The Radical Child

Loamhedge by Brian Jacques
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Redwall author Brian Jacques dedicates this sequel to his friend Martha Buckley, who inspired the lapine character Martha Braebuck, a lame hare, not to mention his bedridden friend Heather Boyd, as well as to the memory of Nolan Wallace, who inspired the badger Lonna Bowstripe, and Eric Masato Takashige Boehm, whom he says “fought the good fight.” The prologue is an odd narrative by the fictitious Teller of Tales and Weaver of Dreams. At the same time, the first main chapter introduces the sea otter Abruc and his son Stugg, who bury a Badger Lord and contest with the searat Raga Bol amidst rainy weather.

In the meantime, far to the west, spring has sprung for Redwall Abbey, with the pudgy lutrine Toran Widegirth being the monastery’s Head Cook, and the mouse Carrul being Father Abbot. Twelve seasons prior, Martha arrived at the Abbey, unable to walk and with her brother Hortwill, with a plague brought on the eponymous Loamhedge by the typical antagonistic vermin of the franchise, consisting of rats, foxes, ferrets, weasels, and stoats, among others. In contrast, other creatures such as mice, squirrels, badgers, hares, and otters are depicted as inherently good, true to their dispositions in prior installments.

As in other entries, moreover, one of the characters receives a vision of Martin the Warrior, while another of the heroes, Lonna Bowstripe, seeks to battle the villainous Raga Bol. The vermin actually verge on conquering Redwall, with battles occurring towards the end and an epilogue occurring a few seasons afterward. Overall, this is another enjoyable yarn of Redwall, though an in-universe measurement of time to compare chronology from prior entries would have been welcome, alongside the breaking of positive and negative stereotypes of specific animals.

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