“Rakkety Tam” by Brian Jacques

So I have once again ended up going back to the Redwall book series, to read the ones that I never quite got around to in my childhood. This one was an interesting one to start with, after not having read any of the books in quite some time.

Rakkety Tam is more or less a stand alone story of the Redwall world. As far as I can tell, there aren’t any real concrete references to other books in the series, no characters that bridge the gap to any previous ones. Having said that, the best characters in this book are two completely new ones: the warrior squirrels Tam and Doogey. Tam is from the Border while Doogey is a Highlander, and they both wear kilts. You see where this is going? Jacques nails the accent in their dialogue, and the fact that he dreamed up Scottish squirrels is pretty hilarious.

The big bad this time is Gulo, a wolverine from the north who is the first of his species in the series. His followers are ruthless, and even eat their enemies (another first for the series). He is hunting for the Walking Stone, which his brother took from him before departing into Mossflower Wood.

As far as the plot goes, I think it was just a little too much. The forces split several times, meaning that you have to keep track of where the Redwallers, Long Patrol hares, and Guosim shrews are all at once. It can become a little too much, with characters popping up seemingly out of nowhere. Although it is good to have familiar faces such as the Long Patrol and the Guosim around, consolidating them all would make it a little easier.

This story also relies on a lot of tropes, such as two Redwall maids getting captured and then rescued by the heroes, riddles leading to treasure, evildoers eventually going mad, and fighters becoming peaceful once the fighting is over. With such creative characters, it would be nice to see more creative plot lines as well. There are also several questions never answered, such as what the significance of the Walking Stone is (and for that matter why the dying wolverine told two Redwallers where it was). Honestly since the motivation for the bad guys revolves around this, you would think that it would have some meaning behind it.

So in the end, this is your typical Redwall story that utilizes its tried and true tropes. There are inventive characters and ideas, but they deserve a little better than the story surrounding them.