Brian Jacques, author of the Redwall series, passes away at 71.

stavesacre

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/arts/09jacques.html?_r=1

Nearing midlife, Mr. Jacques (pronounced “Jakes”) took a job driving a milk truck in Liverpool, where he was born and lived to the end of his life. On his route was the Royal School for the Blind.

Invited in for a nice cup of tea one day, he volunteered to read to the students. Over time, he grew dissatisfied with the books available — too much adolescent angst, he later said — and vowed to write his own.

He wrote what he called “a proper story,” brimming with battle and gallantry. Titled “Redwall” and published in 1986, it became the first installment in what is now a best-selling 21-volume children’s fantasy series.

Mr. Jacques died on Saturday in Liverpool, at 71. The death was announced by his North American publisher, Penguin Young Readers Group. The Liverpool newspapers reported that he died after emergency heart surgery.

I'm terribly sad to hear this news. Mr. Jacques is the reason I love to read today. The characters came to life for me, and spurred my young imagination.

I hope to read his stories to my daughter one day.



Am I the only one here? Did anyone else enjoy the Redwall series?

Dracil

I loved Redwall as a kid, so this is pretty sad news.

At least I have Mouse Guard to fall back on now.

Captain Carrot

I stopped reading them years ago, but I enjoyed them very much then.

Havelock

Bummer. The Redwall series was a staple of my childhood. I stopped reading it once I picked up Tolkien and Herbert, but still, props to Jacques for getting me there in the first place.

Fencingsax

This was basically my childhood.

Rent

I really liked the redwall series as a kid but then i realized that brian jacques was basically a hack who wrote the same book over and over and over again and stopped reading them when i turned 14. still though, sucks that he's dead

also i really disliked how the "evil" creatures (rats, stoats, etc) were always evil in every book, it made the characters flat and uninteresting

I would've liked it if there were good rats and stoats and weasels or whatever, but the fact that every single one was evil really ruined the sense of immersion for me

Halos Nach Tariff

The Redwall series were basically the books of my childhood.

Really sucks that he's gone

DasUberEdward

This ruined my day so much.

I actually had a dream I was trying to recollect all of the books.

Redwall to me is what Lord of the Rings is to most folks. And i'm not even a furry.

Havelock

Rent wrote: »

I really liked the redwall series as a kid but then i realized that brian jacques was basically a hack who wrote the same book over and over and over again and stopped reading them when i turned 14. still though, sucks that he's dead

also i really disliked how the "evil" creatures (rats, stoats, etc) were always evil in every book, it made the characters flat and uninteresting

I would've liked it if there were good rats and stoats and weasels or whatever, but the fact that every single one was evil really ruined the sense of immersion for me

There was a 'shades of grey' stoat or weasel or whatever kind of novel at one point, but it wasn't that great, if memory serves. Even the ending was predictable, even for a kid.

I think my favorite out all the books were of The Bellmaker line, because they kept (if memory serves) the formulaic stuff that Jacque would do to a minimum. Though I could be wrong.

Rent

Havelock wrote: »

Rent wrote: »

I really liked the redwall series as a kid but then i realized that brian jacques was basically a hack who wrote the same book over and over and over again and stopped reading them when i turned 14. still though, sucks that he's dead

also i really disliked how the "evil" creatures (rats, stoats, etc) were always evil in every book, it made the characters flat and uninteresting

I would've liked it if there were good rats and stoats and weasels or whatever, but the fact that every single one was evil really ruined the sense of immersion for me

There was a 'shades of grey' stoat or weasel or whatever kind of novel at one point, but it wasn't that great, if memory serves. Even the ending was predictable, even for a kid.

man fuck that book

i remember that one

Havelock

Rent wrote: »

Havelock wrote: »

Rent wrote: »

I really liked the redwall series as a kid but then i realized that brian jacques was basically a hack who wrote the same book over and over and over again and stopped reading them when i turned 14. still though, sucks that he's dead

also i really disliked how the "evil" creatures (rats, stoats, etc) were always evil in every book, it made the characters flat and uninteresting

I would've liked it if there were good rats and stoats and weasels or whatever, but the fact that every single one was evil really ruined the sense of immersion for me

There was a 'shades of grey' stoat or weasel or whatever kind of novel at one point, but it wasn't that great, if memory serves. Even the ending was predictable, even for a kid.

man fuck that book

i remember that one

Yeah, that was the book that I read about halfway through, and then half-assed it to the end. There didn't seem to be an honest attempt to make the stoat/weasel a likeable character, and at the end of it all the message seemed to be "Things are born either good or evil, and the evil ones can redeem themselves

but only through death"

JHunz

I loved this man's books when I was a kid. I still have signed copies of something like 12 of them. I stopped buying them after a while, since they were all so similar, but he definitely influenced my love of reading.

