Why High Rhulain is one of the BEST books in the series [EXTRAVAGANZA EXAMPLE]

[Captain Tammo]

Hey everyone!

So while this can't count as my Fall Extravaganza entry (since it's an old post), I thought I'd bump this anyway to show you what you could do if you're entering the One Book to Rule them all event. Obviously you don't need to use this format and you can enter with an entirely different approach, but this is just something to help your brainstorming or if you want to refute / make another argument for this book in the series

[MeadowR]

Just wanted to add that after just finishing my re-read of High Rhulain I did enjoy it more than I remembered liking it the first time. For sure it shows that the later books still have the enjoyment factor, however formulaic they can be at times.

[SoranMBane]

I originally read this book in high school, and while I enjoyed it for the most part, there was an aspect of it that I found frustrating at the time. High Rhulain seemed to be pulling this same lazy writing trick that I'd noticed a lot of tv series using, where the show decides it wants to do some sort of "girl power" episode, but the setting and characters they've established aren't sexist enough, so they just bump up the sexism to unnatural levels in order to make that plot work (and I'm feminist, but there's just better ways to send an empowering message for girls, y'know?). It's quite noticeable with the Guosim; their earliest recorded Log-a-Log was female and there've been plenty of female members in their ranks throughout the books, but here they're giggling at the mere idea that a girl might be good at throwing rocks? Really??

And then there's the fact that apparently the Redwall otter tribe only allows males to be Skipper (which is strange considering that in the very first Redwall book, the Redwall otters were led by a girl, though Brian had seemingly not come up with the rank of "Skipper" yet). Redwall is supposed to be the most happy, fair, and free place you could imagine, so how is it that a part of the Abbey could be so grossly unfair? And "tradition" definitely isn't a good enough reason. To Tiria's father, the Skipper, I would simply quote something Deyna says in Taggerung: "You're the Chief, make some new laws." But the Redwall otters don't change, and it's not presented as if they need to change, which is the biggest problem I see with this part of the book.

But, again, I did still enjoy the book overall, but I think it could've been better if it had just dropped the clumsily-handled "girl power" angle (none of which is fitting with how otherwise egalitarian the Redwall world has been established to be). Maybe just have Tiria leave Redwall simply because she craved adventure in the wider world, without mentioning anything about how only males can be Skipper. All the young girls in the audience need to feel inspired is a strong female character they can look up to, so that's all Tiria had to be; none of the stuff about overcoming sexism was necessary.

[Sanddunes]

Has anyone noticed how High Rhulain is a lot like Mossflower. How it's about creatures fighting against a tyrant wildcat for freedom

[The Skarzs]

In a way, I suppose. But then, a lot of the stories have similar stories.

[Sanddunes]

In a way, I suppose. But then, a lot of the stories have similar stories.

That's true even stories from different authors