Not quite as smashing as I remember it being from over a decade ago haha but that Homecoming brought me to tears & Tagg is a Legend

My favorite out of all of Brian Jacques' books.

As always the review is also available on my blog The Shameful Narcissist Speaks.

Taggerung varies from typical Redwall fare as the meat of the story doesn't take place at the Abbey, but rather concerns the vermin clan that kidnapped the titular character near the beginning as a babe. The point of view; however, does switch back and forth between the happenings at the Redwall and the more exciting adventures of Deyna as he tries to discover who he is and where he truly comes from as it's decidedly clear that he doesn't belong with a vermin clan.

Jacques does a good job at balancing between the more action packed Taggerung parts and the more tranquil Abbey happenings by giving the characters in the latter a mystery to unveil. Eventually, the two sides of the story combine, which was always expected when a wayfarer is trying to return home and home is a shown location.

The author has a debatable habit of introducing characters waaaaaay later in the game than is normally acceptable, but there's always been a precedence for that. I did have a bit of an issue with it in this book as the character introduced about five chapters away from the end made a difference between life and death. It was a bit of an "otter ex machina" that could've been resolved earlier in the novel by just a mention of their name. I also wasn't super happy with the way child abuse was brushed off, and while I could be accused of over-analyzing a book written for children, I don't think especially children should be taught that that's okay.

Taggerung stands as a counterpoint to Outcast of Redwall, which had a vermin character raised by good woodland creatures who could never change his "true colors." That book irritates me for many reasons I'll elaborate on if I ever review. Deyna/Tagg is of course. wholesome to the core. He refuses to do something atrocious and is not only cast out by his "father," but Sawney attempts to hunt him down to kill. Redwall clearly leans towards "nature" in this debate (and in Outcast, too, ugh, really, really in Outcast). The entirety of the Redwall series does have a classist cast to it, unfortunately, with certain creatures being (almost always) good like mice, hares, badgers, moles (whose accents I love btw), squirrels, otters, etc. while other animals are (almost always) bad and collectively called vermin e.g. stoats, weasels, ferrets (I believe otters are actually related to all three), rats, foxes, and generally any other carnivorous creature (though again otters are carnivorous, badgers and mice or omnivorous, and I believe moles are insectivores). There a few exceptions to this rule, but everyone expects certain creatures to align in a certain way.

Even among the woodland creatures there's a hierarchy with mice usually being the leaders, moles being working class, hares being soldiers/military along with badgers who are considered the best of all warriors. Badgers are also always the ruler of the mountain stronghold Salamandastron. Vermin will usually just follow the strongest, and they're constantly backstabbing and double-dealing. I really, really wish Mr. Jacques had lived long enough to write more novels mixing up these paradigms a bit. One of the reasons I stopped reading the series was because it was the same "vermin horde attempts to take over Redwall Abbey" all the time. This was also another plus mark for Taggerung as it avoided this cliche in fact even lampshaded it a bit at the end by having such a situation be swiftly resolved, countering prior novels where it was the entirety of the plot.

Taggerung is a never dull adventure about an otter who though grown up is still a bit of a lost babe trying to find his way home. I'll discuss more of this in the Analysis section, but for those of you who haven't read it and don't want to be spoiled, that's the story at its core.

Deyna's father was killed the very day he (Deyna obviously not the father) was born while taking him to the river for an ancient otter ritual. All Deyna's mother and sister know is neither of them came back and both are presumed dead. This gives the mother's name of Filorn a nice if rueful meaning, though at the end grief does turn to joy. Truly, Taggerung is a tale of two otters as Deya's sister Mhera heads the Abbey parts eventually becoming the Abbess at the end where her brother takes up the legacy of Abbey Warrior.

Deyna only knows his name as Tagg until he finally returns home, though he does have a consistent dream of a mouse in armor calling out, "Deyna," though he assumes that's the mouse's name. He was stolen because the fox seer Grissoul prophesized that a creature bearing a speedwell flower mark on his paw would be the vermin clan's next Taggerung, which is legendary warrior of unstoppable power. Having one in your particular group is considered exceptional luck and so Sawney Rath, the chieftain of the Juska clan, contrived to make it so.

