Brian Jacques wasn't allowed to reenact Birth of a Nation in the rodent section of his local pet store and thus wrote this book instead.

This novel, ostensibly marketed as "fantasy", nonetheless relies on the most banal and ordinary of racist cliches; a child of the lesser barbarian peoples is adopted by the good, genetically moral denizens of Redwall, but is cast out because he can't contain the violent urges of his racial temperament.

If you've read the preceding 7 Redwall books, it's impossible to spoil this one.

Here's a real spoiler: if you enjoyed this book, you're probably a racist, and not a particularly clever or imaginative one.

This was one of the really good Redwalls, that did not feel like a rehash of the same plot just with different names.
I do wish Veil had been a little more good, as it was he only ever did one good thing and that cost him his life. If he could have been just a bit more good... But, overall a quick paced adventure story.

I've been pretty critical of Brian's books. While I like their setting, most have been repetitive and illogical, even for children's books. Finally, this one is different. Brian showed real growth through this book and I really enjoyed it, placing me back within my original mindset when I first read Redwall. I had a few little niggles with it. There was a character called "The Wraith" who was completely absurd (literally invisible?) and immediately died within a couple pages, making him pointless. The main villain, Swart, was (again) petty and rude more than he was dangerous, and got his butt handed to him over and over. Also Veil, the ferret that the book was named after, didn't really seem to have much of a redemption after being an evil creature the entire time for no reason. Despite saving the person who raised him, the Redwaller's conclusion was still pretty much, "yeah, he sucked, but some creatures just can't help but suck." I really think the book should have been called "The Rise of Sunflash," or something similar, as the book was mostly about the new Badger lord of Salamandastron, his prophesied arrival, and his reunion with his mother. Instead, the book was named after a crappy creature that couldn't do anything nice, and didn't seem to have a huge outcome on the plot of the book. Even still, I really enjoyed this addition to the series, especially after reading The BellMaker, which I had countless issues with. I'm looking forward to Brian's next book far more now.

The past summer I decided to re-read some of this series. I remembered loving it in grade school, and The Outcast of Redwall was my favorite book of the series. I remember reading it several times as a kid, but upon rereading it in college, I couldn't figure out why. There were several unlikable characters (Bryony comes to mind), the philosophy of "all of carnivora is EEEEVVIILLLL, except badgers and otters for some reason, and that one cat from Mossflower" continued unchecked, despite the potential in the title, and despite the title, Veil got almost no actual presence. When he did, it was usually from the perspective of those around him rather than his own, so we rarely get a chance to get inside the character. Instead, he came off as a petulant brat who got what he deserved. Going to steal stuff and poison people? Yes, in a civilized society you SHOULD be held responsible for those actions. This pretty much sums up my adult view of the book, as well as many others it seems. But what made it so endearing as a child? Why was I rooting for Veil then, and despising him now?

It took me almost 6 months to realize that as an adult I was typecasting him and ignoring what HE was saying. I've grown much more discriminating and less accepting, no doubt as a result of age and experience, though undesirable. As a child, I was listening to Veil's voice, not that of the Badgermum. At one point Veil asks some friar why he's always getting blamed for things going missing and the problems. Bryony supports him, claiming they always blamed Veil from the time he was a Dibbun. Back then, this is what I picked up on--the Redwallers really DIDN'T give him a chance. I filled in the blanks for Veil then... all the times he was excluded from games with the other dibbuns because he was different, all the times he was chastised far more severely than the others, many times unjustly... Though, all we see as readers is the "bratty Veil", and I believe this is a key flaw. When the readers have to fill in the blank of "always evil / raised poorly" and the cards are already stacked against him due to his species, it is far too easy to jump to the black-and-white or 'racist' conclusion.

That being said, I enjoyed the story of Sunflash far more the second time around. Partly this was due to the fact that I already knew it would take up a good half of the book, and partly because I find badgers to be one of the more interesting species in the Redwall universe. Its very true that the different species are strongly stereotyped as good or bad, but badgers seem to have a healthy dose of grey area due to their berserker rage and the accompanying burdens of typically assuming some form of leadership role. Sunflash was by far one of the greatest and most complex characters in the series, despite being cast next to many of the least original and shallow characters (Bryony... and a whole mountain of hares)

Then, of course there is the villain. I enjoyed Swartt a lot more in 5th grade, probably because I couldn't recognize the fact that he was completely interchangeable with any other Redwall villain. Well, mostly. To be fair, he was probably one of the only villains with a good reason for going on a campaign of war due to his history with Sunflash, and he didn't obsess over Redwall as though it contained some kind of treasure or as if there really was a good reason to set a siege there. (There isn't. It's just an abbey, and the only thing worth stealing is a tapestry, as we learned in both Redwall and Marlfox) Even if he wasn't chased off by Skipper he probably wouldn't have been particularly interested, since Sunflash wasn't there. The most annoying part though, was that even when he had chances to take on Sunflash, he preferred just tying him up so that he could escape later, and was too afraid of Sunflash to actually battle him one on one. We also don't see him working on his fighting skills in preparation for the battle, or ANYTHING, so he really is never a good opponent for Sunflash. Sunflash might not actively train either, but he's a badger--much larger than Swartt, naturally stronger, and has berserker strength. He doesn't need to train. But if you're a ferret going to take THAT on, don't you think you'd prepare a little better, instead of relying on a fox's woo-woo nonsense? Then again, Redwall villains are never that smart or tough, relying on numbers rather than wits. Even the more intelligent ones aren't as sharp as the dullest of the dibbuns most of the time.

To conclude, I rated this four stars to average out both times I read it. In fifth grade I would have given it 5 stars, today I would have given it 2, +.5 for nostalgia = 4 stars.

