Although normally a big fan of Redwall, I found this addition to the canon disappointing. It's not a bad book, I just felt it could have been a lot better than it was.

There are of course, some good things about it. Brian Jacques is a good writer so of course it's well written with lots of nice descriptions. However, I felt this was outweighed by the book's failings.

The worse failing is with the main character. Tagg (short for Taggerung) has, apart from his incredible fighting skills, no personality whatsoever. He's just bland. He's almost too perfect, even for a Redwall hero, there's nothing either to like or to dislike about him. This left me feeling completely indifferent to his fate; this is actually one of the few Redwall books where I found myself rooting for the villains rather than the hero. This is a real shame as Tagg had the potential as a hero raised by villians to be one of the most complex and interesting Redwall heroes of all. Why oh why did Jacques not decide to follow the precedent set by Veil in Outcast of Redwall where the character is caught between to opposing forces? That would have made him a far better character. Instead, Jacques decided that nature was going to storm over nurture; despite being raised by vermin, Tagg is left completely untainted by it all.

The second failing is with Redwall. With no huge army of vermin bearing down on the Abbey in this book and the hero nowhere in the vicinity, the story was in danger of ignoring the Abbey completely. To get around this, the side plot of a search for various clues left by Abbess Song is instituted. However, it failed to grab me especially as the riddles turn out to be practically unsolvable.

Finally, there's the trip to the mountain. Despite making up a third of the book, it doesn't seem to lead anywhere. Tagg and Nimbalo meet up along the way, but they didn't have to go to the mountain for that. All the characters they meet along the way are superfluous and don't really add much to the overall plot (with the possible exception of the visit to Nimbalo's father).

There are some good things about the book, of course. Nimbalo is, unlike Tagg, extremely engaging as a character, possibly because of his defects. He's had a tough upbringing (which unlike Tagg's has left him mentally scarred), he tells outrageous fibbs and provides much needed comic relief. Even his name is good: Nimbalo the Slayer. Jacques does a splendid job with this character. There was an obvious danger that he could have turned into simply a watered down version of Gonff the Mousethief; instead, Jacques managed to craft a whole new character.

The other good thing concerns the villains. Although there were arguably far too many of them and though it would have been more interesting to have Sawney Rath in command (due to his complex relationship with Tagg), it was definitely nice to see villains (I'm thinking of Vallug and Efreera in particular) who were not afraid to face the hero. Vallug in particular was delightfully sinister and his relationship with Efreera was brilliant; both hate each other and want the other dead, however they are forced to hide their animosity as each needs the others skills.

Finally, I enjoyed the irony of the whole Taggerung concept; being the Taggerung is of no benefit to Tagg because it simply means that others will constantly try and challenge him in order to steal the title. Cowards like Gruven want the title because it allows them to dominate without being brave. The only way that Tagg can escape the endless circle is to adopt a new name and to remove his tattoos.

Oh. one final thing. Nimbalo is definitely right, Tagg is a far better name than Deyna.

I was quite looking forward to this book, expecting a slight animal version of a lesser Gemmell warrior yarn - possibly with cute manly ferrets carrying swords to battle *laughing*. It wasn't. It was nowhere near Gemmell standards of either writing, spinning a damn gripping adventure, or more importantly; 'gripping characters of deep refinement'.

So, what was it? It was a yarn about little ferrets, badgers, and hedgehogs *pmsl* (stop laughing! Sooo not funny!). It wasn't badly written, though it 'wasn't at all gripping'. As I posted in my comments whilst reading this book (I got as far as ch.3 before the senseless boredom really took over); it's a book to be read to ten or twelve year olds (maybe a clever eight year old *smiling* as I'm going by my own intellectual and reading growth potential here *pmsl* - I was a late developer *smiling*). I digress. It's not really large print and childishly simple, don't get me wrong <--Great song by Chrissy Hynde and The Pretenders btw. *pmsl*. Again, I digress ;) It's an intricate read that I expect many twelve year olds (or faster developers than I; eight year olds *laughing*) would enjoy being read to them (maybe).

But I want a read that's gripping, exciting, deeply character based, and a bloody joy to read. A book that you stay awake extra hours for because you 'really want to know what happens'. This ain't it!

I just started Scarrow's 'Under The Eagle' last night, and that 'is it!' I didn't want to put the book down, even as my eyelids were forcing themselves open!

As for 'The Taggerung', I get that 'I won't get this time back when I'm dead' feeling *pmsl*. But, I'll give it 2 stars for the; 'read it to a smart eight year old' factor!

Brian Jacques' writing peaked here I think. Taggerung is everything you could possibly want: heartbreaking, hilarious, adventuriffic. It has amazing characters, a good plot, and if the parts with the evil stoat hordes get a little long every once in a while, in this book you barely notice.

5 stars 10/10 would read again pick it up at your local library

Mostly a corrective for not giving any other book in the series five stars, but I also deeply appreciate that the third act formula gets upended here:  Ending the narrative on a character note (Deyna is no longer Taggerung) as opposed to a big bloody battle is a refreshing twist. Plus, the quest saga is about something we already knew (Mhera is suited to be Abbess), rather than finding a tchotchke.

Desperately scouring the internet to see what Premier League team Brian Jacques rooted for - if this man is a Liverpool fan, I will have to reconsider a lot about my life.

I adore the entire Redwall series. It's impossible to choose a favorite, with so many amazing characters and adventures calling for my attention, but if I had to list a top 5, Taggerung would be in it.

This has been my favorite so far out of all the Redwall books. It varied enough from the basic formula that it was more exciting to me. I feel like these characters were a little better developed than they usually are. However, they still followed the formula of good animals are always good and bad animals are always bad. There was a bit of a mystery involved in this one and overall it was very enjoyable.

Enjoyable story. Same style, but new adventure.

#popsugarreadingchallenge2017

A book from a nonhuman perspective

The Redwall series is so nostalgic and when I was younger I read every single book. Revisiting the series now that I’m older is so comforting. Taggerung was one of my favorites and I immediately got the feels reading the early chapters. The ✨food descriptions✨are amazing. Still holds up and can’t wait to work my way through this series again.

This book promised to be the fresh air the series needed, but instead it was the same "you cannot escape your nature" narrative Jacques peddled for all 22 books.

Deyna is cool, but just another in a long list of born-good heroes and nothing else changes.

A childhood favorite. Rereading as an adult really drives home the deftness Jacques executes these stories. There’s something Shakespearean about the poetry and the riddles and the lost warrior son…the utopian nature of Redwall abbey is a little bittersweet for an adult who has to live in the real world, but there’s no one else who can write about food better.

I loved the book it was the second best.