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Redwall #1

Redwall

brian jacques ron keith

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Presented on 9 audio cassettes. Unabridged. In a Medieval religious order of resourceful mice, the shy, awkward apprentice monk Brother Matthias does not seem like a hero. But ancient clues have clearly pointed to him as the chosen one who will find a magic sword and lead Redwall Abbey's defense against Cluny the Scourge.

0 pages, Unabridged Audio cassette

First published January 1,1986
Series
Redwall
Literary awards
west australian young readers book award (wayrba), 

This edition

Format
0 pages, Unabridged Audio cassette
Published
January 1, 1995 by Recorded Books LLC
ISBN
9780788703829
ASIN
078870382X
Language
English

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About the author

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brian jacques

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Brian Jacques (pronounced 'jakes') was born in Liverpool, England on June 15th, 1939. Along with forty percent of the population of Liverpool, his ancestral roots are in Ireland, County Cork to be exact.

Brian grew up in the area around the Liverpool docks, where he attended St. John's School, an inner city school featuring a playground on its roof. At the age of ten, his very first day at St. John's foreshadowed his future career as an author; given an assignment to write a story about animals, he wrote a short story about a bird who cleaned a crocodile's teeth. Brian's teacher could not, and would not believe that a ten year old could write so well. When young Brian refused to falsely say that he had copied the story, he was caned as "a liar". He had always loved to write, but it was only then that he realized he had a talent for it.
He wrote Redwall for the children at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind in Liverpool, where as a truck driver, he delivered milk. Because of the nature of his first audience, he made his style of writing as descriptive as possible, painting pictures with words so that the schoolchildren could see them in their imaginations. He remained a patron of the school until his death.

Brian lived in Liverpool, where his two grown sons, Marc, a carpenter and bricklayer, and David, a professor of Art and a muralist, still reside. David Jacques' work can be seen in Children's hospitals, soccer stadiums, and trade union offices as far away as Germany, Mexico, and Chile (not to mention Brian's photo featured in most of his books).

Brian also ran a weekly radio show on BBC Radio Merseyside, until October 2006, where he shared his comedy and wit, and played his favourites from the world of opera - he was a veritable expert on The Three Tenors.

When he was wasn't writing, Brian enjoyed walking his dog 'Teddy', a white West Highland Terrier, and completing crossword puzzles. When he found time he read the works of Mario Puzo, Damon Runyon, Richard Condon, Larry McMurty, and P.G. Wodehouse. He was also known to cook an impressive version of his favourite dish, spaghetti and meatballs.

Sadly, Brian passed away on the 5th February 2011.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
41(41%)
4 stars
32(32%)
3 stars
27(27%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
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100 reviews All reviews
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Ken4kanacke
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Now, for those of you who read this book and liked it, I have absolutely no problem with that. I actually thought it was an okay book myself. A heroic mouse by the name of Matthias lives peacefully in Redwall, an enclosed city within a fortress. The residents include mice, squirrels, badgers, otters, and all sorts of other small animals. However, an army of rats attack in envy of stealing the fortress. Matthias must become a warrior and obtain a sword to fight back at the army. Now, at this point, you might be wondering what kind of problem I could ever have with such a great concept and plot. You want to know don't you? Well here it is: foxes are villains in this series. Now, with the hero being a mouse, you could really expect that, wouldn't you? Well, guess what? There are NO good foxes in the ENTIRE series, even though there is such a thing as a good cat. Is that because foxes are cunning and sly characters? That's not always considered a BAD thing! I can name a few stories that have foxes as the protagonist or an innocent side character, such as The Chronicles of Narnia, Fantastic Mr. Fox, or Fox Woman. There was NO excuse, and I can't stand to read about a bunch of foxes being slain or murdered for treachery. If you've read my profile, you know that foxes are my favorite animals of all time (okay, maybe not that much, but I still like them a lot), and reading these books were pure torture to me! I may hate these books, but that still doesn't mean that you have to. If you don't like foxes as much as I do, or in this case, ferrets, rats, weasels, cats, and stoats, I would highly suggest this book to you, because you'll probably like it, unlike me. Final verdict: decent book, but I just can't stand to read them (if that makes any sense).
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Kaiomaar
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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n  n

2.0 stars. Now I admit upfront that YA fantasy is somewhat starting to lose its appeal to me, making me a harsher critic of what I think are weak efforts. At the same time, I still really enjoy the compelling, higher end stuff. Unfortunately, THIS A'INT IT!! YA is one thing, but I found this to be the “Y” est of YA fantasy books that I have read in quite a while. It was just too young.

Despite the fact that the book is fairly well written and decently paced, I found the plot itself to just be completely and unbelievably BORING:
n  n

Nothing new or fresh happened at all. This is your VERY standard, cookie-cutter “coming of age” heroic quest fantasy tale BUT with the amazingly original and novel twist of....are you ready for this....rather than human characters, the story is populated by MICE and other cute, mostly furry animals that just think and act human. WOW, what do you possibly say when confronted by such a mind-blowingly pedestrian concept? All I could think of was.....
n  n

It just lacked any sense of originality beyond trying to be a sweeter, kid-friendly adventure verson of "Animal Farm."

