5+ stars (7/10 hearts). Oh. my. heart. I LOVED THIS SO MUCH!!!! This is almost as good as n  Martin the Warriorn and n  The Legend of Luke.n ;) Rakkety Tam is one of my top 4 favourite Redwall warriors now, up with Martin and Luke and Matthias. <3

So first off, I LOVED THE HIGHLANDER ASPECTTTT! I just LOVED it. Rakkety Tam is such a brave, wise, kindhearted warrior and Wild Doogy is the perfect sidekick. What a hilarious little savage he is. XD Gulo the Savage is HORRID and the perfect antagonist for Rakkety (also the rivalry and storyline with Askor is super cool). Araltum and Idga were such fat little pompous beasts that you love to despise. Brooky and Armel are such an unlikely duo (specially with Armel being a sister!! Usually the sisters and brothers are strictly Redwall folk) but they were such a cute “bestie” pair. Tergen is epic (I love when the books include hawks or other birds as friends!). Yoofus reminded me of Gonff, though he was totally different. I wanted to dislike him but I just couldn’t. ;) And then the Long Patrol was as awesome as ever, with all their heroes and buffoons. <3 They had proper representation here and I was all for it!!

As far as the plot goes, it was such an epic adventure! With Tam who’s seeking the banner so he can reclaim his sword and leave the King & Queen, the hares who want the drum, and the Redwallers seeking the Walking Stone, and all those things becoming tangled with Gulo and Yoofus… I loved how every thread ended up merging. I also loved the mixture of forest fighting and Redwall attack, and Highland warrior feels mixed with British army vibes!! And then the ending is adorable and perfect ;)

I don’t think I did this book justice and I will totally update the review upon reread, but... in the meantime, I loooove this book and it’s one of my top fav Redwalls, which is saying a lot. <3

The best Redwall book.

I love these in my 30s as much as I did in middle school

Hands down, this made it into my top 3 favourite Redwall books!! I loved it. It had every element I enjoy about this series: lots of food, songs, fighting, adventure, suspense, action, conversation, hanging landscapes, ALL the characters, even a little bit of romance. There were a few different smaller story arches within the larger storyline, but it was all just more to be devoured.

The hero is a Scottish squirrel, Rakkety Tam MacBurl of the Borderlands, with his faithful friend and fellow warrior, the Highlander Wild Doogy Plumm. Tam faces perhaps the most brutal villain to come to the area since Tsarmina (Mossflower), in the form of Gulo the Savage, who sailed over from the lands of ice and snow in search of his brother, who stole from him. They crash around Mossflower for a while, along with the heroes of the story. Chaos ensues... but there’s always time for a spot of vittles!

That’s the long and short of it, but I’d recommend this to anyone who’s into this sort of thing. A+++

I loved it! It's been a long time since I've read a Tale of Redwall, and this is the first time reading one since Brian Jacques past away in February. It's one of my favourites that I've read. I absolutely adore the Scottish squirrels, Tam and Doogy. And the hares are as wonderful as ever. Unfortunately most of my favourite hares died.. the Brigadier and Butty what's-his-name and Dauncy. A lot more main characters died in this book than I remember from any of the other Redwall books I've read. But at least the Scottish squirrels didn't die. One of the best things about Brian Jacques's stories is that although they are all based around the same idea and general plot (an army of good beasts--mice, squirrels, moles, voles, shrews, hedghogs, hares, badgers, occasional birds--rally behind a mighty warrior, sometimes weilding the sword of Martin the Warrior, to protect innocent, peaceable creatures from hords of evil vermin--rats, stoats, weasels, ferrets, wildcats, foxes, ermine, wolverines, snakes, toads, lizards, etc.), despite that similarity, each of the books is unique and wonderfully entertaining. I love the dialects he invented for the different creatures-- particularly the moles (ee sayed it, oi thunk ee did) and the hares (well I should bally well think so, y'flippin lolopper, wot!). And, only in this book, the thick Highland accent of Doogy Plumm (ach! I cannae believe a wee thing like that!) and the less pronounced Border accent of Rakkety Tam McBurl, a fearsome, excellent hero. Love this book!

This book was so fantastic - definitely one of my favorites from the series. Maybe #2 if it's not ties at #1 with The Long Patrol.

In many ways, this book is Redwall at its best. Both the main characters and side characters are great, each one fleshed-out and memorable. The wit and humor are on point, with highlander squirrels and the Long Patrol all in fine form. Lots of exciting action and fun storytelling. Only downside are the villains, which turn out to be pretty incompetent and one dimensional.

Also, the audiobook production is fantastic; the songs are still stuck in my head.

Rakkety Tam was a good step in the right direction after having read quite a few books that fell below the mark. If this were the first book by Jacques that I had ever read, I might rate it higher. That being said, with only 5 books left in the series, I’ve seen quite a few of the same plot devices in this book.

On the good side, this book’s villain is a big departure from the prior villains. A giant wolverine that literally bites people’s heads off took me by surprise, and if it wasn’t for his stupidity, would have carried the story quite well. The main heroes have an actual personality of their own, and aren’t carbon copies of prior characters. The vole thief, Yoofus, was a pretty solid departure from his other characters, and made a few decisions I didn’t expect. It thankfully didn’t have a rabbit complaining about food the entire time.

On the bad side, this book meanders in its plot quite a bit and jumps around a lot. None of it serves the main plot at all, and there are two sub plots that honestly just feel like filler. There’s a character, Brooky, who is an exact clone of an old character, Rosemary, who just goes ballistic with laughter. Rosemary, I did not care for, and swapping her race did not help make WAH HOO HOH OHOHOHOHO a sentence I want to read over and over. Rakkety Tam’s Scottish accent was a bit distracting and thick. Martin, as usual, served no real purpose in this book, taking on his typical “give this sword, go to this place” role. The big huff to get the drum back was only a plot device and nothing more, as it was just a gift. The “walking stone” turtle really served no purpose, and I found it odd that a lot of characters had apparently never seen a turtle? Also, turtles are apparently tiny pets in this universe.

I think the thing that got me most was that the villain was incredibly stupid, and was misled the entire book. He was insane, which I get, but if he had a shred of intellect, none of the book would have taken place, as they bait him along on a chase with only the barest of hints that he’s chasing another wolverine. He was a VERY unique “boss character” for the book, and it was a huge missed opportunity to make him a dullard.

Lastly, this is the second book in the series that I’ve read that has a firm, satisfying ending, but then the epilogue turned into its own micro story, and a bunch of events happen with characters traveling, accomplishing things, and coming back to Redwall. It’s a really strange choice.

But overall, it did leave me a bit more optimistic for the next books, which is to say, something I needed after quite a few losers.

Another adventure with ferocious battles, young love, feasting and mourning, new friends and new villains, everything one needs for good escapism. Why haven’t these books made it into the movies?! They’re full of such descriptive scenes of nature, animals and good and evil, seems like a no-brainer for the right filmmaker.

Definitely one of the better Redwall books. Mostly because it varies from the standard Redwall plot lines.

Growing up I was always a fan of the Redwall books. Having a long drive ahead of me, I decided to listen to Rakkety Tam. And oh was it excellent!

The characters are vibrant. The settings are immersive. And the descriptions are just … chef kiss!!

I can’t recommend this book enough for new and old readers. Just so good.

This one is very unique!