My Redwall Reading Order

My favourite book series of all time is the Redwall saga by Brian Jacques. There is debate within the fandom of the correct order in which to read them. You could read them in the publication order. You could read them in chronological order of the stories. Or you could read them in the “whichever I get my hands on next” order, which is is what a friend of mine did; I had given them a copy of Redwall and the next book the could find was The Outcast of Redwall, which doesn’t come next in either of the two orders. I believe all three of these reading orders are good, with their own benefits. And while my reading order that I think makes the most sense to people new to the fandom doesn’t exactly match any of them, I believe that they all are right and good. There is more than one correct way. I’m just going to share mine.

1. Redwall: The first book Brian Jacques wrote. He actually hadn’t been planning on publishing it; he just wrote it for the children in the school for the blind in Liverpool when a former English teacher from his childhood got a copy of it and sent it to a publisher without his permission. There are some differences between Redwall and the other books in the series because of this.
2. Mattimeo: This book still contains some of differences from Redwall that aren’t present in the other books. However, because he knew this was going to be a series, Brian Jacques had changed some things from the first book.
3. The Pearls of Lutra
4. The Long Patrol
5. Marlfox
6. Taggerung

So far we’ve only talked about the sequels to Redwall. But a good number of the books are actually prequels to the first book Mr. Jacques wrote.

7. Lord Brocktree

8. Martin the Warrior: Now, in the Redwall series, you need to read the prologues and epilogues (as well as all the songs and poems and feast scenes and everything). The prologue and epilogue for this book actually take place between two later books, Mariel of Redwall and The Bellmaker. The main body of the story takes place after Lord Brocktree, but before Mossflower. If you think the prologue and epilogue will confuse you, then feel free to read this later in the sequence. It won’t harm anything.

9. Mossflower: This was either the second or third book in the series Mr. Jacques wrote. It still contained some of the differences mentioned earlier, but, like Mattimeo, it was sort of a bridge between the first book he wrote and all the others.

10. The Legend of Luke: Some people want to put this immediately after Lord Brocktree, but only the second section of the book fits in that place in the timeline. The rest of it goes here, as book 10 I suggest you read.

11. Outcast of Redwall

12. Mariel of Redwall: Again, if you think the prologue and epilogue of Martin the Warrior might confuse you if you read it in the place I have it listed above, then feel free to put it right after this book, instead 🙂

13. The Bellmaker

14. Salamandastron

The rest of the books can be read in any order you wish; they don’t have characters or obvious events to tie them together like the above books do. They can literally be read in any order you please. However, for the sake of my list, I’m going to provide them for you in the order they were published in. (A huge thanks to the Redwall Wiki for having the books listed in their publication order!!!)

15. Triss

16. Loamhedge

17. Rakkety Tam

18. High Rhulain

19. Eulalia! (How in the universe does one pronounce this word?! “You-lay-lee-ah.” You’re welcome.)

20. Doomwyte

21. The Sable Quean

22. The Rogue Crew: This was the very last Redwall book ever. It was published on May 3rd, 2011, almost 3 months to the day after Brian Jacques died on February 5th, 2011. Some diehard fans still haven’t read it, the mourning in the fandom is so great.

There are also two picture books, The Great Redwall Feast and A Redwall Winter’s Tale. They, along with the story in The Redwall Cookbook that ties all the recipes together, take place between Redwall and Mattimeo.

There you have it, folks. Remember, there’s more than one correct order to read the books in, so do whichever one you think would make the most sense to you. I just think this one makes the most sense to people new to the fandom because you start with the first book ever written, and you don’t jump around in the timeline.

Bonus: Keep an eye out for Dibbuns Against Bedtime (DAB). This is a group from the Redwall Online Community (ROC), which is the online group of fans who role play on various sites across the Internet. The DAB group has been around since before Taggerung was published, and Mr. Jacques wrote them into the books, making them canon in the universe. Very exciting!

Happy reading, and I hope you enjoy my favourite fandom of all time!

“For Reeeedwaaaaallll!!!”