RIP Brian Jacques

Very sad news to hear that Brian Jacques, author of the "Redwall" series of books passed away. While the books never reached the height of popularity of "Harry Potter," they are beloved by millions of readers. Truthfully, I grew out of the series, but when I was first getting into reading I was scarfing them down like strawberry scones at the Abbey.

While "Redwall" might be most well known title in the series, I was a bigger fan of the badass badger lords featured prominently in Salamandastron. It was here in the pages of Jacques books that unbeknownst to me I was learning about the classical mythic structure of heroic narratives. It also helped that there were badgers in armor kicking vermin ass, but still the classical structure was there. His stories always featured a young hero on a quest, and I am a huge fan of quests of any kind. Just great stuff.

One of the most magical things though about the series is that it was never given the mega budget Hollywood treatment. Sure, there is an animated version, but since it human actors couldn't portray the animal characters of the books, the characters exist in their purest form in my mind. I never had to imagine Hugo Weaving voicing Clooney. The books were and continue to be wonderful examples of the worlds that a reader can create in their mind.


Jacques will be missed