Also at some book signings he would read parts of his books out loud. I remember him being a fucking fantastic narrator.

DasUberEdward

Yeah I stopped reading probably less than half way in. BUT before the repetition set in. . wow.

JihadJesus

I read the first 3 or so of these books until they completely fell apart when I was a kid. It was pretty excellent at the time, but so...arbitrary. The fox, a larger, vicious predator of small animals? Universally evil. The badger, a larger and pretty viscious predator or small animals? Universally good. I mean seriously, the fuck did those badgers eat? Did they just keep a stock of rat pirates to gorge on down in the dungeon?

Okay actually that would have been much more interesting than the actual book.

Havelock

JihadJesus wrote: »

I read the first 3 or so of these books until they completely fell apart when I was a kid. It was pretty excellent at the time, but so...arbitrary. The fox, a larger, vicious predator of small animals? Universally evil. The badger, a larger and pretty viscious predator or small animals? Universally good. I mean seriously, the fuck did those badgers eat? Did they just keep a stock of rat pirates to gorge on down in the dungeon?

Okay actually that would have been much more interesting than the actual book.

I think with the rate that Redwall was under siege, they probably had a secret larder to store the enemy bodies after the battle was won. That, or they had no problem feeding the badger some shrews. Those guys had the life expectancy of a mayfly out in the wild if memory serves. No one's going to notice when a couple go missing.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

geckahn

yeah i fucking loved these books.

Mortal Sky

Redwall was goddamn glorious, especially between ages 7 and 12. The last one I read was Taggerung, though. I need to pick a few of them back up and re-read 'em, evidently. Also make some hotroot soup.

RIP Brian Jacques. He had such a badass voice, too.

Litejedi

Havelock wrote: »

Rent wrote: »

Havelock wrote: »

Rent wrote: »

I really liked the redwall series as a kid but then i realized that brian jacques was basically a hack who wrote the same book over and over and over again and stopped reading them when i turned 14. still though, sucks that he's dead

also i really disliked how the "evil" creatures (rats, stoats, etc) were always evil in every book, it made the characters flat and uninteresting

I would've liked it if there were good rats and stoats and weasels or whatever, but the fact that every single one was evil really ruined the sense of immersion for me

There was a 'shades of grey' stoat or weasel or whatever kind of novel at one point, but it wasn't that great, if memory serves. Even the ending was predictable, even for a kid.

man fuck that book

i remember that one

Yeah, that was the book that I read about halfway through, and then half-assed it to the end. There didn't seem to be an honest attempt to make the stoat/weasel a likeable character, and at the end of it all the message seemed to be "Things are born either good or evil, and the evil ones can redeem themselves

but only through death"

This was the book that made me give up on the author.

stavesacre

Rent wrote: »

I really liked the redwall series as a kid but then i realized that brian jacques was basically a hack who wrote the same book over and over and over again and stopped reading them when i turned 14. still though, sucks that he's dead

also i really disliked how the "evil" creatures (rats, stoats, etc) were always evil in every book, it made the characters flat and uninteresting

I would've liked it if there were good rats and stoats and weasels or whatever, but the fact that every single one was evil really ruined the sense of immersion for me

*shrug*
They were always pretty much "young" fantasy. I think he did an actual picture story book set with the world as well.
But really the good/bad animals were similar in respect to how most fantasy depicts Elves, Humans, Dwarves and halflings being mostly good and Orcs, Trolls, Dark Elves and such being pretty universally evil.

There were a few times in the stories that some of the "evil" animals showed kindness or empathy, and the reverse was true for the good animals as well.

I'll agree with you that the storys were a pretty set formula, and it did get old after a while. But hey thats when you move on to new authors as a kid and expand your horizons. Everyone has to start somewhere.

I will, however, fight anyone who says that the man couldn't write well about food. Good lord.

Havelock

I will, however, fight anyone who says that the man couldn't write well about food. Good lord.

Apparently he put out a Redwall cookbook at some point. That's going on my to-buy list.

Quid

I picked Asmadeus as my Live tag because of these books. It wouldn't be until years later that I learned where the name originally came from.

Thanks for the awesome tag, Jacques.

moniker

Fencingsax wrote: »

This was basically my childhood.

That's really sad to hear.

stavesacre

Havelock wrote: »

I will, however, fight anyone who says that the man couldn't write well about food. Good lord.

Apparently he put out a Redwall cookbook at some point. That's going on my to-buy list.

I own it, and it is incredible. Pretty vegetarian fare, but thats to be expected really.

HamHamJ

Hares are the greatest thing ever.

But yeah read one Redwall book, read them all.

Also the scale seems wildly inconsistent.

