Pearls of Lutra

[theradicalchild]

Pearls of Lutra by Brian Jacques
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pearls of Lutra occurs chronologically in the Redwall timeline after Mattimeo, with the son of that book’s eponymous protagonist and Tess Churchmouse, Martin (not the original Martin the Warrior from generations past), being Redwall’s chief defender, with his parents having since passed on. The primary plotline focuses on the titular pearls known officially as the Tears of All Oceans, with the chief adversary, the pine marten Ublaz Mad Eyes, Emperor of the Isle of Sampetra, wanting to get his paws on them. Rollo the bankvole is the Recorder of Redwall, with spring showers ruining a festival celebrating the season.

Throughout the book, Tansy the hedgemaid tries to make sense of a riddle indicating the locations of the pearls, while Abbot Durral is kidnapped, and Martin and his companions leave to search for them, encountering Ublaz’s forces and occasional lizards. A female otter named Grath Longfletch, a member of Holt Lutra, also seeks the pearls, eventually meeting Martin and company and battling Ublaz, who also clashes with a fellow member of the franchise’s “vermin” species, the fox Rasconza. The good inhabitants of Redwall find clues to finding the Tears at the Abbey, which they believe would help bargain for the kidnapped Abbot and Viola the bankvole.

Overall, this is another enjoyable yarn of Redwall, though it largely heads in the direction of its brethren, given the fixed disposition of specific animals as inherently good or evil, creatures such as mice, otters, and squirrels being good, and “vermin” such as foxes and searats being villains, in accordance with the speciesism popularized by J.R.R. Tolkien in his Lord of the Rings books, although there are some good narrative beats regarding the riddles leading to the Tears of All Oceans and some witty twists. That it continued the story of Redwall after Mattimeo was a good decision by the late Brian Jacques, and those who enjoyed other entries of his iconic series will likely enjoy this one.

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