Book #4 in The Redwall Series, Book #12 written

While encouraging my kids to read more over the summer last year, I introduced them to Brian Jacques and the Redwall series. This was thanks to some research I did for my article, “20 Youth Fantasy Series Worth Exploring.”

My son (13 at the time) eventually read many of them himself, though out of order. He got burned out on them, though, claiming that the stories all followed the same plot structure. In my own words, that means:

• A weakened people in an otherwise peaceful land overrun by…
• A vicious tyrant afraid of nothing except…
• An outside Carnivore who can’t quite handle…
• An unexpected hero who’s got…
• A goofy sidekick, and together they raise up…
• A ragtag band of soldiers to fight for their freedom.

I won’t tell you who wins.

While I can understand my son’s burnout from reading a bunch of these similar stories one after the other, I think that such a structure is to be expected—and is already present—in many fantasy novels. The joy in reading comes more from the characters, humor, stories, and scenes you get to experience than from the overall Good-vs.-Evil thrust. I mean, generally when starting a book, we already know that it turn out well, don’t we? We just don’t yet know how.

I didn’t want the kids to shy away from great books simply because they can predict the ending. For that reason, I selected The Legend of Luke for our Cousin’s Book Club list this year, and I think it included enough variation from the norm to have kept my kids’ interest.

Book Summary

Peace has spread among the creatures of Redwall Abbey. The hero of Mossflower, Martin the Warrior, is growing older when he discovers an old manuscript that reveals secrets to his father’s past—as well as his own. For much of the story, we get to watch Luke’s own epic unfold in exciting, manuscript form—how the pirate Vilu Daskar murdered Martin’s mother, and how Luke swore vengeance on the killer still ravaging towns up and down the coast.

Luke ultimately sacrifices himself in the pursuit, and the battles are as lively as any in Jacques’ other books. Martin leaves the story at peace with his past and humbled by his father’s sacrifice.

The Structure

Thankfully, The Legend of Luke is presented in a format different than the one I outlined above. There’s plenty in this book to stir the pot of plot structure, and I think it fits wonderfully here as the fourth book in the series—in time to relieve readers from the same-old-same-old, yet also answering many of the questions we’ve had since Book 1, Redwall.

This book also contains all the other necessary elements that make a Jacques novel worth reading: humor, oddball characters, descriptive feasts, songs and ballads, fun kids, a nasty enemy, warriors, heroes, and death. About the fun kids, we were reminded of our favorite characters of all from Mossflower, Ferdy and Coggs. We even named our cats after these characters, we loved them so much! To see them all grown up in this book, yet still playing their old games, was a treat:

“Good sirs, I’m called Trimp the Rover.”

“Marm, I’m called Ferdy an’ that fat ‘un’s my brother Coggs, both of Redwall Abbey.”

Coggs snorted, pointing to Ferdy’s ample stomach. “I ain’t as fat as ole Ferdy, am I, miz Trimp?” (3)

Overall, this was a really fun fantasy novel to read together. I hope the rest of our books on the Cousins’ Book Club list are as entertaining, and I hope this process is one we can repeat next year as well.

©2025 E.T.

Read More from Brian Jacques:

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