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Redwall is a series of fantasy novels by Brian Jacques, the first of which was released in 1986. Like the Harry Potter series, the books are primarily aimed at children, but have fans of all ages. There are animated TV series based on the books, the first of which was released in 1999, later followed by two sequel series.
The series does not chronicle any one particular timeframe. Rather, it's set in many different periods in the history of Redwall Abbey. Some of the books focus on characters who in other volumes are historical figures (e.g., Martin the Warrior's father, Luke, in The Legend of Luke). Typically, those books are set before the founding of Redwall Abbey. Brian Jacques doesn't worry about writing prequels -- he's done many books out of chronological order.
General description
The characters in the books are all non-human animals of some sort, most of which are capable of speech which is rendered into various dialects of English. With a few rare exceptions the animals in the Redwall books are native to Brian Jacques' home nation of Great Britain. Despite the fact that it's a fantasy series, it contains no elements of magic. However, it does contain several "monsters" - such as huge snakes (from Redwall), giant critter-eating fish (from Marlfox), and the "Deepcoiler", which could, potentially, be a giant eel or pike (from Salamandastron). It also has a super-strong sword forged from a meteorite's metal.
A typical book in the Redwall series details a particular period in the history of Redwall Abbey. In all but a few cases, the book is about the inhabitants of Redwall and Mossflower Woods. Usually, there are at least two different stories going on -- for example, a typical book may contain a small expedition somewhere, and a large group of Redwallers at home fending off a vermin horde. Because of the widely spaced storylines (chronologically speaking), very few creatures are mentioned in more than one or two books except in a passing historical sense; one notable exception is Martin the Warrior, who appears in all books that take place after Martin the Warrior (including The Legend of Luke), even if only in spirit form or a more notable historical mention than with other characters. Also, Martin's sword (the aforementioned super-strong sword) appears in all of the books except Lord Brocktree.
In addition, it's common for a Redwall book to have at least one good character die -- and not a faceless character, either. For example, at the end of Luke's story in The Legend of Luke, Luke (Martin's father) dies, along with a female squirrel named Ranguvar (both fairly major characters).
There are many recurring characters in the Redwall series, including Martin the Warrior, several badgers, and always an incarnation of Logalog, the leader of shrews.
Books of the Redwall series
There have been seventeen books written as of November, 2004, listed here in chronological order by publication:
The books were not written in the order that the stories take place in the Redwall universe. Within the fictional world of Redwall, the stories take place in the following order:
- Lord Brocktree
- Martin The Warrior
- Mossflower
- The Legend of Luke
- Outcast of Redwall
- Mariel of Redwall
- The Bellmaker
- Salamandastron
- Redwall
- Mattimeo
- The Pearls of Lutra
- The Long Patrol
- Marlfox
- Taggerung
- Triss
- Loamhedge
- Rakkety Tam
The first three books take place before the construction of Redwall Abbey. Some of the books also include sub-stories that take place at other times.
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