Redwall

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Redwall
See
Fantasy novel
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)

Redwall is a series of

picture books published. The twenty-second, and final, novel, The Rogue Crew, was posthumously released on 3 May 2011, almost three months after Jacques' death on 5 February.[3]

Overview

The Redwall series was written by Brian Jacques.

The series chronicles the adventures of the

anthropomorphic animals inhabiting Redwall Abbey and the surrounding countryside of Mossflower Wood, including mice, moles, hares, badgers, and other woodland species. Frequently the peace-loving creatures of Mossflower are called upon to become warriors to defend themselves from marauding bands of "vermin" such as rats, weasels, and foxes
.

The novels in the series are set in many periods in the fictional history of Redwall and Mossflower; the chronological order of the stories is not the same as the order in which they were written, some taking place before the construction of Redwall Abbey itself or in far-flung locations beyond Mossflower. Some of the books focus on characters who, in other volumes, are legendary historical figures, such as The Legend of Luke. Because of the widely spaced storylines, very few characters are mentioned in more than one or two novels. One notable exception is Martin the Warrior, one of the founders of Redwall Abbey, whose adventures are chronicled in several of the novels and who is frequently mentioned as an icon of heroism who inspires later Redwall denizens, occasionally appearing to them as a spiritual vision.

Despite the changing historical setting and absence of recurring characters, familiar character archetypes recur throughout the books, often characters in tribe-specific leadership roles, such the Badger Lords, the Skipper of Otters, or the shrew tribe leader "Log-a-Log". Other recurring elements include "Dibbuns" (the Redwall name for infant woodlanders) and detailed descriptions of food.

Although the main setting is an abbey, and several characters are referred to as monks, friars, etc., the series makes little mention of religious beliefs or practices. Early novels establish a St. Ninian's church near Redwall Abbey, but a later novel portrays that as a misnomer for a building that was never a church.

The Redwall novels are characterized as

fantasy, but contain little in the way of magic or the supernatural, apart from the anthropomorphism of the animal characters. The sword of Martin the Warrior is believed by many characters to be magical, and vermin occasionally try to steal it for this reason; Mossflower reveals that it was forged from a fragment of a meteorite at the volcanic fortress Salamandastron by the Badger Lord known as Boar the Fighter. The role of "monsters" in the novels is played not by mythical creatures, but by real-world predators such as adders, sharks, and wolverines
.

Books

At the time of Jacques' death, twenty-one novels had been released. The Sable Quean was released in February 2010. The twenty-second and (because of his death) final book, The Rogue Crew, was released on 3 May 2011.[3]

The prequels to Redwall are not released in any chronological order. The sequels, including Mattimeo, were released in the order in which they occur. The books are listed below in their chronological order within the fictional world of Redwall, with publication dates noted.

Title Publication Chronological order
Lord Brocktree 2000 1
Martin the Warrior[2] 1993 2
Mossflower 1988 3
The Legend of Luke 1999 4
Outcast of Redwall 1995 5
Mariel of Redwall 1991 6
The Bellmaker 1994 7
Salamandastron 1992 8
Redwall[2] 1986 9
Mattimeo[2] 1989 10
Pearls of Lutra
1996 11
The Long Patrol 1997 12
Marlfox 1998 13
The Taggerung 2001 14
Triss 2002 15
Loamhedge 2003 16
Rakkety Tam 2004 17
High Rhulain 2005 18
Eulalia! 2007 19
Doomwyte 2008 20
The Sable Quean 2010 21
The Rogue Crew[1] 2011 22
1 Books from which an audiobook has not been made
2 Books on which a TV series has been based

The first three chronologically ordered books (Lord Brocktree, Martin the Warrior, and Mossflower) take place before the construction of Redwall Abbey, while the fourth, The Legend of Luke, takes place during its construction. Many of the books that take place before Redwall was constructed are told via a

framing device
.

