In One for Sorrow, the realm known as Birddom is in grave peril, threatened by a horde of vicious magpies led by their mad leader, Slyekin, who desires nothing more than to conquer all of Birddom and kill or rule its avian inhabitants. With his evil magpies and their thuggish cousins the crows to carry out his bidding, and his right-hand assassin, Traska, to enforce his will, Slyekin seems assured of victory. But not all is lost: the last of the robins, Kirrick, under the guidance of a wise owl, sets forth on a desperate quest to unite the remaining strongholds of Birddom for one last push against the magpie forces. His allies will come from all places, and he’ll discover he’s not as alone as he feared. But even if he does succeed in his mission, will the cost be too high for him to bear?

In Two for Joy, the second half of this volume, the story continues. Slyekin’s evil reign may be over, but his legacy lives on, and Birddom may yet fall to the darkness. This time, it’ll be up to Kirrick’s mate, Portia, and a brave bullfinch, Mickey, to make a perilous journey to a distant land in order to seek the salvation of their peoples, and Birddom itself. Meanwhile, one of Slyekin’s most infamous followers has returned to finish what he started, not knowing that the consequences of one of his most brutal moments is hunting him, eager for revenge.

One For Sorrow, Two for Joy joins Watership Down, Tailchaser’s Song, and the Redwall series as another epic tale of the animal world, doing for birds what the previous authors have done for rabbits, cats, and mice. It combines the beauty of the natural world with the cold brutality of the circle of life, offering up an interesting tale with some unlikely heroes. The themes are classic: an evil lord and his armies threatening all that is proper, an epic quest to find help, unlikely alliances made in the face of evil, murder, revenge, and so forth. The first half of the book is very much a Tolkienesque fantasy, while the latter half contains aspects of a Greek or Shakespearian tragedy. All in all, it balances out the familiar aspects of the storyline with a high-flying sensibility. While it’s aimed as a story for children, there are some dark moments involving death, mayhem, and brutal attacks (that I’m sure Disney will sanitize if they get around to making the movie of this), so parents do be warned. Overall, One for Sorrow, Two for Joy is an excellent book, familiar without being derivative.