Redwall

Redwall is a fantasy novel by Brian Jacques, published in 1986 and the first book of the Redwall series. It was illustrated by Gary Chalk, with cover art by Pete Lyon in Britain and Troy Howell in the United States, and it introduces the abbey that most of the later books are built around.

Matthias is a novice at the abbey who would rather be a warrior than a brother, and the arrival of Cluny and his horde turns that ambition into a necessity. The siege gives the book its shape: the defences are prepared, the abbey's records are searched for the story of its founder Martin the Warrior, and Matthias goes looking for the sword that belonged to him.

Jacques wrote the story for children he had met at a school for the blind, and its animals are given dialects and songs, with feasts described in detail and the fighting kept direct. The novel was followed by many more Redwall books, and it is one of the three titles that established the series.