“Redwall” is a sturdy, old-fashioned hero’s tale with mice and moles in place of knights, and it holds up on an adult reread. The story of peaceful abbey creatures under attack moves briskly and with humour. Parents should know that some readers are surprised by how much fighting and death it contains for a children’s book. It opens a series of twenty-two volumes.

The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.

About the book

Redwall is a fantasy novel by Brian Jacques. Originally published in 1986, it is the first book of the Redwall series. The book was illustrated by Gary Chalk, with the British cover illustration by Pete Lyon and the US cover by Troy Howell. It is also one of the three Redwall novels to be made into an animated television series, along with Mattimeo and Martin the Warrior.

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Reading order · Redwall

Full order & progress →

Where the score comes from

The sources average 8.0 across 477 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 76% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Middle grade average of 8.0. That is how 8.0 comes out.

Source	Average	Ratings	Weight
Open Library	8.2	43	9%
Hardcover	8.0	434	91%

Frequently asked

What age is Redwall for?

Redwall sits on the Middle grade shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 8–12. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 352 pages — shorter than 89% of the ranked books in Middle grade.