Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
One of my guiltiest pleasures is the Redwall series of novels by Brian Jacques (1939-2011). They are plainly marketed to children, and they lack the bits of wink-wink sophistication that make it okay for adults to admit that we have read the Harry Potter books.
But they are great works of fantasy. The universe is well-crafted with no glaring inconsistencies, the characters are well-drawn with sympathetic heroes and despicable villains, the plots are imaginative, and although the good guys always win the epic battles in the end, some of them die along the way, leaving a sense of sadness and destiny that lingers into the next book.
It's all about mousies, badgers, moles, shrews and other creatures who have their own bustling miniature medieval civilization out in the woods of England. Redwall is an abbey that was built by a legendary mouse ancestor and it's the center of culture for all the good animals. They often come under attack from the bad animals (rats, foxes, weasels, even the occasional raptor) and the protracted battles are very imaginatively plotted. There's also romance, revenge, palace intrigue, precocious young 'uns, treachery and tomfoolery (hares seem to always be clowns in this universe). There's an occasional bit of sorcery, but Jacques seemed to understand that when mice brew ale and stoats carry crossbows, it would be easy to overwhelm a story with too much fantasy.
Brian Jacques was caned in school when he turned in a writing assignment that his teacher said could not possibly have been written by a ten-year-old boy. With this experience to remember, he left school at an early age and took odd jobs. When he was driving a milk truck, one of his stops was a school for blind children. He fell in love with them and spent an increasing amount of time doing charitable work for them, then had the brilliant idea of writing a story for them: one with intense visual descriptions that would be appropriate for the blind. This was Redwall, the first book in the series, and the animal characters were all based on people he knew. Unbeknownst to him, a writer friend showed the book to his own publisher, who promptly contracted with Jacques to write the next five books in the series.
There are now 21 Redwall books, which have sold 20 million copies and been translated into 27 languages. He also wrote a number of other books outside the series.
By all accounts Jacques lived the happy life he deserved, had a good marriage with successful children and grandchildren, and died a relatively quick and merciful death from an aortic aneurism at age 71.
I mourn his loss, but I am comforted by the fact that I have only read five of the Redwall books. I will be able to continue enjoying his contribution to fantasy literature for quite some time to come.
I don't know how many of you share my simpleton's taste for children's and young adults' literature (another of my favorite authors is Robin McKinley and I love Spongebob), but I would certainly recommend Brian Jacques's wonderful books to the children in your life.
But they are great works of fantasy. The universe is well-crafted with no glaring inconsistencies, the characters are well-drawn with sympathetic heroes and despicable villains, the plots are imaginative, and although the good guys always win the epic battles in the end, some of them die along the way, leaving a sense of sadness and destiny that lingers into the next book.
It's all about mousies, badgers, moles, shrews and other creatures who have their own bustling miniature medieval civilization out in the woods of England. Redwall is an abbey that was built by a legendary mouse ancestor and it's the center of culture for all the good animals. They often come under attack from the bad animals (rats, foxes, weasels, even the occasional raptor) and the protracted battles are very imaginatively plotted. There's also romance, revenge, palace intrigue, precocious young 'uns, treachery and tomfoolery (hares seem to always be clowns in this universe). There's an occasional bit of sorcery, but Jacques seemed to understand that when mice brew ale and stoats carry crossbows, it would be easy to overwhelm a story with too much fantasy.
Brian Jacques was caned in school when he turned in a writing assignment that his teacher said could not possibly have been written by a ten-year-old boy. With this experience to remember, he left school at an early age and took odd jobs. When he was driving a milk truck, one of his stops was a school for blind children. He fell in love with them and spent an increasing amount of time doing charitable work for them, then had the brilliant idea of writing a story for them: one with intense visual descriptions that would be appropriate for the blind. This was Redwall, the first book in the series, and the animal characters were all based on people he knew. Unbeknownst to him, a writer friend showed the book to his own publisher, who promptly contracted with Jacques to write the next five books in the series.
There are now 21 Redwall books, which have sold 20 million copies and been translated into 27 languages. He also wrote a number of other books outside the series.
By all accounts Jacques lived the happy life he deserved, had a good marriage with successful children and grandchildren, and died a relatively quick and merciful death from an aortic aneurism at age 71.
I mourn his loss, but I am comforted by the fact that I have only read five of the Redwall books. I will be able to continue enjoying his contribution to fantasy literature for quite some time to come.
I don't know how many of you share my simpleton's taste for children's and young adults' literature (another of my favorite authors is Robin McKinley and I love Spongebob), but I would certainly recommend Brian Jacques's wonderful books to the children in your life.
