Redwall
[3] The series chronicles the adventures of the anthropomorphic animals inhabiting Redwall Abbey and the surrounding countryside of Mossflower Wood, including mice, moles, hares, badgers, and other woodland species.
Frequently the peace-loving creatures of Mossflower are called upon to become warriors to defend themselves from marauding bands of "vermin" such as rats, weasels, and foxes.
Although the main setting is an abbey, and several characters are referred to as monks, friars, etc., the series makes little mention of religious beliefs or practices.
The sword of Martin the Warrior is believed by many characters to be magical, and vermin occasionally try to steal it for this reason; Mossflower reveals that it was forged from a fragment of a meteorite at the volcanic fortress Salamandastron by the Badger Lord known as Boar the Fighter.
In the Redwall universe, species almost invariably (with very few exceptions, including change of character mid-story) determines a creature's nature, whether good or evil.
Some common noble species in Redwall include mice, otters, moles, hares, squirrels, hedgehogs, shrews, birds, voles, and badgers, while common vermin include rats, foxes, weasels, ferrets, ravens, snakes, stoats, ermine, sables, wildcats, magpies, rooks, and crows.
Amphibians like toads and frogs have been featured also, and are depicted as lower creatures that live in more basic tribal systems and usually serve not as the primary villains but as secondary distractions to heroes.
There are also some creatures that have only been mentioned once or twice (e.g., wolf, beaver, turtle, whale, wolverine, sable, tortoise, golden hamster, bats, monitor lizards, polecats, and in the first book horses, pigs, dogs and cows).
Other birds such as owls, herons, red-tailed hawks, and eagles are mentioned, some having major parts in books, including in Mattimeo when a raven named General Ironbeak manages to invade and almost conquers Redwall Abbey with his army of rooks.
[4] The books of the Redwall series have drawn comparisons to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings,[5] to Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, and Richard Adams's Watership Down.
[6] Jacques combines "action, poetry, songs, courage, and vivid descriptions" to create a unique style that spans the series.
[7] The Redwall series has received praise for its "equal-opportunity adventuring, in which female creatures can be just as courageous (or as diabolical) as their male counterparts".
[8] Novels such as Mariel of Redwall, Pearls of Lutra, High Rhulain and Triss all feature strong female leading characters.
Jacques has also received acclaim for his development of unique language[9] intrinsic to certain species, giving the novels an "endearing dialectal dialogue".
[10] The characteristics of the animals in the novels are fixed by their species, making them quite "predictable",[11] though there have been a few books, such as in Outcast of Redwall and Pearls of Lutra, in which vermin have acted selflessly, in one taking a spear through the chest and back meant for his former nursemaid (though she disregards his actions as impulse and comes to consider him born to be evil), and in the other saving the Abbot of Redwall from lizards.
For example, the wildcats in the book Mossflower each exhibit different characteristics: although Lady Tsarmina is cruel and vicious, her father Lord Verdauga is seen as hard but fair, and her brother Gingivere is kind and eventually joins the side of the woodlanders.
[12] Many reviewers have also criticized the Redwall series for repetition and predictability, citing "recycled" plot lines[13] and Jacques' tendency to follow a "pattern to the dot".
Books in the Redwall series have been translated into Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, and Swedish.
[17] There have been full-length audiobooks published of most of the Redwall books, the exceptions being The Pearls of Lutra, Marlfox, Lord Brocktree (on cassette), The Legend of Luke, and The Rogue Crew.