JihadJesus

stavesacre wrote: »

Havelock wrote: »

I will, however, fight anyone who says that the man couldn't write well about food. Good lord.

Apparently he put out a Redwall cookbook at some point. That's going on my to-buy list.

I own it, and it is incredible. Pretty vegetarian fare, but thats to be expected really.

This one? Because that looks pretty awesome, and the guy really did know how to make imaginary food appealing.

chaosbear

I read Redwall and Mattimeo to my daughter when she was 8. This is sad news.

CaptainPeacock

Fur & Foot Fighters forever!

So It Goes

I liked these books

They always made me hungry when I read about the feast

Loved the hares

KalTorak

Everyone always forgets Blaggut - the searat who was taken in by Redwall, reformed, and became a boatmaker.

(from "The Bellmaker")

Z0re

I still have trouble parsing the mole speech, and I really dislike the moles universally because of that.

I really liked the books when I was younger though, even if the populations made no sense.

Neaden

I loved these books when I was a kid. I read once that he grew up very poor and always liked hearing about people eat big feasts when he read books but was always frustrated that they never said what the food was, which is why he always described food so much. As far as good predators there are also..bobcats? whatever the cats were. Some were good and some were bad.

Kate of Lokys

I actually just re-read Martin the Warrior last week, after finding it at the bottom of a box of old books.

I think if I had been introduced to the Redwall books at a young age, I might have liked them. As it was, though, I grew up on the likes of Watership Down and Black Beauty, which completely spoiled me as far as talking-animals stories went. Then by the time I heard about Redwall, I was old enough to be fundamentally unable to suspend my disbelief. "Martin picked up his sw... wait, what? His sword? How can he hold a sword when he has no opposable thumbs? For that matter, how the hell do mice and moles mine and smelt ore, and forge iron into weapons? OK, now they're having some lovely woodland feast, with berry tarts and acorn ale and... cheese? Like, regular cheese. Where the hell do they get milk for cheese this doesn't even make sense." (Even - perhaps especially - in fantasy, I have never been able to tolerate worlds that don't make sense).

Personal opinion about the logical merits of his work aside, though, I have deep respect for authors who write out of a genuine love of language and learning, who are enthusiastic about both their work and their audiences, who inspire kids (or grown-ups, for that matter) to pick up a book and read. Brian Jacques was one of the good ones, and he will be missed.

Amphetamine

Oh this fucking sucks Jacques got me seriously into reading and writing when I was 9 the first time I read Redwall. Even my dad liked the novels and all he reads are nonfiction books and Tolkien.

Rhesus Positive

Z0re wrote: »

I still have trouble parsing the mole speech, and I really dislike the moles universally because of that.

My uncle has a pretty similar accent, so I never really had a problem with it.

Rent

the worst part was in the earlier novels when jacques described the milk the mice drank as goat milk

just think of that for a second

mice. drinking goat milk.

Rent

stavesacre wrote: »

*shrug*
They were always pretty much "young" fantasy. I think he did an actual picture story book set with the world as well.
But really the good/bad animals were similar in respect to how most fantasy depicts Elves, Humans, Dwarves and halflings being mostly good and Orcs, Trolls, Dark Elves and such being pretty universally evil.

yeah, and it's part of the reason I hate the fantasy genre as well

I really like stories that give the enemy group or groups as having emotional depth besides "I'M EVIL AS FUCK RARRR RARR"

There were a few times in the stories that some of the "evil" animals showed kindness or empathy, and the reverse was true for the good animals as well.

I cannot think of a single book in the entire series, besides Outcast of Redwall (which was horrible), that the former and especially the latter is the case

I will, however, fight anyone who says that the man couldn't write well about food. Good lord.

oh yeah this is 100% true holy fuck

Rhesus Positive

Rent wrote: »

the worst part was in the earlier novels when jacques described the milk the mice drank as goat milk

just think of that for a second

mice. drinking goat milk.

Sourced from the land of Goatfield, where brave mice charge across the plains with specially designed milking towers, latching on to the underside of goats and deploying the huge teat pumps. It's dangerous work, but an abbey's worth of milk can be harvested in a day.

Mojo_Jojo

stavesacre wrote: »

I will, however, fight anyone who says that the man couldn't write well about food. Good lord.

Literally all I can remember about Redwall and Mossflower is the description of food. So good.

Lovely

I used to love the Redwall series when I was a kid. But as I grew older.... the books seem to take on a creepily racist vibe to them.

Probably didn't help that foxes have always been my favorite animal in general. Also, the whole, NO shades of gray vibe to his stories got annoying.

Also, read this on Something Awful a while back ago, gave me a chuckle then http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/bargain-book-bin-3.php . (probably not really appropriate now, but...)

schuss

Very sad, those were great books.