Loamhedge [Paperback]

Enter Sarabando and Bragoon, two former runaway dibbuns now growing old but still very much full of life. After years of wandering Mossflower country and beyond, they have decided to visit the abbey were they were initially brought up.

Far to the east a badger, Lonna Bowstripe, is consumed by a lust for vengeance and swears an oath to kill the beasts that murdered his dear companion. However, as he pursues the villainous Raga Bol and his crew he draws ever nearer to a certain abbey.

Lastly a bumbling crew of vermin are heading for Redwall intent on taking the fabled "magic sword" for themselves. They are led by a most amusing fox, Little Redd... sorry Badredd.

Your first reaction to this might be that Brian has put his fingers in too many pies but I am very happy to be able to report that the plot holds together very well as almost every plot group overlap and interacts with every other while still giving a very slick read. Character development is on top form and the cast is as strong as it is varied. There is also more than your average amount of twisting and turning in the plot so that even aspects of the storyline that seem quite predictable on first glance manage to be resolved in pleasingly surprising ways.

However, what I most enjoyed about this new entry to the series is how it is, in some interesting ways, quite groundbreaking in the way distinct themes recur and resound so effectively around the various plots. Keep your eyes peeled especially for contrasts of isolation and friendship and of earnest recklessness and maturity with a childlike edge.

It was also very nice to see characters such as Saro, Bragoon, Horty and Martha confound one's expectation of Redwall heroes. Brian is known among his fans for often revisiting the idea of the young beast being guided by Martin's spirit towards his or her fate and that they will often prove themselves in the eyes of some group of elders. However, none of these characters can really be connected to any idea of the typical formula. Saro and Bragoon oscillate between being streetwise warriors, to dibbuns who have never grown up, to semi-parental figures for the rebellious "teenagers". Horty rather ends up learning far more about himself as opposed to "proving his quality" and what we see happen to him does not suggest an utter u-turn but rather an experience that has set him in the right direction for the future. And Martha, stuck in her wheelchair, grows in ways atypical of your standard Redwall heroine. Even Lonna, who on paper sounds like yet another badgerlord in search of revenge actually has quite a bit of novelty about him, for in him we get a far more gritty portrait than we are used to and begin to believe far more the warning about badgers filled with the bloodwrath.

"Loamhedge" also has a wonderful sense of topsy-turvy: old beasts act like dibbuns again, an abbot looses self-control while the youngest character shows the greatest restraint and the weakest vermin rises to the top of the pile. Brian's ability to create and sustain atmosphere is thankfully not diminished in what could have been a tale of confused mood, whereas what comes across is crystal clear in its feeling, and the description of landscape really adds a sense of the darkness to much of the plot.

The key complaint some have had is that we do not find out that much about Loamhedge Abbey itself and while that is true I was not greatly disappointed. For Brian to convincingly portray the final days of the abbey any more than he does would stray into territory so dark that the book would be on the verge of unpleasant to read and would loose the wonderfully varied air of delight and suspense that he creates here. As it is, the legend is kept alive admirably well and the atmosphere of the place is effectively sustained.

All in all, "Loamhedge" is an excellent addition to the series.

Jonathan Coley