It's obvious that Tagg/Deyna doesn't belong with this vermin where he confuses his "father," and is hated by the stoat Antigra who blames him for taking the Taggerung status away from her son Gruven as well as her husband's death. At one point in the story Jacques actually juxtaposes the mother figures of the above and Filorn, showing the stark difference. Antigra only wants to use her son to better her position kind of like Cersei Lannister. The comparison of good and bad mothers exists all across the spectrum of genre and medium, and in the end Deyna actually manages to gain two mothers, Filorn and in a way his sister Mhera who becomes Mother Abbess.

Gruven, by the way, is an absolute waste of fur. Vermin are usually portrayed as cowardly, but he could be their king. He dies in the exact same way he lied about killing Tagg/Deyna, by having his head chopped off.

The end of this story is so utterly satisfying even though you know it's going to occur. Deyna is injured in the exact same way another character, Cregga, is, but the otter survives where poor Cregga dies, though she didn't lack for seasons (how the world measures age and time).

There are many parallels and dualities in the narrative included that meta one for Taggerung itself in Outcast mentioned above. I've expressed my annoyance at that since vermin fate is sealed in stone. If that's the case, can you truly blame them for being what they are? If nothing will change a creatures nature, the good will be good, the bad will be bad, and no nurturing is necessary. I do fully believe if Jacques had lived longer, he may have reconsidered Redwall's classist paradigms, but what he did leave us with will delight both every age for all of time to come.

It's strange for a plot to be both winding and gripping, but this book pulls it off. The plot is uniquely wrapped in a certain melancholy that elevates its bright moments even more. I love the way it opens, and in the absence of a central villain, there is instead an excellent ensemble of evil, which I wish we'd see more often in stories. Add that to the fact that this might be the most emotionally compelling entry in the series, and this book is deserves a spot in Redwall's top ten.

Cute, my favorite so far. I love the world of Redwall so much and it was fun to get back to it

Oh, Redwall: my first fandom love. My first fanfictions were of this book. As such, it holds a special place in my heart. I simply must re-read it soon. I'll post a more in-depth review afterwards.

Of the entire series, The Taggerung was my favorite. Why? Well, I suppose it's because I loved the character of the Taggerung. :) The idea of the good guy being raised by the bad guys (and getting some wicked-awesome facial tattoos) was a very original and appealing thought to my pre-teen self (still is, actually). There were so many moments that I absolutely adored. Mr.Jacques was a master of writing the way these anthropomorphic animals acted, moved, and reacted with each other. I'm not entirely sure why otters aren't my favorite kind of animal - the way they move (and the way Mr.Jacques describes movement in the book!), oh... indescribably cool. Fluid, you know?

I will update this review once I've completed re-reading the book. But I will leave you with this:
I once adored this book so much, I wanted to commit it to memory. I can still recite the first two or three pages. I believed it that good. Read it!

Taggerung was always mine and a friend's favorite. It's among the most unique installments in the series, following a conflicted otter character as he learns about good and evil from different perspectives. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and quickly connected with the protagonist, which is always a major plus.

4 Stars

Taggerung is the fourteenth book in the epic Redwall Series by Brian Jacques. This series is aimed at Middle-grade aged/YA readers, but I am waaaay older than that and still enjoyed the adventure.
-with an all-ANIMAL cast (woodland animals)
-Fantasy
-Action
-Adventure
-Warriors
-Drama
-Danger
-Quest
-Journey of discovery/Courage/Strength
-Emotion
-Enchanting

Redwall subplot: extremely boring

Main plot: loads of fun

It turns out that denizens of Redwall Abbey aren't the only creatures who have traditions as to how they bestow leadership upon a deserving member of each successive generation. Changing the guard of leadership is never easy and always includes risks, and for a treacherous gang of marauders like the clan of Sawney Rath the murderous ferret, the process of selecting a new leader usually involves some backstabbing and bloodshed.

The Taggerung, as the clan's leader is always called, most often ascends to his high position by coup—that is, killing the old leader when he becomes older and more vulnerable to attack—but Sawney Rath has different plans for succession this time around. Consulting his seer, a fox named Grissoul who is endowed with second sight, Sawney finds that the Taggerung after him will have a peculiar mark on his paw. It is by this mark that they will know him when they find him.