Most books adjacent to each other in chronological order take place within a generation or so of each other, as evidenced by mentions of past characters in the later books. Redwall and Mattimeo as well as Mariel of Redwall and The Bellmaker feature the same cast, with a short span of time between them. From Triss onward, however, they take place so far apart in time that none share any characters with other books anymore.

Characters

In the Redwall universe, species almost invariably (with very few exceptions, including change of character mid-story) determines a creature's nature, whether good or evil. Some common noble species in Redwall include

Corvus birds also appear on numerous occasions, usually being vicious and territorial. Other birds such as owls, herons, red-tailed hawks, and eagles are mentioned, some having major parts in books, including in Mattimeo when a raven
named General Ironbeak manages to invade and almost conquers Redwall Abbey with his army of rooks. In Martin the Warrior, a group of squirrels called the Gawtrybe are presented as villains, though squirrels are usually considered "good" and the Gawtrybe end up aiding the heroes during the final battle.

Locations

The books are centered around Redwall Abbey, a red sandstone abbey built after the events of Mossflower. It is home to many of the good animals of Mossflower Woods. Also important is the mountain fortress called Salamandastron, home to the Badger Lords and the famed hares of the Long Patrol, the mountain's army. There are many other places, such as the fortress Riftgard, Loamhedge, and Green Isle. Also, a main waterway is the River Moss. Other stories, like The Bellmaker and The Legend of Luke, most of the story takes place onboard sailing ships and many dangers are only those involving the weather and damage resulting from such.

There are also the far northern lands; much of the wildlife in the books from those lands are those native to Scotland specifically, such as pine martens and golden eagles. As well as the northern lands, there are islands featured in the series; usually, each island is featured in one book only.

Literary significance and reception

Brian Jacques was praised for his Redwall series. He was called one of "the best children's authors in the world".[4] The books of the Redwall series have drawn comparisons to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings,[5] to Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, and Richard Adams's Watership Down.[6] Jacques combines "action, poetry, songs, courage, and vivid descriptions" to create a unique style that spans the series.[7]

The Redwall series has received praise for its "equal-opportunity adventuring, in which female creatures can be just as courageous (or as diabolical) as their male counterparts".[8] Novels such as Mariel of Redwall, Pearls of Lutra, High Rhulain and Triss all feature strong female leading characters. Jacques has also received acclaim for his development of unique language[9] intrinsic to certain species, giving the novels an "endearing dialectal dialogue".[10]

Some reviews have been critical of the Redwall novels for providing too simplistic a view of good and evil.[10] The characteristics of the animals in the novels are fixed by their species, making them quite "predictable",[11] though there have been a few books, such as in Outcast of Redwall and Pearls of Lutra, in which vermin have acted selflessly, in one taking a spear through the chest and back meant for his former nursemaid, and in the other saving the Abbot of Redwall from lizards. Another exception is in The Bellmaker, where a searat strove to start being good instead of evil, abandoning his life of pirating to live by himself. In some cases, different members of the same species possess different moral compasses. For example, the wildcats in the book Mossflower each exhibit different characteristics: although Lady Tsarmina is cruel and vicious, her father Lord Verdauga is seen as hard but fair, and her brother Gingivere is kind and eventually joins the side of the woodlanders. As a general rule though, characters tend to "epitomize their class origins", rarely rising above them.[12]

Many reviewers have also criticized the Redwall series for repetition and predictability, citing "recycled" plot lines[13] and Jacques' tendency to follow a "pattern to the dot".[14] Other reviewers note that such predictable "ingredients" may be what "makes the Redwall recipe so consistently popular".[11] Although the series did not continue to break new ground, it does provide satisfying adventures with "comforting, predictable conclusions for its fans".[15]

Illustrators

The last interior artist was

Chris Baker (Marlfox to Lord Brocktree) and Peter Standley (The Taggerung). The cover artist of the US editions of the novels is Troy Howell
. Pete Lyon and Douglas Hall provided cover art for different UK editions of the first four books. Later, Chris Baker became the UK cover artist up until the release of Triss, when David Wyatt took over.

