Doomwyte
Doomwyte by Brian Jacques
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In the twentieth of the late Brian Jacques’ Redwall series, which he dedicates to a “true warrior,” Private First-Class Donald Reas Axtell, the residents of the series’ eponymous Abbey face formidable adversaries in a hunt for lost treasure. The book features a brief but somewhat confounding prologue of days supposedly no longer warm, but this is contradictory since spring and summer are the chief seasons of the story. In the main chapters, a magpie named Griv seeks shelter from storms at Redwall Abbey, where a young mouse named Bisky tale-spins, telling the story of Prince Gonff stealing the titular Doomwyte Idol.
However, Bisky has his share of critics, one being the squirrel Dwink. Meanwhile, two rats named Slegg and Gridj trudge through the stormy weather to the shoreline. Several other good creatures are introduced, such as the dormouse Glisam, Father Abbot of Redwall, the squirrel Herbalist Torilis, the head cook mole Friar Skurpul, and the elderly mouse Samolus. At this time, Griv meets the leader of the carrion crows, Veeku. Back at the Abbey, the Redwallers peruse old texts such as Gonff’s diaries, curious as to what Wyte means in the first place.
The book introduces other villains like ravens and snakes, with one of the chief serpents, Sicariss, supposedly having the blood of Asmodeus. Laird Bosie McScutta of Bowlaynee is Abbey Warrior, with fights against vermin such as the Painted Ones; younger Redwallers also become captives. The story satisfactorily resolves, with Doomwyte overall being another enjoyable yarn of Redwall, although like its predecessors, it depicts specific animals in black and white terms, with creatures such as mice, squirrels, and moles being “good,” while rats, reptiles, and ravens are “bad.”
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