Redwall Collectors Community: Czech Redwall Revisited

Contributed by LordTBT at 11:01PM GMT, 19 November 2024

A little over nine years ago, the Redwall Wiki reviewed the 1996 paperback Czech edition of Redwall, "Červená Pevnost", "Kniha první: Hradby".

That review revealed that the only published Czech edition consisted of just Book One of Redwall, The Wall, and that the other two Books within the novel were never published in the Czech language due to the publisher's closure.

For nearly 30 years, Czech Redwall fans have been on tenterhooks: they had no way of knowing what happened with Matthias and his quest, and the outcome of Cluny the Scourge's war against Redwall Abbey.

Sure, it's been almost three decades, but wait no longer, Czechs, the suspense is over! A new Czech-language hardcover of Redwall is available, and it contains all three books, the entire 326-page novel!

Rudoval: Válečníkův meč ("Warrior's Sword") was published by Mytago and translated by Zbyněk Kučera Holub. It features the exact same cover artwork as the new German Cross-Cult editions by Chris Dunn - and this variant seems to have a bit more of Cluny's cape. This appears to be the first EXPORT of this particular artwork, and certainly provides hope that perhaps we might see it on English language books some day. Also noteworthy is the book's size. It's slimmer and takes up significantly less shelf space than the German books.

Additionally, there's a brand new map! Czech fantasy cartographer Zbyněk Hladík created a really nice overhead perspective of Redwall, which appears in the front and back of the hardcover. This is a huge upgrade as the previous Czech edition didn't even have a map or chapter illustrations. Gary Chalk's chapter icons are reproduced in this new edition as well.

Finally, the book contains a built-in red ribbon bookmark, and it arrived with a publisher button featuring Matthias from the cover, a nice bonus. Overall, a really solid edition of Redwall for Czech fans to finally finish the story.