The Many Worlds of Brian Jacques
The Many Worlds of Brian Jacques
On the winding green road towards Art Class, we would always listen to Brian Jacques’ warm voice, narrating the wild adventures of the creatures in his world of Mossflower. The commute took about 2 hours, and we’d reach class contented, bleary, but minds active with imagination and full of the stories we’d heard.
Brian Jacques has a remarkable gift in writing. In the short author biography on the cover of all of his Redwall books, it’s written that he began writing his books for blind children. He wanted the stories to be so rich and vivid that anyone who heard them could picture the world he was building. He succeeded entirely. Whether it’s his descriptions of the land and countryside of his Redwall Abbey, or the roaring, tumultuous seas his characters need to traverse on their adventures, you can almost feel the salt spray of the oceans and the long stems of grasses brushing your legs as you walk alongside the creatures on their journeys. You can smell the golden carrot-and-celery flans baking in the Abbey ovens and almost taste the 
creamy pies and refreshing teas the animals feast on.
His attention to detail is what makes the books so remarkable. They’re just a collection of children’s stories, but each is full of Easter eggs and poignant anecdotes. Even in the middle of a harrowing adventure the characters make time to eat sumptuous meals and make sure their friends are all doing well.
I also deeply appreciate the very clear good vs. evil tropes. Good always triumphs in these books, and I’m so glad that message was hammered home when I was growing up reading these books. In almost every story the good characters face very steep odds, but triumph with wise, moral decisions. Good characters are always protected. The vulnerable, the old and young, are defended by fiercely strong heroes and heroines. The Badger Lords get possessed by a fighting spirit called the Bloodwrath in the heat of battle and they’re undefeatable. Even the smallest mice can take on huge villains.
The world Jacques built just got bigger and bigger. The stories are all tied to Redwall Abbey, a safe and comfortable sanctuary in the woods of Mossflower. Mossflower is surrounded by oceans- other regions beyond these include Southsward and the cold Northern Isles. Quite a way past Redwall is the enormous mountain kingdom of Salamandastron, which is guarded by the Long Patrol. And all of these peaceful lands are watched over by troops of otters and GUOSIM shrews 
(Guerrilla Union of Shrews in Mossflower). It’s reminiscent of the wide world of Middle Earth that J.R.R. Tolkien created. There are so many characters in the Redwall universe and all of them have a story; many of these tales are interwoven. He adds variety with sophisticated narrative elements- like a frame narrator in one book, and alternating narratives that join at the end. It’s a “treat for all the senses”- and if you’re new to Jacques, you must give these books a try!
