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Taggerung

(Redwall #14)

Brian Jacques,

Gary Chalk (Illustrations)

4.13 · Rating details · 14,971 ratings · 232 reviews

The Redwall series is soon to be a Netflix original movie!

The bestselling Redwall saga continues in Taggerung.

Years ago, the vermin clan of Sawney Rath kidnapped one of Redwall's own-a baby otter, destined to become their Taggerung, a warrior hero of ancient legend. But as young Tagg grows, he rebels against his destiny. The young otter journeys in search of his birthplac ...more

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Mass Market Paperback, 438 pages

Published September 15th 2003 by Firebird (first published January 1st 2001)

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· 14,971 ratings · 232 reviews

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Jan 07, 2013 Leila rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, humour, my-challenge-books, country-life, a-dipping-into-book-of-wisdom, romance, so-many-books-so-little-time, favorites, adventure, children-to-young-adult

I have always loved the Redwall series of books by Brian Jacques who uses animals for his tales and I bought every one the minute they came into the shops. 'Taggarund' is my favourite Why? It is different to the rest of the books and in my personal opinion a better read. The books are written primarily for young teen agers upwards and are always based on the good versus evil theme where good always wins out in the end but often at some cost. Shrews, weasels, rats, stoats and foxes tend to be alw I have always loved the Redwall series of books by Brian Jacques who uses animals for his tales and I bought every one the minute they came into the shops. 'Taggarund' is my favourite Why? It is different to the rest of the books and in my personal opinion a better read. The books are written primarily for young teen agers upwards and are always based on the good versus evil theme where good always wins out in the end but often at some cost. Shrews, weasels, rats, stoats and foxes tend to be always evil and the good creatures are mice, hedgehogs, moles, otters, badgers, hares and squirrels. Within the good versus evil as always, the author is never afraid to tackle some quite adult themes so there is hatred, violence, revenge, cowardice, murder and death but he counterbalances this with kindness, loyalty, trust, bravery love and even a touch of romance.

There are no great battles this time. Instead there are three different plots within the story. The book begins with the first and most important plot. An evil vermin clan of creatures is searching for a mystical warrior named the 'Taggerund' whom they believe will bring them to great glory by defeating their enemies. Because of prophecies, they discover the creature they believe to be the chosen Taggerund is not of them but an otter babe and they kill his father and steal the babe who is brought up by the wicked chief of the clan as his own son. A problem they have though is that genes will out and the babe grows into a tough and strong warrior who has a heart and cares for others so he refuses to kill though commanded to by the clan chief. This means he has to escape the clan and the rest of the story involves all his many adventures in his quest to find his way back to his Mother and sister in Redwall.

The second plot running through the story involves the cowardly creature Gruven, prompted by his ambitious Mother (who is determined that her son is the true Taggerund,) to set out with a few other members of the vermin clan to capture 'Tagg' and kill him.

The third plot moves over to Redwall Abbey where there is no leader at this time. The story lightens with the author's usual gift of poetry and many references to the 'good life' the Redwallers have. There is much fun with 'the dibbuns' (the little ones) always into mischief, but this is the third plot line where Tagg's Mother still grieves for her stolen son. His sister, through a huge puzzle involving the whole Redwall community which has to be solved, grows from an immature young girl into a potential Mother Abbess.

In the final part of the story The author doesn't have a huge battle as in other books in the series and he ties all the ends up peacefully with justice meted out to those who deserve it.

Redwall readers will be aware that the character Tagg is in contrast to another character in a previous book entitled 'Outcast of Redwall. In that one the Redwall creatures saved a baby ferret from dying and brought him up, but true to his nature he was a disaster, always lying, stealing, bullying hurting and in the end he ran away and returned to his vermin clan. In the case of Tagg he stayed true to his essentially good nature in spite of being brought up with the vermin clan. This book is the better of the two though. It is beautifully written and the character of Tagg in particular is really well drawn.