When I was a tween this was one of my favourites in the series.

Following Redwall tradition the book is cut into three main parts. The story bounces back and forth between Sunflash the Mace, Swartt Sixclaw the Warlord and the people of Redwall Abbey. As the novel progresses all the stories eventually converge into a satisfying ending.

As an educator and parent I appreciate that Jacques deals with dark themes in a manageable way for his intended reading audience. Also, I still get hungry from reading there novels. I need someone to cook me up a Redwall feast.

The story centers on the lang term enmity between Sunflash and Swartt. As both leaders find their way to leadership (taking wildly different paths and approaches) they keep close to their hearts their hatred for one another.
Sunflash's journey is punctuated with heroic and kind moments. The warrior aspect of his character is softened by his love of young creatures and his desire to be a farmer.

At the Abbey they attempt to raise Swartt's abandoned son but are unable to instill in him the morals and priorities of the peaceful abbey dwelling folk. The kit grows up to be as crooked as his father and is eventually Outcasted from Redwall.

In the end the stories all merge into one and the novel finishes with good triumphing over evil in more ways than one. There is a final celebration at Redwall that made my mouth water.

I don't think that Redwall can be beat as an introduction to fantasy for young readers. It hits all the notes of a typical fantasy story but with cute animals and delicious food.

3.5
The badger lords were always my favorites, and 12-year-old me thought Sunflash the Mace was a wicked cool name. 12-year-old me wasn’t wholly lacking in sense, either. He is the best part of this book. Maybe I’m a sucker, but I like to see a badger smashing everything in its path like a juggernaut.

SPOILERS
Swart is a somewhat underwhelming antagonist. He’s cruel, but pretty craven, and he never really feels like a huge threat, frequently running away from conflicts. Veil’s jabs at him when they come face to face are rather on point. Skarlath’s death does add some weight and tragedy to the conflict, but it comes pretty late and at the hand of the fox, not Swart.
Jacques also has a penchant at times for quashing threats perhaps a bit early. The squirrel otter pack is a bit of a Deus Ex, turning the horde away from the Abbey fairly easily and with minimal loss. Jacques has used them to similar affect in other books.
He also builds the Wraith out to be a dangerous assassin, but then kills him off in an almost joke scene. He could have had the Wraith miss his target and kill or even wound another character, and he’d feel legitimately dangerous. Why give your antagonist an ace in the hole, only to let your heroes trump it. He did a similar thing with the goomer in Mossflower. Everyone’s terrified of it, but when they let it loose, it immediately gets eaten by the otters’ giant fish. Bit of a let down.

Thoroughly enjoyed Outkast of Redwall. Sunflash and skarlath may have just become some of my favourite characters from the series so far. Sunflash is just a humble badass who longs to be a peaceful farmer and he is a very likeable character. I don't understand the hatred for jacques handling of veil and bryone. A lot of the reviewers think jacques missed out on an opportunity to finally paint vermin in a good light but he'd already done that in the bellmaker. People seemed to think veil was hard done by and that the redwallers treated him unfairly his entire life. I didn't find this to be true at all. Veil was an overly aggressive baby when found, biting bryony and drawing blood when they are first introduced, an ominous beginning but the redwallers raise him the exact same they would any dibbun, the reason they are mistrusting of him and quick to point the finger is because he has proved himself time and time again to be untrustworthy, seemingly for his entire life. A lot of dibbubs are naughty but they grow out of it eventually, whereas veil seems to relish his bad behaviour. Bryone is just a dedicated mother who refuses to turn her back on her adopted child no matter how apparent his inner evil is to everyone else.
Veil redeems himself in the end but bryone his only advocate casts doubt on whether his actions were truly a selfless act. Are all vermin born evil, do they have to have experienced life before they can be changed to good, was veil denying his nature in redwall Abbey? I don't think there are any definitive answers. Hoping that jacques explores this theme more at some point in the rest of the series. 5/5

This book had a slightly different format that others in the series, and I found myself somewhat missing the old format - I liked the linear-type quest with prophecies and riddles. This was a bit more meandering, but not necessarily less entertaining. As always, Jacques' characters are compelling and lovable, and I was deeply invested in every character I encountered.

I loved the additional background on Salamandastron, with the culture and social structure-it was interesting to know more about that mountain operates. Sunflash was a truly lovable hero.

As always, this book made me hungry-everything just sounds so delicious!

I ABSOLUTELY did NOT believe the titular characters story arc - it made no sense and was completely inconsistent with information provided to the reader during the narrative. It was truly my only complaint about this story.

I DEFINITELY recommend this book - it's really not super important to read these books in order, but a little bit of backstory never hurts, if you have the time, read the whole series!

I liked the beginning a lot.

I had full nostalgia listening to this one. This one is a mixture of two stories which then eventually tie into a single story in the final third.

Considering the main characters are a weasel and a badger. The character depth is always spot on in these novels

This could have been a great book, perhaps one of Jacques’ best. He explores nature vs. nurture, and the tension and action are well-balanced. But at the end, his ultimate conclusion is that “some creatures cannot help being the way they are” (p.354). This takes away from the responsibility of the individual, and the chance for redemption and forgiveness no matter how debased one becomes. You might think I’m expecting a little much from a children’s book, but given how spot-on he is with other themes I had hopes.
Still, a good quote on unconditional love is to be found in the book:
“Why does an ‘onest mousemaid like yoreself go chasin’ after such an evil vermin?”
Bryony gave the only answer she could. “Because I’m responsible for him. I’ve cared for Veil since he was a babe, and bad or good I cannot desert him.”

My absolute favorite of the series!!