A decent installment to the Redwall series.

One of my favourites. Tiria is a fallible character, Riggu and his family are villains that have some depth, and the supporting cast is strong.

3.5*

This was my favorite redwall book. It added so much lore to the series, the characters were great, the villains were not bland, It added so much new stuff, like geese, green isle, the high rhulain, and we have not had many young abbesses or abbots.

Jacques' later books were typically poorer than his earlier ones. However, there are some exceptions. Rakkety Tam, for one, and High Rhulain. Sure, Tiria in this novel was underdeveloped, but the setting and plot (apart from the Redwall setting, which was, eh, pointless) were fantastic. Leatho was also rather epic, and realistic at the same time, which is difficult to do. All in all, I'd rate this as one of Jacques' best works in the Redwall series!

I liked the second half of this book, centred on the otter maid Tiria Wildlough releasing the otters of Green Isle from the tyrannical rule of the half-faced wildcat Rigu Felis. The first half, in which Tiria's friends try to solve some puzzles at Redwall felt tacked on and kind of boring. If this had just been an otter adventure it would have had 5 stars!

An otter tribe was attacked and taken over by a group of wildcats. so the otters that weren't captured tryed to recapture their fort. So meanwhile at Redwall an otter was destined to return to the island were the otters lived and restore peace to the island were the otters live. So she goes to the island with a group of Long Patrol hares and they attack the cats. With the otters they attack the fort and win. Then the go to were the otters live. Then the Long Patrol hares go back and tell the others about what had happened.

HIGHLY ENJOYABLE! Didn’t expect for this one to be so good. I expected it to be much more generic and I was absolutely surprised.

Fairly bland and overly confusing. It seems like Jacques was trying to do something new and interesting, but couldn't pull it off. What made the original Redwall intriguing was the presence of a clear hero and a clear villain (Matthias and Cluny). Without spoiling the book, you end up with 2-3 "heros" who suddenly have pretty much no role in the story once the hero from Redwall arrives. You also have at least 3 villains which I had felt were going to come in as a main villain but each just end up dying stupidly. I was particularly disappointed with the "main" villain Riggu Felis. From the outset, he seemed like a promising villain in the style of Cluny but he ends up with possibly the most anti-climactic death of any Redwall villain I have seen. There is no grand battle, no one-on one with the hero, no tension. He just dies from a ranged attack without so much as learning his adversary's name. It's the kind of attack Jacques would show the *villain* using as a cowardly last attempt at revenge, instead it is the climax of a villain with great potential. I have always liked the Redwall series, but this was a very disappointing book for me.

High Rhulain is one of the best books of the Redwall series and a solid, comfy fantasy all around. Jacques' Redwall characters and storylines can get rather formulaic, so I can't say that's ever their strong point, but the cast of High Rhulain do stand out to me, especially the protagonist and her close friends, and this book taking place primarily away from the titular Redwall Abbey does give it a unique twist. Jacques just has a great knack for writing a story that draws you in with its atmosphere; its simple but uplifting, with the good guys winning in the end having lots of famous Redwall feasts, but sometimes that's just what I'm in the mood to read, y'know? These books are super nostalgic for me, so I often go back and reread them to the audiobooks, an absolute must, as they're narrated by Jacques and a full voice cast, who also do excellent musical performances of some of the best songs in the series.

A very good book. I enjoyed the strong female lead, and the characters who support her. A great adventure, and the poor evil beasts have of course a truly wicked and demented leader who is truly believealbe give the wicked leaders we see today! Another great addition to the series.

Getting close to finishing the series.