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of reading this book. It touched my heart many times and I recommend it to animal lovers young and old for some light reading and a lot of thoughtful themes about life for children to hopefully take on board. ...more

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Apr 07, 2017 Joseph Leskey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: z-reviewed, z-fiction, z-humor, 1st-degree-reevaluation, z-adventure

This book was an especially enjoyable installment in the series, due to its noncomformity to the customary plots of Redwall. It was very useful to have at my veritable disposal whilst I battle the flippin' flu, wot? ...more

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May 16, 2009 Rogue rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: action/adventure fans

Shelves: want, favorites, reviews

I love all the redwall books, but I think this is my favorite. You can't help but love the otters! ...more

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Dec 07, 2020 Michelle (In Libris Veritas) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, 2020, middle-grade

I love that this installement actually acknowledges the basic prejudice that each "side" has to the other, but it still falls short of actually flipping the script on it. Still it's an incredibly enjoyable addition to the series and it even includes the very thing that captured my interest back in middle school, riddles.
The cast of characters is quite fantastic as well, I adore Cregga and Nimbalo. I do wish we had gotten to see more of how Dayna fit into everything before the overall wrap up of ...more

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Feb 04, 2020 M.M. Strawberry Library & Reviews rated it it was amazing

Shelves: animals, fantasy

One of the best Redwall books IMHO. We had a book about a baby from a "bad" species being raised in Redwall, now we have a member of a "good" species being raised among the baddies. The Redwall series has been consistently decent, but this book stands out as one of the best, to me it felt as if Mr. Jacques put a LOT of himself into this book. More than he usually does, at least. Fantastic story. ...more

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Sep 04, 2011 Adams321 rated it it was ok

Like "Outcast of Redwall" this book has a lot of potential but fails to deliver. A baby otter, Taggerung, is kidnapped and raised by a gang of murderous vermin thieves. Then he grows up and is inherently good simply because he is an otter, and he refuses to participate in his gang's evil doings. He deserts the gang and embarks on a quest to find his true identity.

I was hoping that the theme of morality would be explored, and Taggerung would mimic the behavior of his gang because that is what he ...more

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Aug 23, 2007 Lauren rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: otter fans

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 ...more

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Mar 13, 2020 Sophie Crane rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: animals

Another great read! The world is created masterfully with brilliant depth, you really engage with each and every single character.

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Oct 29, 2020 Geoffery Crescent rated it it was ok · review of another edition

While I'm firmly of the opinion that no Redwall novel is inherently bad (with the possible exception of Loamhedge, and that's only for its bat's arse stance on being able to 'cure' disability with the POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING) Taggerung doesn't live up to the high standards of its predecessors. It doesn't help that the plot is almost identical to that of Outcast of Redwall, already a fairly mediocre entry into the series, albeit it flipped on its head. This time it's a good creature being rais While I'm firmly of the opinion that no Redwall novel is inherently bad (with the possible exception of Loamhedge, and that's only for its bat's arse stance on being able to 'cure' disability with the POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING) Taggerung doesn't live up to the high standards of its predecessors. It doesn't help that the plot is almost identical to that of Outcast of Redwall, already a fairly mediocre entry into the series, albeit it flipped on its head. This time it's a good creature being raised by vermin, and the results are even more predictable. It's never Veil's actions in Outcast that make his outcome certain, but the actions of everyone around him, convinced that as a ferret he'll turn out to be evil. In Taggerung, despite the fact that Deyna is raised by vermin he never once acts in ambiguous manner; his first on-page deed as an adult is to spare a creature's life. He doesn't even speak with a villainous accent. Maybe posh Abbey voices are genetic.

Once we've got the obviousness of Deyna's good character out of the way, we've got the Abbey plot, and it's another of those 'solve the riddles to find the new Abbey Leader' type of affairs. It's not a spoiler to tell you the Abbess will be Mhera because Cregga Badgermum tells Mhera it'll be her about five chapters into the novel, which really does render Mhera solving a load of puzzles and then being appointed leader at the end of the book completely pointless. I say puzzles, once the initial location riddle is solved, it just amounts to Mhera and her friends finding scraps of cloth with 'ITTAGALL' written on them all over the place. Don't worry, fair review reader, no-one knows what 'ITTAGALL' is supposed to mean, and when it's revealed at the end of the book it doesn't make a great deal of sense either. You know how they say a joke isn't funny if you have to explain it? Turns out a Redwall riddle doesn't work if you already know the outcome but people keep leaving bits of cloth everywhere. The 'Fifteen Seasons Later' concept, flinging all the characters ahead a few years is a great idea though.

What Taggerung does have over previous books is its cast of villains. We've got the suave, genre savvy Sawney Rath, scheming mother Antigra, her stupid son Gruven, the deadly tag team of Eefera and Vallug Bowbeast, and finally the terrifying Ruggan Bor. The Juska clan conceit feels really fresh and interesting, there's always this sense of danger just bubbling up under the main story. It's a shame then when, right at the end, Russano the Wise shows up out of nowhere and sends the main gang away, robbing us of an epic Abbey smack-down. Deus Ex Badger Machina does not a good resolution make.

