had! Not to mention that he's the first wolverine to actually, er, get in. :P
Aha! And it looks like some more fun villain plan-hatching is in order. I wonder if they'll be able to bump off Griv.
Lol. I thought it was a nice touch to have the Abbess and the moles kiss the ground when they got out, lol.

Yikes... Holly has a point there. That's a long list of dead named characters... Sad.

Oof. Mervo, what have you gotten yourself into?

Happy writing to you!

My, my. Kamataya certainly has anger issues, doesn't she? :P I think Dedclaw might need a new name change: Fourscar. :P
"Hey! I'm not bra- okay, that's fair." Favorite line of this chapter. XD

If all me next reviews seem on the short side, it's because I want to catch up. :)

Happy writing to you!

hey hey HEY! Not cool!

My pulse is racing, so nice job on writing a thrilling duel

First off, I would like to commend you on capturing the essence, I guess, of Redwall. Your writing style is so similar to Brian Jaques' that it's eerie. Redwall has always been one of my favorite series and you've delivered a story that makes me love Redwall even more.

I started reading this almost two weeks ago and have pretty much read it every other day, or so. There's so much lore from the books in this, it's staggering. You've managed to include characters, lore, and places from damn near every single book. Well done.

Needless to say, I'm gonna wait eagerly for the next update. -RFA

Cool title. The nice thing about this chapter is that the direction of the plot is immediately visible.

Why would he obliterate a newly built castle? Why not just use it himself? Especially since Vafir is expanding his army (and territory probably?), you'd think a brand new defensible structure is a good thing he would want to keep.

The sudden perspective switch to the rat in order to describe what Vafir looks like is egregious. Also, random conversation about lemons why? Kamataya comes off as kinda stupid here, since that is her first introduction...

Of all the characters, Vafir is the most interesting in this chapter, but it's a shame that his rise is glossed over in a couple of paragraphs. It might have been more interesting to leave his background unexplained and let the reader fill in the blanks.

Ooh! I didn't know that Brockhammer was Brawblade's cousin! That's pretty cool! (I'm not sure if you had mentioned it before or not, but if you did, I must've forgot it or something. :P) Though, if I could give any advice to Lord Brawblade, I'd tell him to drive away any young badgers that come close to the mountain. They have a nasty habit of taking the former badger lord's place after their (Normally fast approaching) death. lol. :P But you never know. I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

I thought it was cool that we got to see Ergo again. You know, I wonder *just* how long has he lived in that hut of his. Was he there when that one white fox had sneaked in to find the blue flame? If so, this mole hermit has seen a lot of plot happening under his nose... :P

So know that the travelers have arrived, I wonder what'll happen next? Will they be enough to help drive off both of the vermin armies? Brawblade, Brockhammer, and Hurqu could probably wipe the floor with a lot of them, I think. :P

Happy writing to you!

Ooh! This chapter starts out with a nice rising sun, followed by the Redwallers scrambling for their lives. They must've put a lot of thought and strategy in their placements (Like putting all of the young ones in the Cellars and such), which was smart of them, I think.

And the attack starts! Hah! When will vermin realize that Redwall has never fallen-
…
…
…
What!?

Not only did the vermin take the abbey in one chapter, but they've managed to kill more than several of the characters to boot!
To summarize, unexpectedness galore...

Happy writing to you!

Concerning the Author Note: So does this mean that the actual escape will take place, but it simply won't be shown? Regardless, I understand you're decision. It *is* easier to write a fic if you focus on just the main plot and characters. I myself made the mistake of weaving too many plot lines into my fic. At least you're making sure to nip it in the bud. :P

Now, about the actual chapter. Vafir has met the toads, and nothing, and mean NOTHING, good is coming out of this (At least for the woodlanders. :P). I like how you mentioned the fact that the toads (Considering these ones have lived in the swamp) probably wouldn't be too wild about sitting in the sun all day, or getting fried and sun burnt. XD

Your Rogue Crew really remind me a lot of vikings. :P Which is a good, I guess, considering how Brian Jacques made them pretty bloodthirsty in "The Rogue Crew".

Happy writing to you!

So all they have to do is put out the fire, and all the vermin are saved, eh? Hmm... I wonder what it'll end up taking to put it out. But I guess if they did, a LOT of future problems with vermin hordes would be taken care of. :P

I wonder, though, do you plan on extended The Dark Empire into a series, or just keeping it in one fic? If it was the former, then I'm guessing that the Redwallers' search will be in vain (At least for the time being).

Another thing I'd like to point out is your characters' names. Very Redwallian. I especially like the ones you've chosen for all of your badgers.

Keep up the good work!

Happy writing to you!

I must admit, the beginning part of this chapter (The excerpt from the records, written by Arbor Brock) is probably one of my favorite scenes yet! So many interesting things going on here...
The history of the Redwall universe has always been something that I found mysterious. I'm liking what you've done so far.

Happy writing to you!

Do I get a cookie since I knew about the origins of the Rogue Crew's song in the last chapter? :D

So Tharius awakens in Bat Mountpit. And it appears that quite a few of the rest of the cast have shown up as well! Intrigue! It'll be fun seeing how they all continue to interact. Speaking of interacting, I loved the brief sparring scene in this chapter. Like how Amamo "killed" the two with ease, but was so easily overpowered by Hurqu. XD

Happy writing to you!

That's good that you'll at least do a drabble about Nightrip! You know, to be honest, when I had first read his name, I thought Nightrip's name was the two words "night" and "trip", and was curious if he was named after an unfortunate ordeal in the dark or something. XD But then I realized I had read it wrong. It's Night-RIP, not Night-trip. :P

I think one of my favorite things that you do in this fic is how you take time to link your original stuff up with many of the characters, places, and things from the main Redwall books. (Like mentioning how Cluny and his horde had gotten boiled alive/buried.)

Even though he's a villain, I kinda like Fyron. He seems like your typical baddie who has finally risen in the ranks, and now has to decide how to handle his new found power. Good stuff, good stuff.

Happy writing to you!

Ooh, a message from Martin the Warrior! Those are always interesting! It appears Anera is going to have a whole platoon of otters escorting her to Salamandastron. Hopefully, no one gets hurt!

Great chapter! ~Keva Strongbow