Brian Jacques and Redwall
Created | Updated Sep 27, 2002
Creator of the stories of Redwall, Brian Jacques has won the hearts of people all over the world. A native to Liverpool, England, Jacques created the stories of Redwall for some local children. After showing it to one of his teacher's from St. John's, Jacques was offered a contract for the first five books in a series that was to be known as the Redwall series.
The stories of Redwall centre around a redstoned abbey of Mossflower Wood. The characters live in a medievalesque world and many of them have very distinct accents. Jacques is brillant at writing down accents, which can be attributed to all of the accents he heard as a child on the docks of Liverpool.
The most striking difference between Redwall and a typical fantasy story is the characters. They are all animals of some short; mice, rabbits, cats, ferrets, weasals, hedgehogs. These characters all dress and talk like men would. Within the world of Redwall, Jacques has set up some basic steorotypes. The mice tend to be heroic and are monks in the abbey. Rabbits are the comic relief and usually full of song. Rats, weasals and similar animals are usually the villians who take over the village or are the terror to the sea. Foxes are usually gypsies and not very trustworthy. Hedgehogs are simple, but good folks who seem to do a lot of the cooking.
Thusfar, there are fourteen books in the series with many more in process. The first book in the series, titled Redwall, is set 'late' in the abbey's history and tells about a young mouse who finds the sword of Martin the Warrior to fight the bad guys. The abbey was formed with the help of Martin, but the first time he is fully learned about isn't until the sixth book in the series. Jacques does not write the story in chronological order. Instead, he writes as though collecting stories from the history of the abbey. He will go back and fill in parts of the story in a later novel. The best way to read his novels are to read them in the order they were published and not the order they follow the story of Redwall. Jacques has many surprises, which would be ruined if the books were not followed in the order he wrote them.
Redwall (1986)
Mossflower (1988)
Mattimeo (1989)
Mariel of Redwall (1991)
Salamandastron (1992)
Martin the Warrior (1993)
The Bellmaker (1994)
Outcast of Redwall (1995)
The Pearls of Lutra (1996)
The Long Patrol (1997)
Marlfox (1998)
The Legend of Luke (1999)
Lord Brocktree (2000)
The Taggerung (2001)
Thanks to Dave Lindsay, there is an excellent website dedicated to keeping fans of Jacques in the know. The website is well organized and can inform any curious person about the world of Redwall. Lindsay was appointed by Jacques to be his webmaster in 1996.
Jacques has written one major novel outside of Redwall called Castaways of the Flying Dutchman. This is a tale of a boy and his dog from the ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman, who wander the earth to help those in need.
The stories of Redwall centre around a redstoned abbey of Mossflower Wood. The characters live in a medievalesque world and many of them have very distinct accents. Jacques is brillant at writing down accents, which can be attributed to all of the accents he heard as a child on the docks of Liverpool.
The most striking difference between Redwall and a typical fantasy story is the characters. They are all animals of some short; mice, rabbits, cats, ferrets, weasals, hedgehogs. These characters all dress and talk like men would. Within the world of Redwall, Jacques has set up some basic steorotypes. The mice tend to be heroic and are monks in the abbey. Rabbits are the comic relief and usually full of song. Rats, weasals and similar animals are usually the villians who take over the village or are the terror to the sea. Foxes are usually gypsies and not very trustworthy. Hedgehogs are simple, but good folks who seem to do a lot of the cooking.
Thusfar, there are fourteen books in the series with many more in process. The first book in the series, titled Redwall, is set 'late' in the abbey's history and tells about a young mouse who finds the sword of Martin the Warrior to fight the bad guys. The abbey was formed with the help of Martin, but the first time he is fully learned about isn't until the sixth book in the series. Jacques does not write the story in chronological order. Instead, he writes as though collecting stories from the history of the abbey. He will go back and fill in parts of the story in a later novel. The best way to read his novels are to read them in the order they were published and not the order they follow the story of Redwall. Jacques has many surprises, which would be ruined if the books were not followed in the order he wrote them.
Redwall (1986)
Mossflower (1988)
Mattimeo (1989)
Mariel of Redwall (1991)
Salamandastron (1992)
Martin the Warrior (1993)
The Bellmaker (1994)
Outcast of Redwall (1995)
The Pearls of Lutra (1996)
The Long Patrol (1997)
Marlfox (1998)
The Legend of Luke (1999)
Lord Brocktree (2000)
The Taggerung (2001)
Thanks to Dave Lindsay, there is an excellent website dedicated to keeping fans of Jacques in the know. The website is well organized and can inform any curious person about the world of Redwall. Lindsay was appointed by Jacques to be his webmaster in 1996.
Jacques has written one major novel outside of Redwall called Castaways of the Flying Dutchman. This is a tale of a boy and his dog from the ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman, who wander the earth to help those in need.