With that said, there are a lot of things Taggerung does really well. Nimbalo is a deftly written and well rounded character, and his journey with Deyna through the flatlands is never less than engaging. Like that bit where they stop a gang of pygmy shrews making Wicker Man-like sacrifices to a giant eel, or when they reveal his dad was beating him as a child because whu-uuu-uuut the f*ck that came out of nowhere. Brutal. Cregga's death is one of the best written moments in the whole series, poignant and bittersweet. Her death lends the book a sense of finality as well; Taggerung marks the final Redwall book to feature recurring characters and not be set in a far-flung, non-specific future period. It's Triss after this. And we all know what Triss means. Nazi Ferrets. And not in a good way.

Also, and it's a small niggle, but I first read this book when I was eleven and it annoyed me then and it annoyed me again on this re-read so I'm pointing it out. When Mhera is OFFICIALLY announced as Abbess at the end of the book, one of her closest friends leans in and says 'best wishes from myself, Fwirl and Friar Bob.' That's not something you say to your best mate when they've just been offered the role of top dog! That's what you write in a card when your mum tells you your second cousin has just passed her driving test and you don't know her very well but you have to put something, otherwise it would be rude, right? It takes me RIGHT OUT of the story and I've been bothered by it for almost twenty years. I'm sorry. ...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Kathy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: children-schapterbooks, fantasy

In this 14th Redwall adventure, a baby otter is stolen from Redwall Abbey by the evil clan of vermin Juskarath to raise as their fearsome warrior champion, called "Taggerung". Meanwhile, his loss is mourned at Redwall but life goes on with much feasting, drollery and a series of riddles that will ultimately lead to a new Abbess of Redwall. But despite learning to become a fearsome warrior like they want, Taggerung rebels against their expectations of savagery and strikes out on his own. He makes ...more

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Feb 28, 2008 Jacqueline rated it it was amazing

My favorite Redwall book!

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Mar 19, 2020 Nicole rated it it was amazing

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

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Aug 15, 2010 Steve rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: not-good-crap

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 ...more

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Sep 25, 2019 Linda rated it it was amazing

Redwall is my first true fandom (other than maybe Pokemon? who knows what came first, but I guess I love wee creatures and friendship). I read the first books in the series as a kid and LOVED them. I dropped off at Marlfox, not because I stopped liking the books but because I was approaching teenhood and was getting more interested in gritty sci-fi. I saw a paperback of this in my local used book store and thought 'ah, a Redwall book I haven't read' and picked it up.

Let me tell you friends, the ...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Sara rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019, favorites, 2012, 2020

February 2020: It has been ten months since I last read this book and I am not ashamed. I listened to the audiobook this time. The first time I read Taggerung (back in 2006 - oh my!) it was the audiobook book. Listening to it again reminds me how entranced I became with the story and characters because of Jacques’ narration and the voice actors for the characters. Also, perhaps reading it twice in a year helped the story stick better so I was able to actually think about the characters and plot ...more

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Mar 08, 2011 Emily Collins rated it it was amazing

Shelves: uk-authors

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 badas ...more

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Apr 05, 2012 Lora Rearden rated it it was amazing

This is one of my all-time favorite Redwall books. I dont know why, but for some reason I just keep reading it again..and again...and again...and again......
I love the Redwall books in general because of the colourful descriptions, songs, battles, feasts, journeys, and the way Brian Jacques balances the darkness and the light so skillfully. "Taggerung" employs all of these strengths into a real masterpiece of a novel. ...more

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Nov 26, 2017 Matthew McAndrew rated it it was amazing

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. ...more

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Jan 19, 2018 Nunya rated it it was amazing

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 ...more

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Sep 21, 2014 Kathy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, owned-books, fantasy-i-like

My all-time favourite Redwall novel. A beautiful story of a young otter growing up with the bad guys and finding his way home.

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Sep 13, 2015 La La rated it it was amazing

I extra loved this one!

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Aug 17, 2018 Madhav Nallani rated it it was amazing

One of my favorite books, though I don't usually care for animal protagonists. This is the book that introduced Brian Jacques to me, and is also why I am a fan of his writing. ...more

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Oct 03, 2008 Gabrielle rated it it was amazing

This is a great book from the series of Redwall(aren't they all?). ...more

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May 08, 2018 Kathryn (Dragon Bite Books) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, novels

Review originally published on my blog, Nine Pages .

