This year—and especially since our international move—my kids have become readers. Even my 13yo son, who I thought would wait until adulthood to love books, has his nose stuck in his Kindle every free moment of the day. I have mixed feelings about this (i.e. implications of friendships and cultural adaptation), but I do love that my kids love reading!

For homeschool, I wanted to up our game from middle-school reads like James Patterson‘s I Funny books, and I also wanted to get my kids out of their slump of re-reading the Gregor the Overlander and Harry Potter series yet again. Fantasy being our genre of choice this month (and their obvious favorite anyways), I struck out on a quest to discover the best series for my kids at ages 12 and 13—and Brian Jacques‘ Redwall series won.

I actually wrote up a whole list of other possible series to try. You can find my process and results here: “20 Youth Fantasy Series Worth Exploring.”

Our Varied Impressions

Since I’d read Jacques’ first book Redwall (1986) eight years ago, and since his second book Mossflower is actually its prequel, I decided to start the kids here. I joined them in the read, of course, but we all read at our own paces. My daughter (12) started out not quite liking it—confused by the characters and Mole-speak—but she quickly got into the story and beat us all by days in finishing the book. I just read her own book review, and she actually called the Mole-speak one of her favorite parts of the book, so proof it can grow on you!

I was a bit behind, since I had a few other responsibilities to cover, and my son was last to finish. Turns out he was reading The Deathly Hallows when he was supposed to be reading Jacques. Boys. Actually, he explained why he couldn’t get into the book: “I really like the Mossflower scenes, because they’re always fighting and doing stuff, but the journey scenes with the guys is just boring.” Again: Boys.

Story Summary

In the end, we all loved the book, as it traces the rise and victories of Martin the Warrior—the same mighty mouse seen on the tapestry that Cluny the Scourge steals in Redwall. The story covers his happenstance entrance into Mossflower Woods where he’s arrested by the thugs of Queen Tsarmina, the wildcat “with a Thousand Eyes” who’s essentially enslaved the woodsfolk of Mossflower. Following Martin’s escape, he and the woodsfolk seek ways to rid the land of Tsarmina and her armies. They come up with many clever ruses, and Martin and friends also make a dangerous journey, uncovering some very interesting prophecies along the way.

Battles and Characters

The story is pretty non-stop action. It’s cartoonish—especially since the enemy rarely feels truly threatening, suspense-wise—though that doesn’t mean it’s not violent! Plenty of animals die, vermin and friend alike, and there are a few scenes where the injuries go deeper than you’d expect.

Regarding the constant fighting and war tactics, I really liked these lines from various characters:

“Don’t give ’em an inch; show them you mean business; forget about subterfuge and spies—that only makes for prolonged war—strike hard and be ruthless.” (215)

“You must always remember that it is not the weapon but the creature that wields it.” (220)

“There is no greater evil than killing. I don’t care whether they call it war or justice. Life is precious.” (282)

While we get to meet great folks like Gonff the Mouse-thief and Gingivere to wildcat (who I thought might play a much larger role in the story), the hands-down best characters of the story were Ferdy and Coggs, the young hedgehogs born to be warriors. These two scruffy, courageous lads with cooking-pot helmets and sticks in their scabbards are as quick to enter the fray as they are to nap at the dinner table. They’re the cutest, fiercest characters, and they made me smile whenever they showed up.

The Series as a Whole

Also exciting in this book was the insight we get into the prophecies of Salamandastron, the mention of Lord Brocktree, and a few other references that look ahead to all the Redwall books yet to be written (as of 1988, at least). Jacques wrote 22 in the series, plus a bunch of other companion books as well, so while I’m interested in reading more, I don’t know how I’d be able to tackle everything that exists in the Redwall universe!

Jacques’ Redwall books are wholesome, exciting, humorous and well worth a read. I’ll have no problem with my kids reading them further on their own—my daughter is already halfway through Mattimeo, actually!—and I’m way more inclined to continue the series myself, now that I’ve gotten this second taste. Great books well worth getting your kids into.

©2024 E.T.

Read More from Brian Jacques:

• Redwall (1986)
• Mossflower (1988)
• The Legend of Luke (1999)