Friday 21 March 2008

Rakkety Tam

RAKKETY TAM Brian Jacques, Puffin, 371 pages, paperback, NZ$25.
ISBN 0-14-138159-0

Rakkety Tam is the sixteenth book in Brian Jacques’ Redwall Abbey series. Like all previous Redwall books it is about anthropomorphic animals fighting evil creatures from across the oceans. This time the hero is Rakkety Tam MacBurl, a squirrel mercenary who speaks with a slightly less Scottish accent than his squirrel friend, Wild Doogy Plum. He must stop Gulo the Savage, a vicious cannibal wolverine, from reaching Redwall Abbey. I like it because at the start of each part and at the very end there are three verses of a song about Rakkety Tam. The cover illustration isn’t very accurate, but then I suppose David Wyatt can be let off for drawing a badge instead of a shield as it is often referred to as his “buckler”.

Every book in the series seems to be better than the last.

Joshua Quinn (aged 11)

This review was first published in The Press, Christchurch, New Zealand in 2005.

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