I was introduced to the world of Redwall long ago and grew up with my mouth watering for candied chestnuts and deeper ‘n ever pie and strawberry cordial. Brian Jacques (RIP) has a flare for description that I have always admired and continue to admire. No one writes a feast like Jacques, and he paints such beautiful pictures of the country in which his novels take place, pausing with his creatures beside a river to describe the flora and fau Review originally published on my blog, Nine Pages .

I was introduced to the world of Redwall long ago and grew up with my mouth watering for candied chestnuts and deeper ‘n ever pie and strawberry cordial. Brian Jacques (RIP) has a flare for description that I have always admired and continue to admire. No one writes a feast like Jacques, and he paints such beautiful pictures of the country in which his novels take place, pausing with his creatures beside a river to describe the flora and fauna, the flight of a dragonfly and the drape of wild strawberries down the sharp embankment into which the river cuts to create a sheltered ledge (I’m inventing my own landscape now rather than quoting or describing any of his, but you get the idea).

I’ve read and remember reading fewer of the Redwall novels than I would have thought. There are apparently 22, and I am now certain that I’ve read 5 of them, though I think I’ve read more that I’ve forgotten.

Jacques’ view of the creatures of Redwall and the surrounding country is starkly divided into good and evil. Badgers, hares, mice, otters, moles, squirrels, hedgehogs are good—just inherently, irrevocably good, as this tale proves. Rats, stoats, ferrets, weasels, foxes are irrevocably, inherently bad—cruel and viscous, the Orcs of Mossflower Country, though they are given far more personality and character than Tolkien ever gave the Orcs. I tend not to enjoy such stark divisions of good and evil (“the world isn’t split into good people and Death Eaters”), but I admit that rarely it is nice to escape into a world where a creature’s nature and alignment is possible to determine from a glance, to be given the excuse to think less, emphasize less, and still be able to be on the side of right.

In this novel, the otterbabe Deyna is kidnapped by the leader of a vermin clan and his father killed because Deyna is prophesied to be the Taggerung, an unmatched and unmatchable warrior, the most feared throughout all of the vermin clans known collectively as the Juska. Deyna is rechristened Taggerung and is raised as the clan chief’s son, but though he grows into an impressively strong and skilled fighter, Tagg refuses to kill. (Because of this I think too little is made of his first kill of an anthropomorphized creature later in the novel, admittedly a weasel who attacked Redwall, was hunting him with intent to kill, and hurt his own clansmen, including his chief, but early in the novel, Tagg refuses to kill one of the vermin members of the clan that raised him, beginning his banishment and his adventures, so one would think that this weasel’s death would still weigh on his conscience. Before even that he does kill an eel that is terrorizing a shrew clan, but the eel is more animalistic than humanized.)

This novel rambles more than some of the others in this series, perhaps because it has multiple protagonists in different parts of Mossflower Country as well as the regular competing plot that follows the villain. The book follows the life of Deyna, though it focues on the time after his banishment from the Juska, his long and roving return to Redwall Abbey. Having been banished from the Juska clans as a fifteen-seasons-old otter, he is hunted by his clansmen, meets a plethora of amusing families of voles and shrews and hedgehogs and one ebullient mouse named Nimbalo the Slayer, who becomes his travel companion and best friend. Meanwhile at Redwall, Deyna’s sister Mhera is trying to unravel a riddle that will determine the next abbot or abbess of Redwall. Honestly, there are several times I thought that the story ought to have come to an end (though if I’d thought about the series’ formula, I ought to have known that I would have to wait for an epilogue by the Abbey Recorder). Deyna’s story wrapped up quite well by the time that he was healed and back at the Abbey, Gruven’s story had not, and Jacques decided to end both plots and end the Juskarath before closing the novel.

The cast of this audiobook, though, sells the story, singing whenever necessary, with unique voices and accents appropriate to the character and species of each beast—and I was willing to follow them through whatever escapades Jacques had concocted. The “full cast” is not given nearly enough credit for their work—in fact, I can’t find their names anywhere on the case for this CD set—and I want to know their names. Jacques himself does the narration, which I always appreciate because you know then that you’re hearing this story as the author intended, each line precisely nuanced and inflected as he would have wanted and each word pronounced correctly.

