3.5 stars
Neat idea to combine another adventure of Martin the Warrior with a tale of his father, Luke the Warrior! As full of adventure, danger and delicious sounding food as ever!!

I found the dialogue and constant adventure &/or battle sequences in every chapter wearing but the retelling of Luke's revenge was utterly brilliant.

The Legend of Luke is one book in the series A Tale from Redwall, in which all the characters are animals, with their own quirks, dialects, and interests. Redwall Abbey centers in most of the stories. An immense (for critters) edifice that houses dozens or more, it’s a place where anybeast (part of the series’ lingo: nobeast, everybeast, etc., just substitute “beast” where you normally would say “one” or “man”) can come to live in peace and harmony, working in the orchard or kitchens or with the dibbuns, the baby animals that sometimes seem to rule the roost. The stories are simple, involving great adventures, hardships, villans, and just plain fun, such as picnics in the orchards. There are good guys (mice, badgers, otters, shrews, and hedgehogs) and bad guys (rats, foxes, stoats, and toads). In this particular book, Martin the Warrior, a mouse of great renown and one of the founders of Redwall, searches for clues to the fate of his father, Luke, a great warrior of his own time. In the company of friends, he journeys north to discover why his father deserted him as a child and never returned. Not only Martin’s tale is told here, but also Luke’s. The books are cute, and would be best read a chapter at a time as a bedtime story to small children. Just be sure you’re up to tackling the oft-times difficult-to-read dialects of some of the species. I tended to skip over the poems and songs, which abound. My favorite part is when they’re dining on repasts that sound so enticing, I’m tempted to become a vegetarian. If you’re looking for something different, give one of the Tales of Redwall a try.

Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars

The Legend of Luke was written with the same high quality that we have come to expect from Brian Jacques and his Redwall series. Unlike his previous stories though, this novel lacked the same level of character connection that the others created between the characters and the reader.

The story leading up to Martian finding his father's former comrades had some adventure, but nothing that we have not seen before from Martin and his loyal companion Gonff, including Gonff making a reprisal of his ability to out wit crabs.

As for the tale of Luke's last adventure, I think the fact that we the reader knew that this was an account that was not currently taking place, that we lost the sense of being involved in the action.

As for Martin's return trip to Redwall, he met up with old acquaintances and made a couple of new friends, but it all took place in a very quick, sum-it-up, kind of way.

Overall the story wasn't the most engrossing of the first four novels (chronologically), but it was a very good story and has peaked my interest as to what will happen next now that Marten has laid down his sword.

Explore even further into the history of Martin the Warrior and his family! Two stories in one!

I first red the book Redwall over 20 years ago. It brought back a love for reading which had been dormant for a few years. After that I would read each of Jacques' books, many just as soon as they came out. Later I moved on to other books and genres. I was given this book as a gift, and while grateful - because of the special place in my heart for Jacques and his tales, I was too busy reading "more important" pieces.
Then I decided to take a little break, dust off "The Legend of Luke" and enjoy the tale. What a delight. While it is a little simplistic in the plot, it is filled with fun adventures, mixed with a little bit of Christian values.
It nicely wraps up the tale of Martin the Warrior, a character who is central to Jacques stories. And while it might seem like a good way to end the Redwall chapter of my life, I now have a daughter and I hope that I will have many more chapters with her in the years to come.
While there may be other books which are "more important", I have learned that books like Jacques' are a good cement to fill the cracks.

Did not expect to love this one as much as I do. Getting to see more of Martin's backstory is a mix of delight and grief, and I am left with that wonderful bittersweetness upon finishing this as I am with any great story.

Definitely one of my favorites among the Redwall tales.

Top 3 books of the first 12: Redwall, Legend of Luke, The Long Patrol. I both admire the tradition & world-building (thus the OG being in the top 3), and clearly value when the formula gets shifted up, Luke being the most radical formal departure yet. Redwall is the rare series where a prequel introduces creative freedom; we know that Luke is long dead, so his story doesn't need to have the tidiness of heroic arc that most do.

I own about half the series from when I was a kid, having filled in the rest as an adult man with disposable income and no children. Imagine my surprise and delight, when I pulled this up from the depths of a box I moved out of my parents' house a few years ago, and found that my hardcover copy of this is signed by Jacques. :)

All around a great, fun book! It is written plainly and yet with engaging characters throughout its pages. It's plot is easy to follow and the narrative tropes are appropriate for younger readers without becoming annoying to older readers. Plus, there are fun songs to sing!

I absolutely love this book. Incorporating adventures at Redwall and adventures outside of the Abbey. Always love a Martin adventure.

A few issues: I’m not sure how well the three-part structure worked. Part three is mostly just conclusion; the meat of the book is in 1 and 2, and I didn’t feel like they were actually tied together very tightly, except by two characters who are defined as having minimal actual relationship or connection (a son abandoned by his father with few memories). The first section feels like something of a pilgrimage in a way. But it meanders, and the various events seem episodic, not always building strongly on each other. Part two has a much stronger narrative direction, and I felt it moved a bit better. The two are separated by a frame story that doesn’t actually work much though—part 2 is presented as a journal written by the four island dwellers. However, there is little change in style or tone or other literary device to set it apart from part 1. Most importantly, it maintains the same 3rd person omniscient POV as part 1, which probably does the most damage to the frame story. Jacques could have executed the frame story as presented; we know this from the epilogue, which offers pages from Abbess Germaine’s diary, and makes the necessary style, tone, pov changes to be consistent.
Part 2 I felt was the stronger; better defined narrative direction and better defined characters as a result. This section was much more engaging.
I also found it odd that Martin (nor anyone else) seemed to think any less of Luke for abandoning his son and dying on an explicit mission on vengeance. He’s praised for getting rid of this terrible sea pirate, but protecting the good folk wasn’t his primarily stated motive. No one seems to question these motives how they lead him to abandon Martin. Just seems like maybe not the most responsible parenting decision to me.
One notable thing about Jacques: he has the temerity and talent to write out various dialects and accents phonetically, but he manages to make it consistent and comprehensible to readers. That’s not easy.