Now on the positive side, it is a fairly short book and I think that young children (or heavily medicated adults) may still enjoy it. Unfortunately, I am no longer able to be the former and did not have the foresight to be the latter as I read this book. Thus, I am left having to say that I do not think this is a story that will have you dancing in the streets.

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monster_magus
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I would put this as the best pure story I've ever read to the kids. This was outstanding. Beautifully written, and entertainment at its finest. When we chose the book, my 12 year old daughter was a bit iffy. But, by the time we were a third of the way in I could tell she was hooked. By the end of the book my 7 year old's mouth was hanging wide open. Lots of good laughter, and dad got choked up at the end. This was GOOD. I bet C.S. Lewis would've loved this tale. Thing with Lewis though, his stuff had symbolism to it. This, well, it was just a story. But, one of the most entertaining I've ever read. Could be a bit graphic in places though for young ears. I've already ordered and received the prequel to this book, entitled Mossflower. Very likely we'll get to that next. Supposed to be just as good. Now this is what reading great books is all about! :-) Booyah!
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RikiMeistr
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I did not read this book (or its many following books) when I was younger, so thought it was time to give this book a go. Simple, straightforward story, with simply-drawn characters. The good guys (mice, squirrels, etc.) are really good people, while the bad guy is a whisker-twirling nasty fellow. The two main protagonists are as far apart in their actions and views as they could possibly be: Martin, the young, somewhat clumsy but respectful, hardworking and kind mouse. Cluny, the evil, lying, murdering, conquering rat. The other characterizations are equally simple -- it's not hard to figure out who to cheer for in this story, which plays out as a medieval siege story, combined with a quest for a practically magical weapon for the good guys to use against the bad guy and his army of rats, weasels, stoats.

I enjoyed the story -- sometimes it's nice to read something where motives and actions are easy to understand, and it's obvious who to cheer for.
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ChezAle
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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In an abbey called Redwall there lived a mouse among mice. His name was Matthias and he was a novice monk whose dream was to become as great a hero as Martin the warrior of legend who, along with Abbess Germaine, co-founded the titular abbey. Then one day a one-eyed rat who went by the name of Cluny the Scourge showed up in the neighborhood with his army of miscreants intent on pillaging Redwall and killing anyone who would oppose him. Problem was, at least for our monocular antagonist, those abbey mice were no chickens and did not lack for pluck and resourcefulness when it came to defending their beloved abbey. And so ensued a war of attrition of sorts between rats and mice, along with each side’s allies.

It quickly became apparent that the only thing that would tip the scales in the mice’s favor and put an end once and for all to the scourge that was Cluny would be a hero the likes of which Redwall hadn’t seen since Martin the Warrior. But Martin was dead and buried. And his sword was now the property of a creature far more dangerous and deadly than Cluny the Scourge. Who in their right mind would be so brave as to take up the mantle (along with the shield and sword) of the late hero? Who would be so bold and fearless, and perhaps a little reckless too? Matthias, that’s who!
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Royal_Conquest
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Sometimes you’re afraid to do nostalgia rereads because they sometimes don’t hit like they used to. Like a house you once knew, that’s since grown unfriendly.

I’m overjoyed to say that this old childhood favorite welcomed me in, sat me down with a blanket, and whispered, “You’ve been fighting too long. Let me remind you of why you began in the first place.”

And off I went. Back into the place that’s all action, valor, and sacrifice—balanced by light, hope, coziness, and enough food to feed an army. Back to where sunlight shines golden through forest leaves, red sandstone walls guard against evil of all kinds, and battle cries echo in the defense of all things good and kind.

It did my heart good, this homecoming.
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double
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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If Beatrix Potter wrote Arthurian-inspired medieval stories...



I missed the Redwall train growing up. The cover is familiar to me, and probably what turned me off--I didn't care for war novels then. Redwall is extraordinarily violent, so I know I'd have hated this particular book as a kid, but it was quite good fun now that my stomach is a bit stronger.

The world of Redwall Abbey is simply charming. Woodland creatures feasting medieval-style? Yes, please. I loved Jacques's attention to animal life, and how well he imagined their interactions and roles. My one burning question is about how the buildings account for vast size differences in animals (from dormice to badgers). His use of medieval-esque conceits and evocative language in the novel was excellent, too. Jacques expects a lot of his middle-grade readers, which I appreciate!

I'm eager to read more in the series (hopefully some of the upcoming books are less violent), given my weakness for anthropomorphic woodland creatures and medieval settings. The combination is just too much to resist. Cornflower x Matthias 5ever.

Content warnings: lots of death and violence; beware, young/sensitive readers! Character death, senseless death, accidental death--it's all here. Execution, kidnapping, imprisonment, poisoning/hypnosis, boiling oil. At least none of it is acted upon/enacted by children, like The Hunger Games. As I was reading, I kept thinking, "This is the type of book most enjoyed by nine-year-olds who passionately explain the superiority of the trebuchet to the catapult."
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jpxavowwgamer
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This book was actually *better* than I remember it being. It's got content that I would say is more targeted at mid-teens than preteens, which was how I'd remembered it. The writing is great, the story is entertaining, some of the action is ruthless, and the audio was terrific. It's going to be difficult to go back to reading adult things when I want to continue this series on an adult-reread.
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