The audio recording itself is probably a full 5 stars, but the story itself is merely a three. ...more

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Jan 09, 2019 Jonathan rated it it was ok

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 persona 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.
...more

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Jun 02, 2018 Phu Nguyen rated it really liked it

Shelves: english

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I would like to thank our dear author, Brian Jacques who wrote this magnificent book, Taggerung. Taggerung is a fantasy book fill with action and adventure but you can also read about the love and kindness with a mix of drama in this wonderful story where we learn about the animal "society" walk on two legs, talk, and behave like humans. At the page before the prologue you can find the map of our book, you can see the rivers, forests, mountain and stream quite clear and there is also a compass t ...more

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Aug 24, 2014 Adrienne rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed, physical-copy

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 decidedl 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.

(view spoiler)[ 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. (hide spoiler)] ...more

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Jun 17, 2017 Jeremy Michael Gallen rated it really liked it

In this tale of Redwall, Sawney Rath the ferret awaits the coming of the book’s titular destined warrior, the Taggerung, believed to bring greatness to the vermin, with his vulpine seer Grissoul foreseeing his coming. However, the prophesized one proves to be an otter, who is eventually given the name Deyna, and doubts his destiny as he ages. The story begins proper, akin to its predecessors, with one of the Redwall Recorders, in this case the Assistant one, Sister Rosabel the squirrel, commenti ...more

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Jun 03, 2020 Cory McRae rated it liked it

I read these books as a kid. I'm also going to write these reviews out of order. Just like I read all the books! I'm also going to generically guess which plot is which. This is after 20 years. Let's see how this works out. At the least I get an incredible bit out of it. Or a fun game to play drunk with writer friends. Oh shit I forgot to check if there are any writer discords!

So to start, this one was about a feral otter that spoke in half sentences, and I'm not sure if it was some vague metaph ...more

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Nov 07, 2011 Josiah rated it liked it · review of another edition

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 asce 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. ...more

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About Brian Jacques

Brian Jacques

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Brian Jacques (pronounced 'jakes') was born in Liverpool, England on June 15th, 1939. Along with forty percent of the population of Liverpool, his ancestral roots are in Ireland, County Cork to be exact.

Brian grew up in the area around the Liverpool docks, where he attended St. John's School, an inner city school featuring a playground on its roof. At the age of ten, his very first day at St. Joh Brian Jacques (pronounced 'jakes') was born in Liverpool, England on June 15th, 1939. Along with forty percent of the population of Liverpool, his ancestral roots are in Ireland, County Cork to be exact.

Brian grew up in the area around the Liverpool docks, where he attended St. John's School, an inner city school featuring a playground on its roof. At the age of ten, his very first day at St. John's foreshadowed his future career as an author; given an assignment to write a story about animals, he wrote a short story about a bird who cleaned a crocodile's teeth. Brian's teacher could not, and would not believe that a ten year old could write so well. When young Brian refused to falsely say that he had copied the story, he was caned as "a liar". He had always loved to write, but it was only then that he realized he had a talent for it.
He wrote Redwall for the children at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind in Liverpool, where as a truck driver, he delivered milk. Because of the nature of his first audience, he made his style of writing as descriptive as possible, painting pictures with words so that the schoolchildren could see them in their imaginations. He remained a patron of the school until his death.

Brian lived in Liverpool, where his two grown sons, Marc, a carpenter and bricklayer, and David, a professor of Art and a muralist, still reside. David Jacques' work can be seen in Children's hospitals, soccer stadiums, and trade union offices as far away as Germany, Mexico, and Chile (not to mention Brian's photo featured in most of his books).

Brian also ran a weekly radio show on BBC Radio Merseyside, until October 2006, where he shared his comedy and wit, and played his favourites from the world of opera - he was a veritable expert on The Three Tenors.

When he was wasn't writing, Brian enjoyed walking his dog 'Teddy', a white West Highland Terrier, and completing crossword puzzles. When he found time he read the works of Mario Puzo, Damon Runyon, Richard Condon, Larry McMurty, and P.G. Wodehouse. He was also known to cook an impressive version of his favourite dish, spaghetti and meatballs.

Sadly, Brian passed away on the 5th February 2011. ...more

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Quotes from Taggerung

“Don't be ashamed to weep; 'tis right to grieve. Tears are only water, and flowers, trees, and fruit cannot grow without water. But there must be sunlight also. A wounded heart will heal in time, and when it does, the memory and love of our lost ones is sealed inside to comfort us.” — 2204 likes

“Step aside? I step aside for nobeast, whether it be a hallowed hedgehog, an officious otter, a seasoned squirrel, a mutterin' mole or a befuddled badger!” — 44 likes

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