At Redwall Abbey, one otter family is in a season of particular joy with the welcoming of a new otter babe into the fold. Deyna is a dibbun of which any parent would be proud, but tragedy strikes like the gleaming fangs of an unseen serpent when the babe's father takes him out for the ceremonial swim that marks the birth of every healthy new otter. Deyna's father is felled by the lurking Sawney Rath and his rogues, who were led to that spot by the visions of Grissoul to find their future Taggerung in the form of the tiny otter dibbun.

Even as the heartbroken residents of Redwall slowly come to grips with the loss of their two beloved otters, Sawney Rath sets to work on his protege, endeavoring to bring up the otter as a cutthroat killer and plunderer worthy of assuming and defending the Taggerung name. It's not easy, though; no matter how the cruel ferret tries to instill his ruthless philosophy in Deyna (whom his new "family" now calls Taggerung, or just Tagg for short), the otter has a conscience and a caring soul like any other woodlander by birth, and is resistant to character change even as he is being saturated by the nefarious values of the vermin clan.

When the inevitable break with Sawney comes, Tagg isn't a little dibbun anymore. An experienced fighter of sixteen seasons' age, Tagg has become a cyclonic force in terms of combat technique, a fierce battler capable of measuring up to the skill and savvy of any Taggerung who came before him. On his own and pursued by the menial yet merciless soldiers of Sawney Rath whom the leader has ordered to cut down his wayward "son", Tagg wanders off in search of an alternate destiny for himself. Maybe that destiny has something to do with the recurring dreams that have come and gone in his mind at night for most of his life, dreams about a giant redstone building filled with happy, loving creatures, and a lone mouse warrior who calls out to Tagg by a name he doesn't remember ever having heard. Maybe there's a real family out there for Tagg somewhere, one that will grant him acceptance in a way that Sawney Rath and his odious bunch of followers could never have done.

Continuing the creative renaissance begun with The Legend of Luke, author Brian Jacques turns from the days of old and steers us back to the current timeline of Redwall chronology, and in my opinion does the best job of that since the eighth book of the series, Outcast of Redwall. Most of the characters in Taggerung are new, but some old favorites have significant parts to play as well, most notably the badgermum Cregga Rose Eyes. Now the old, matronly overseer of Redwall's populace, Cregga had been a maniacal force of destruction against all vermin forms of life when she reigned as lord of the mountain stronghold Salamandastron, so possessed by her bloodlust that she actually left her home with a band of loyal hare fighters to search for sea rats to kill, an impetuous move that led to her downfall when she was captured and blinded by the enemy. So many years later, however, Cregga has become one of the the most valuable of all Redwall citizens, honored for her wisdom and inner strength and even her physical power, still to be reckoned with after all these years. To Redwall fans who have read all thirteen books leading up to Taggerung, Cregga will probably be the most important character in this fourteenth novel, for it is in her that the emotional continuity of the whole series so far finds its main outlet.

Every time I write a review of a Redwall book I talk about the masterfully expressive language with which Brian Jacques paints the canvas, and I must do so again here. His word selection is wonderful to a degree that I can hardly describe, and now that he is gone I'm sure our appreciation for the greatness of his body of work will only grow. No one sets the stage for the action of a plot through use of descriptive phrase quite the way Brian Jacques did, evoking landscapes of loamy forest pathways and sea travel on the roaring, foam covered waters, of the happiness of finally finding a place where one truly belongs and the sadness when a good friend's life is snatched away by the senseless evil of a reckless villain. We will miss the unique timbre of Brian Jacques's writing voice, of this I am certain.

I would probably give two and a half stars to this book, but if I had to choose between two stars and three, then three is a fairly easy choice for me. With at least eight additional books to the main body of the series that follow after Taggerung, I still very much believe there are important Redwall tales left to be told, and that this fantasy animal world created by Brian Jacques still has the potential in those future books to produce stories of deep emotional power and profundity. For that reason, I am sure to read them all, and I look forward to the experience.

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By far, Taggerung is my favorite of the Redwall series. It's such a classic plot - protagonist grows up believing he's an antagonist - but it's so artfully performed. Further proof that the redwallers have a natural instinct of what's good and what's evil (and that the ferrets and rats are bred into a society of antagonistic people).
Some of my love of this book stems from the fact that I have always had a special place in my heart for the otters of redwall, and Bragoon was just especially badass. I've reread this book many times over the year, and found that each time it's still as exciting as the last.