Book Review - Redwall

Review of Brian Jacques's Redwall

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (3/5)

Redwall was a nostalgic read, as it was the introductory book to one of my favorite series as a child. This book contains a variety of small animals set in a medieval world. The good guys (mice, moles, hares, hedgehogs, etc.) are peaceful creatures trying to live a happy life in their abbey, while the bad guys (rats, weasels, stoats, etc.) attempt to viciously take over.

There’s a surprising amount of violence and death for a children’s book, but I actually appreciated the realism. A primary critique is the simplicity of the plot, which, in fairness, I should have expected based on the reading level. My larger complaint is that the author seems to pigeonhole characters into morally good/bad based on their species. Whether intentional or not, this gave me an uncomfortable reminder of people making generalizations of others based on physical descriptors out of their control. It would have been nice to see characters exhibit different qualities without the predefined destiny.

Overall, this was a pleasant trip down memory lane to my childhood. I’ve unfortunately changed my mind about reading the rest of the series now though.