Redwall
Matthias is a clumsy young mouse novice at the peaceful Redwall Abbey, an ancient sandstone haven where the orders of mice, moles, squirrels, and voles live by the teachings of the legendary warrior Martin. When the one-eyed rat warlord Cluny the Scourge and his horde of ship rats, weasels, and stoats lay siege to the abbey, Matthias sets off into the forest to recover Martin's lost sword, forging alliances with sparrows, shrews, badgers, and owls along the way. Brian Jacques's 1986 debut, originally written for the blind children at the Royal School for the Blind in Liverpool, founded a twenty-two-book cycle and a middle-grade fantasy tradition of feast scenes, riddles, hedgerow battles, and warrior-animals defending a place worth defending.
Where Redwall keeps showing up
Two of our editors' lists feature this novel.
What you might want to know about Redwall
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
First in the long Redwall series. Young mouse novice Matthias dreams of being a hero like the legendary Martin the Warrior. When the rat Cluny the Scourge lays siege to Redwall Abbey, his chance arrives.
Brian Jacques wrote 22 Redwall novels before his death in 2011. The series is complete and remains a beloved long-running middle-grade fantasy with anthropomorphic animal characters.
Two reading orders exist. Publication order starts with Redwall (1986); chronological order starts with Lord Brocktree. New readers usually start with Redwall, the most accessible entry point.
Redwall was written by Brian Jacques, published in 1986 by Ace.
Redwall is 352 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Redwall takes most readers 5 to 8 hours to finish.
Redwall is a standalone novel by Brian Jacques, not part of a series.
Redwall is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
