Brian Jacques, Redwall author, dies.

[BabyHeadCrab]

I loved reading his books when I was younger. Anyone else read the Redwall series?

link

 

[Emporius]

This pretty much ruined my month.

 

[morgs]

This is terrible news, rest in peace Brian.

I have 13 of the books right here. These books were the best of my childhood, I've been meaning to re-read them.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

haha oh my I <3 you for that! Amazing series. Most of them I can't find, but I found my old copy of Redwall all tattered up in a bathroom cabinet. :'-(

 

[morgs]

They seem to be pretty cheap on Ebay, I might grab some I'm missing.

 

[Sparta]

Awww man that sucks. When I was sick in hospital as a kid, my dad would always read me Redwall books. They were awesome.

 

[lord_raken]

This makes me sad.

I read those things like crazy when I was a kid. They were a huge part of me overcoming my dyslexia and choosing to be a writer. I even sent him some fan mail telling him he should build a Redwall theme park.

 

[Emporius]

They are pretty much the sole reason I started to read so much.

 

[morgs]

They are pretty much the sole reason I started to read so much.

This, these books got me into reading.

It's good to see he has inspired so many people while he was alive.

 

[Raziaar]

I think I read redwall a long time ago... or part of it.

 

[Mimsta]

This, these books got me into reading.

Same here.
Back in elementary school we used to pretend to be Redwall characters and have wars and defeat evil in the schoolyard.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

YES. Playing imaginary Redwall games was key. Down on the bluff path by the lake in my childhood house we would play as Martin the Warrior and Mateo, etc and wield branches and pretend to have epic battles.

 

[Wanted Bob]

God, I used to love those books...

This news makes me sad

 

[morgs]

I've always said that if I ever get a rat I'm calling it Cluny.

 

[Ennui]

Sad news, I really loved the Redwall series as a kid.

I stopped reading it about 10 years ago (I think the last one I read was when I was in 7th grade) but I loved every bit of it before then. I read all of them up to about 2001... so all of these:

# Redwall (1986)
# Mossflower (1988)
# Mattimeo (1989)
# Mariel of Redwall (1991)
# Salamandastron (1992)
# Martin the Warrior (1993)
# The Bellmaker (1994)
# Outcast of Redwall (1995)
# The Pearls of Lutra (1996)
# The Long Patrol (1997)
# Marlfox (1998)
# The Legend of Luke (1999)
# Lord Brocktree (2000)
# The Taggerung (2001)

My comment from yesterday on my friend's facebook status "RIP Brian Jacques":

Gather the dibbuns, we must tell them the bad news... after which we shall assuage their grief with vittles aplenty!

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Brief obituary type piece from the New York Times that was rather smile-inducing, clicky. Suggested reading just to see how fascinating his life was and how you can really become anyone at any time. Very inspirational.

 

[lord_raken]

YES. Playing imaginary Redwall games was key. Down on the bluff path by the lake in my childhood house we would play as Martin the Warrior and Mateo, etc and wield branches and pretend to have epic battles.

I always pretend to be a badger lord either Brocktree or Sunflash. I was also a fan of Taggerung.

 

[Danimal]

I never heard of these books, but just by judging from the posts in this thread, I really wish someone passed it to me when I was in the fifth grade or something.

 

[15357]

Damn.

I don't read the redwall series anymore, but I suppose I loved them when I was younger. I own all the books in the series, anyway.


Btw, they somewhat disturbed me a bit, because the portrayal of all species of "vermin" as inherently evil and stupid, which made me think of racist ideologies.

Of course, there's the occasional "good" rat or stoke, but they're always near-mental retardation. The wildcats I suppose are treated more fairly, but the badgers, despite their tendency for violence without mercy are hailed as heroes. It's made fairly clear in Outcast of Redwall that education, upbringing, and environmental issues don't affect the persona. Vermin, as the dwellers of redwall call them, will always be, and always have been, evil.

I dunno, but while I did enjoy the series, I found those aspects disturbing.

 

[morgs]

I read in my Redwall 'friend vs foe' book that the 'baddies' in the books were the rodents and animals that were pests in Britain, while the 'good' characters were animals that were not.

 

[Tony]

To this day I consider Cluny the Scourge one of the greatest villains of all time. Doesn't get more awesome than a rat with a poisoned knife on his tail and a cloak made out of bat wings.

Seems like there's one more Redwall book to be released in May. I might have to get it.

 

[Emporius]

Vermin, as the dwellers of redwall call them, will always be, and always have been, evil.

I dunno, but while I did enjoy the series, I found those aspects disturbing.

I seem to recall him tackling this in at least one book didn't he? I'm pretty sure there are at least mentions, if not portrayals of peaceful 'vermin' individuals AND communities.

 

[Slug Advisor]

Numbers must find Lord of the Rings horrifying.

 

[15357]

I seem to recall him tackling this in at least one book didn't he? I'm pretty sure there are at least mentions, if not portrayals of peaceful 'vermin' individuals AND communities.

Not sure, I don't have the last 4 ~ 5 books. I think there was one, but they were still uncivilized, uneducated, and stupid.

But the greater problem is that, with the very possible exception of Shrews, there are no bad non-vermin.

Numbers must find Lord of the Rings horrifying.

No, actually. It has humans in it.

Humans > Everything Else

If Lord of the Rings was about humanity wiping out elves, orcs, dwarves, and et cetera, I would have loved it.

Because, you see, in my mind, racism only stretches to divisions in the human species. Redwall had no humans, and therefore I interpreted the varied species of animals as races from a single species.

 

[Krynn72]

Never read any of his books, sounds like I missed out. Also, kinda off-topic, but what was the name of those books with the mouse who rode a Harley?