Adaptations

International editions

Books in the Redwall series have been translated into Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, and Swedish.

Television series and films

The first season of the Redwall television series, released in 1999, was based upon the novel Redwall. It was later followed by two more seasons, based on the books Mattimeo and Martin the Warrior. Each season contained 13 episodes. Each episode was opened with Brian Jacques himself giving a synopsis of the story so far. These scenes were later cut from subsequent re-airings and DVD releases.

In February 2021, Netflix acquired full adaptation rights to the novel series. A feature film based on the novel Redwall and an animated "event series" based on the character Martin the Warrior are in the works for the streaming platform. Patrick McHale, creator of Over the Garden Wall, will be writing the film's script.[16] Due to changes at Netflix in December 2022 however, McHale is no longer working on the feature film.[17]

Audiobooks

There have been full-length audiobooks published of most of the Redwall books, the exceptions being The Pearls of Lutra, Marlfox, Lord Brocktree (on cassette), The Legend of Luke, and The Rogue Crew. Instead of being read by a single actor, the novels are narrated by a large cast. Brian Jacques served as the narrator for almost all of the audiobooks (with Salamandastron being the sole exception), sometimes reading select parts, and his son Marc Jacques appeared as the characters Matthias, Martin and others. The audiobooks also feature fully-realized musical performances of the songs that each book contains, composed and performed by Billy Maher.

Some abridged audiobooks have also been released. They include Redwall, Mossflower, Pearls of Lutra, The Long Patrol, Marlfox, The Legend of Luke and Lord Brocktree. Each is three hours in length and read solely by Brian Jacques or another narrator.

Opera

In 1996, Evelyn Swenson composed an opera based on the first book in the Redwall series. It was produced by

OperaDelaware in Wilmington, Delaware and later toured Europe.[18]

Games

There are currently two officially-licensed video games based on the Redwall series. Both games were created by Soma Games under the banner of The Lost Legends of Redwall.

Other Redwall-related books

References

  1. ^ Fecht, Michele M. "IN REDWALL, RODENTS RULE". Chicago Tribune.
  2. ^ Lanes, Selma (August 23, 1987). "Children's Books". The New York Times.
  3. ^ a b Rindler, Evan (3 May 2011). "The Rogue Crew: A Tale of Redwall by Brian Jacques". Figment. Archived from the original on 19 December 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
  4. ^ Harrison, Susan, Amazon.com reviews (1992). Editorial review of Salamandastron.
  5. ^ Publishers Weekly (1987). Editorial review of Redwall.
  6. ^ Chang, Margaret, School Library Journal (1990). Editorial review of Mattimeo.
  7. ^ Saecker, Tasha, School Library Journal (2005). Editorial review of High Rhulain.
  8. ^ Publishers Weekly (1995). Editorial review of The Bellmaker.
  9. ^ Kirkus Reviews (1998). Editorial review of The Long Patrol.
  10. ^ a b Estes, Sally, Booklist (1995). Editorial review of The Bellmaker.
  11. ^ a b Publishers Weekly (1996). Editorial review of Outcast of Redwall.
  12. ^ Kirkus Reviews (1992). Editorial review of Mariel of Redwall.
  13. ^ Publishers Weekly (1996) Editorial review of The Pearls of Lutra.
  14. ^ Kirkus Reviews (1994). Editorial review of Martin the Warrior.
  15. ^ Shook, Bruce, School Library Journal (1998). Editorial review of The Long Patrol.
  16. ^ Lang, Brent (10 February 2021). "Netflix Adapting 'Redwall' Books Into Animated Movies, TV Series". Variety. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  17. ^ Motamayor, Rafael (15 December 2022). "Netflix's Redwall movie in limbo, reveals writer Patrick McHale". Inverse. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  18. ^ "Brian Jacques: The Redwall Opera". Archived from the original on November 8, 2006.

External links